| Iraq |
| Lawyer Representing Saddam Hussein Killed |
| 2006-06-21 |
| One of Saddam Hussein's lawyers was shot to death Wednesday after he was abducted from his home by men wearing police uniforms in Baghdad, court and police officials said. Khamis al-Obeidi, who represented Saddam and his half brother Barzan Ibrahim in their eight-month-old trial, was abducted from his house at 7 a.m., said Saddam's top lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi. His body was found shot to death on a street near the Shiite slum of Sadr City, police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said. Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi confirmed that al-Obeidi had been killed, although he did not provide any details. Unlike al-Dulaimi, who shuttles between Amman, Jordan, and the Iraqi capital, al-Obeidi chose to continue to living in Baghdad during the trial despite the capital's tenuous security and the killing of two members of the defense team last year. Al-Dulaimi blamed the Interior Ministry, which Sunnis have alleged is infiltrated by so-called Shiite death squads, for the killing. "We strongly condemn this act and we condemn the killings done by the Interior Ministry forces against Iraqis," he said, adding that U.S.-led forces also bore responsibility because the war had allowed Shiite militias to gain influence in Iraq. A dozen masked gunmen abducted defense lawyer Saadoun al-Janabi from his Baghdad office the day after the trial's opening session in October. His body was found the next day with two bullets in his head. Nearly three weeks later, defense lawyer Adel al-Zubeidi was assassinated in a brazen daylight ambush in Baghdad. A colleague who was wounded fled the country. The defense has asked Iraqi authorities for increased protection and threatened to boycott the trial unless this was provided. |
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| Iraq |
| Lawyer: U.S. Bears Some Blame for Killing |
| 2005-11-09 |
| EFL: But of course! Bush himself probably ordered it. By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein's lawyer said Wednesday that U.S.-led "occupation forces" bear some of the responsibility for the slaying of a second colleague in the trial, and the defense team signaled it may not show up for the next session without international security guarantees. Oh, well. Guess we'll have to hang him... Khalil al-Dulaimi, head of Saddam's legal team, spoke one day after Adel al-Zubeidi, lawyer for former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, was killed by gunmen in west Baghdad. Thamir al-Khuzaie, attorney for another co-defendant, Saddam's half brother Barazan Ibrahim, was wounded. The attack followed the slaying last month of another defense lawyer, Saadoun al-Janabi, who was found shot to death the day after the trial began Oct. 19. The killings raise doubts about Iraq's ability to hold the trial, although the Iraqi government dismissed calls to move or halt it. The second session is set for Nov. 28. Go a day, take a couple of months off. Sounds like the Massachusetts State Courts... In a statement, the defense team said it considered that date "null and void" in the wake of the attacks because of "the very dangerous circumstances that prevent the presence" of the attorneys "unless there is a direct, neutral international intervention that guarantees" security. After the first slaying, the defense lawyers announced they had suspended further dealings with the special court trying their clients until their security was guaranteed. The latest statement appeared to harden that position in wake of the latest killing. Here's an idea. Why don't you have your clients make a few phone calls? Abdel-Haq Alani, a key coordinator on the defense team, told The Associated Press by telephone from London that the United States was obliged to protect the lawyers as "the occupying power," a status the Americans say they do not have since sovereignty was transferred to the Iraqis on June 28, 2004. Asked whether defense lawyers would be in court Nov. 28, Alani replied: "I believe not." Manolo! Bring the rope! The Iraqi High Tribunal expressed regret over the dangers facing the defense lawyers and said it would "spare no effort" to "achieve justice" in the Saddam case. But first...lunchtime! "The tribunal will take every necessary step to guarantee that all the defendants have a complete defense in the next sessions," the statement added. "This includes any necessary procedures in this regard, which the tribunal already offered to guarantee the safety of the defense council and their duties." PSA's maybe? "Please don't shoot Saddam's lawyers. Thank you very much." Officials have said that if defense lawyers refuse to appear, the tribunal could appoint a new team. Hey! That was easy! Al-Dulaimi, speaking in the insurgent hotspot of Ramadi, brushed aside government suggestions that pro-Saddam insurgents or religious extremists were behind the killings. No, no. Is prohibited in the Koran. Islam is peace! Don't you know that...INFIDEL! "The