Baghdad, Iraq – Saddam Hussein’s defense team complained Sunday that it will not have enough time to prepare for his trial, as the government officially set Oct. 19 for the start of proceedings that could end with the execution of Iraq’s former dictator.
Meanwhile, U.S. troops killed seven insurgents Sunday in Tall Afar, including six who fired at the Americans from a mosque, the U.S. command said. Iraqi officers said well-armed insurgents controlled the center of Tall Afar and their ranks included fighters from Yemen, Syria, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.
In a statement, the U.S. command said soldiers from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, based at Fort Carson, killed seven insurgents “after receiving small-arms fire during three separate incidents in Tall Afar.” There were no U.S. or Iraqi government casualties, the military said.
A legal adviser to Hussein’s family, Abdel-Haq Alani, said that starting the trial next month would “undercut the defense capability to review the case.”
He was reacting to an announcement by the chief government spokesman, Laith Kubba, that Hussein and seven former henchmen would be tried Oct. 19 in the 1982 massacre of 143 Shiite Muslims in Dujail, a town north of Baghdad.
Kubba’s announcement confirmed unofficial reports that the first trial of Hussein and key lieutenants would begin just days after the Oct. 15 national referendum on Iraq’s constitution.
Trying Hussein so soon after the referendum could further inflame sectarian tensions among Hussein’s fellow Sunni Arabs, many of whom oppose the draft charter.
If convicted, Hussein and the others could receive the death penalty.
Alani said Oct. 19 would not leave enough time to prepare.
The co-defendants include Barazan Ibrahim, the ousted regime’s intelligence chief and Hussein’s half brother, and former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan. The others are lesser figures in the Hussein-era intelligence services or ruling Baath Party.
Rather than lump all charges against Hussein into one mammoth, time-consuming trial, Iraqi authorities have opted for a series of cases focusing on specific atrocities.
Iraq’s Shiite- and Kurdish-dominated government is convinced that speedy trials for Hussein will expose crimes of his regime and undercut support for him within the Sunni-dominated insurgency.
