Judge Pulls Plug on Hussein in Wake of Shouting Match
In his first formal testimony in his trial, the deposed Iraqi leader called on Iraqis to cease the sectarian violence and join forces against the Americans--while insisting that he is still the rightful leader of Iraq. The judge trying the case, quarreling with Hussein several times during his 40-minute speech, ended by closing the session to the public.
In his first formal testimony in his trial, the deposed Iraqi leader called on Iraqis to cease the sectarian violence and join forces against the Americans–while insisting that he is still the rightful leader of Iraq.
The judge trying the case, quarreling with Hussein several times during his 40-minute speech, ended by closing the session to the public.
Washington Post
:
BAGHDAD, IRAQ- Saddam Hussein took the witness stand today for his first formal testimony in his trial, and delivered an incendiary political diatribe that urged Iraqis to cease the sectarian bloodshed and carry on the war against the Americans. The presiding judge closed the session after Mr. Hussein, wearing thick reading glasses, kept on lambasting the court.
Mr. Hussein’s nearly 40-minute speech was the most explosive element so far in a trial that has been marked by farcical tirades from the defendants and searing testimony from victims. Mr. Hussein marched up to the defendants’ lectern in the mid-afternoon, after his half-brother had spent three hours delivering a rambling monologue, and slipped on brown-rimmed glasses to read a prepared speech from a yellow notepad.
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A U.S. drone strike and air assaults by Pakistani military forces killed 38 people this weekend in tribal areas near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, official sources reported Sunday.
The official American reaction to the coordinated attacks in Kabul, the Afghan capital, as well as at Jalalabad airbase, and in Paktika and Logar Provinces, reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of guerrilla warfare.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has branded the Taliban’s 18-hour siege of Kabul and places across eastern Afghanistan on Sunday an intelligence failure and called for an investigation into NATO security operations.
Pointing to "the shaky, erratic and vague standpoint of the Americans" as one key reason for their decision, Taliban leaders in Afghanistan put the kibosh on plans to meet with U.S. envoys, releasing a statement on Thursday explaining the change of plans.
Claims made by NATO that Pakistan is in cahoots with the Afghan Taliban are tantamount to "old wine in an even older bottle," according to Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar. However, this particular batch of wine represents thousands of mandatory conversations (read: interrogations) versus Khar's official denial.
In the deadliest day for American troops since the war in Afghanistan began almost 10 years ago, 30 Americans and seven Afghan commandos died Saturday when the Chinook helicopter they were in was shot down by the Taliban.
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