occupation forces are responsible for this criminal incident, and they bear the responsibility of preserving the lives of the people regardless of their identity," he said. The "Iraqi government also has the responsibility to protect people and put an end to such actions." Evil, bad Americans! Please protect us! He called on "all free people, the United Nations, the Arab League, Arab presidents and kings and the Arab Bar Association to shoulder the responsibility to face the tyranny of the criminal gangs that are targeting the country." If that's who you're betting on to do something, counselor, why don't you just shoot yourself in the head and get it over with? President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd and longtime Saddam opponent, also condemned the assassination and urged the rest of the defense team to accept government protection, which they had refused. Hmmmmmmmmm? Might be why they...keep getting shot? Regardless of who was responsible, the killing of another defense lawyer reinforced grave misgivings among human rights groups and international lawyers about holding the trial in a country gripped by a brutal insurgency â much of it led by the defendants' supporters in the Sunni Arab minority. Oooooh. Grave misgivings... "I don't understand how you can have a fair trial in this atmosphere of insecurity, with bombs going off," said Richard Goldstone, the first prosecutor at the U.N. tribunal for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and one of the world's most prominent jurists. Yeah, how's that one going...and going...and going..Dick? He told the AP by telephone that Iraq's government should consider shifting the trial to an Arab country "where there is security." Someplace like Gaza, maybe? Associated Press correspondent Jamal Halaby contributed to this report from Amman, Jordan. Which I'm sure was read with great interest in the bar at the Palestine. |
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| Iraq | |
| Defense lawyer in Saddam trial killed | |
| 2005-11-08 | |
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen opened fire on a car carrying two lawyers defending some of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants in a trial for crimes against humanity, killing one and wounding the other, police and defense team sources said. Tuesday's attack followed the murder of another defense lawyer in the team, Saadoun al-Janabi, who was shot the day after the trial started in Baghdad last month.
Police and defense team sources said Adil al-Zubeidi was killed in the attack in western Baghdad, while Thamer Hamoud al-Khuzaie was wounded. Both men were on a team defending Saddam's brother Barzan al-Tikriti and former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan, legal sources said. In last month's attack, Janabi, who was representing Awad Bandar, was kidnapped from his office by armed men who identified themselves as employees of the Interior Ministry and murdered on October 20, the day after his court appearance at the start of the trial. Saddam and seven others are facing trial on charges of crimes against humanity but his defense lawyers, fearful for their lives, called on Monday for his trial to be moved abroad. Saddam's trial is due to resume on November 28. | |
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| Iraq |
| Baghdad suicide bombing kills 9 |
| 2005-11-08 |
| A suicide car bomber killed nine people, including six Iraqi policemen, in the southern Dora district of Baghdad yesterday, police said. A further 10 people were wounded in the attack, a day after a combined force of Iraqi and US troops entered their third day of operations, which had troops moving from house to house. At least one US Marine and 17 alleged al-Qaeda fighters were killed. A force of 1000 Iraqi soldiers and 2500 US Marines, sailors and soldiers launched an operation early on Saturday in the far western Iraqi town of Husayba in an attempt to flush al-Qaeda fighters from the region. The sweep, called Operation Steel Curtain, is aimed at preventing foreign fighters from entering the country. Japan and Italy were considering pulling their troops out of Iraq within the next eight months and expanding Iraq-related air missions from Kuwait, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said. Meanwhile, Saddam Husseinâs defence lawyers yesterday called for his trial to be moved abroad to protect their lives after increasing threats since the murder of a colleague, Saadoun al-Janabi. A statement by the lawyers for Saddam said the defence team had received no word from the court or the government guaranteeing their safety since the murder of al-Janabi, a day after his court appearance at the start of Saddamâs trial on October 19. The government denied involvement in the murder and said it would increase security for the trial. |
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| Iraq |
| Al-Qaeda fighters killed in Western Iraq |
| 2005-11-07 |
| At least 17 insurgents and one U.S. Marine have been killed in a major offensive continuing near Iraq's border with Syria, the military said on Monday as violence flared elsewhere in Iraq. The campaign to secure western Iraq against Sunni Arab insurgents and foreign fighters before a December 15 election went into a third day; a suicide car bomber killed six policemen and three civilians in Baghdad's southern Dora district. Police said another 10 people were wounded in the biggest bomb attack since 29 people were killed in a bombing near a Shi'ite mosque in Mussayib, south of the capital, last week. Sectarian tensions are dominating campaigning for the elections, where the 20 percent minority Sunni Arabs are expected to vote in large numbers for the first time since the fall of fellow Sunni Saddam Hussein in 2003. Some Sunnis have accused the Shi'ite and Kurdish-led government and its American backers of killing civilians in offensives like Operation Steel Curtain, the biggest in the mainly Sunni Arab desert province of Anbar since the battle for Falluja a year ago. CNN quoted troops as saying that between 60 and 80 insurgents had been killed but a military statement put the toll at 17 in and around Qusayba, a dusty, low-lying town where most of the 30,000 residents seemed to have fled. Al Qaeda's military wing in Iraq said it would target the homes of anyone who "collaborated" with the military or the government and gave the military 24 hours to stop the offensive. "Their homes shall be brought down on their heads after women and children leave," it said in a statement posted on a Web site used by al Qaeda's Iraq leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The wording was an echo of Iraq's defence minister, who last week warned that people sheltering rebels would have their homes brought down on the heads of their families. Several U.S. offensives this year in the Euphrates valley, a green belt running from the border towards the capital, have been aimed at stemming the flow of Islamist militants into Iraq. Marines said on Monday air strikes at nearby Karabila a week ago killed two al Qaeda leaders. They made no comment on local doctors' statements that up to 40 people died in the raids. Fakhri al-Qaisi, whose National Dialogue Council is part of a major Sunni bloc contesting the December poll after boycotting January's first post-Saddam vote, called on all Iraqis to stop the killing after he survived an assassination attempt. Qaisi, whose group has accused the government and its American backers of killing civilians in counter-insurgency operations, was shot five times in Baghdad on Saturday. "I call on international, Arabic and Islamic communities to take legal measures against those who are targeting Iraqi national figures," Qaisi, whose chest was swathed in bandages, told reporters before leaving for more treatment in Jordan. Also on Monday, officials said a national reconciliation conference sponsored by the Arab League would likely be delayed while more participants were convinced to attend. Arab League chief Amr Moussa has promoted the Cairo conference, due to begin on November 15, as a way to ease sectarian tensions. Iraqi officials said the talks would more likely begin towards the end of the month. Several Shi'ite groups have threatened to boycott the conference if senior members of Saddam's former ruling Baath party and insurgents are invited. Saddam and seven others are facing trial on charges of crimes against humanity but his defence lawyers, fearful for their lives, called on Monday for his trial to be moved abroad. Defence lawyer Saadoun al-Janabi was abducted from his Baghdad office and killed by armed men who identified themselves as Interior Ministry employees a day after his court appearance at the start of the trial on October 19. The government has denied involvement but the killing renewed accusations of sectarian violence involving government forces. Saddam's trial is due to resume on November 28. In east Baghdad, three people were killed and four wounded in a mortar attack, police said. At least two Iraqi soldiers died and 13 were hurt when a suicide car bomb detonated near soldiers guarding oil pipelines at Thibban north of the capital. |
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| Iraq |
| U.S. Forces Report Killing 20 Insurgents Sheltering Foreign Militants |
| 2005-10-24 |
| BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. soldiers and warplanes killed 20 insurgents and destroyed five "safe houses" Saturday during an operation against militants who shelter foreign fighters for al-Qaida in Iraq near the Syrian border, the military said. Three U.S. Marines and an Army soldier were reported killed in three different areas of Iraq earlier this week as the American death toll in the war inched toward 2,000. One Marine, who was assigned to Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), died in an explosion near Haqlaniyah on Friday. During the subsequent engagement fellow Marines killed four insurgents and destroyed a bunker adjacent to their position with an unknown number of militants firing from inside, the military said. The fighting occurred on the final day of Operation River Gate, an offensive that began Oct. 4 in western Iraq. Elsewhere, two Marines assigned to Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), were killed Friday by a roadside bomb during combat operations near Amiriyah, 25 miles west of Baghdad, the military said. On Thursday, a U.S. Army soldier died of a "non-hostile gunshot wound" in central Baghdad. That term often is used to describe an accident or a suicide. The incident was being investigated, the military said. The deaths raised to at least 1,996 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. Meanwhile, defense lawyers in Saddam Hussein's trial rejected protection offered by the Iraqi Interior Ministry after the kidnap-slaying of a colleague. The attorneys suggested they wanted U.S. protection, being deeply suspicious that the Iraqi police force has Shiite Muslim elements behind killings of Sunni Arabs. The murder of lawyer Saadoun al-Janabi terrorized the 12 remaining attorneys who appeared at the first session of Saddam's trial Wednesday representing the ousted dictator and seven former officials from his Sunni-dominated Baathist regime. In Saturday's fighting, 20 insurgents suspected of harboring foreign extremists were killed and one was captured by U.S.-led forces during raids on houses in Husaybah, a town near the Syrian border, the military said in a statement. Coalition forces raided two neighborhoods in Husaybah and discovered two large weapons caches containing small arms, ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds, explosives and bomb-making materials that included radios and detonators, the statement said. The soldiers destroyed a car bomb found near one of the buildings, and Air Force planes then used precision-guided munitions to destroy the "safe houses," the military said. In Washington, U.S. intelligence officials said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, has expanded his terrorism campaign from Iraq to two dozen groups scattered across almost 40 countries, creating a network that rivals Osama bin Laden's. The U.S. officials said the threat to American interests from al-Zarqawi compared with that from bin Laden, to whom al-Zarqawi pledged his loyalty a year ago. In other violence Saturday, two roadside bombs and a drive-by shooting killed three Iraqi policemen and wounded four in Baghdad, authorities said. Gunmen also killed a former Iraqi soldier in front of his home in Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, police said. Iraqis were still waiting to learn the outcome of the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum. Initial returns indicated the charter passed, but an unusually high "yes" vote in some areas fueled charges of fraud from Sunni Arab leaders who opposed the constitution. A team of international and Iraqi experts pored over some of the results Saturday looking for any irregularities. The audit in Ninevah and three other provinces would delay announcement of the final results until at least Monday or Tuesday, the Electoral Commission said. Commission officials, however, insisted that no fraud had been uncovered. "We did not find any significant violations that would have any effect on the final results of the referendum," member Safwat Rashid said at a news conference in Baghdad. Iraqi government officials met late Friday to discuss improving security for the defense lawyers in Saddam's trial. "We have decided to take some measures to protect the lawyers," Deputy Interior Minister Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal told The Associated Press on Saturday, though he refused to give details. But one of Saddam's two lawyers said the entire defense team rejected an offer of guards from the Interior Ministry. He said they were talking with U.S. officials about getting protection from American troops. Khamees Hamid al-Ubaidi pointed to frequent Sunni Arab accusations that Interior Ministry forces or Shiite militias linked to the government have killed of Sunni Arabs. "We refused because of our lack of trust in the Iraqi security agencies," al-Ubaidi said. "Everyone knows there are elements in the Interior Ministry that assassinate Iraqis." Al-Janabi, a lawyer for one of Saddam's co-defendants, was abducted Thursday night when men wearing police and military uniforms barged into his Baghdad office and took him away. Hours later, his body was found dumped on a nearby sidewalk, with two bullet wounds to the head and signs of torture. Police said the gunmen were wearing the uniforms as a disguise. But it was reminiscent of other abductions in recent months in which Sunni Arabs were taken away by men in uniform claiming to be with the Interior Ministry, only to turn up dead. Sunni leaders have blamed those slayings on Shiite death squads in or linked to the ministry. The government denies any role, blaming the attacks on insurgents, who have been known in other cases to wear stolen uniforms to carry out attacks. |
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