Greenwald on Saddam's Noose and the Bushing of the Iraqi Judicial System

[BurtWorm]

Must read:

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2007/01/iraqis-learn-art-of-legal-workarounds.html

Monday, January 01, 2007


Iraqis learn the art of legal "workarounds"



This depressing New York Times article by John Burns and Marc Santora details the frantic, reckless manner in which Saddam Hussein was shoved into the noose in clear violation of Iraqi law. We can't even get a hanging right. With all of the world watching, we yet again were the primary authors of a violent, uncivilized, and primitive act which -- no matter how justified in some ultimate moral sense -- was carried out in the most thuggish, wretched, inept, and (we now learn) patently illegal manner.

It really is striking, and a potent sign of just how absurd is our ongoing occupation, that the "Iraqi Government" which we are fighting to empower could not even conduct this execution with a pretense of legality or concern for civilized norms -- the executioners were not wearing uniforms but leather jackets and murderers' masks, conducting themselves not as disciplined law enforcement officers but as what they are (death squad members and sectarian street thugs).

And the most revealing, and most disturbing, detail is that Saddam's executioners -- in between playground insults spat at a tied-up Saddam -- chanted their religious-like allegiance to Moktada Al Sadr, the Shiite militia leader whom we are told is the Great Enemy of the U.S., the One We Now Must Kill. This noble and just event for which we are responsible was carried out by a brutal, murderous, lawless militia. Freedom is on the march.

Despite all of these grim events, it must at least be encouraging to the Bush administration that the Maliki government is quickly learning some of the most important tools for governing. For instance, after Prime Minister Maliki was told that his Order to quickly exectue Saddam would violate several different legal constraints -- i.e., "laws" -- this is what ensued:

Told that Mr. Maliki wanted to carry out the death sentence on Mr. Hussein almost immediately, and not wait further into the 30-day deadline set by the appeals court, American officers at the Thursday meeting said that they would accept any decision but needed assurance that due process had been followed before relinquishing physical custody of Mr. Hussein.

“The Americans said that we have no issue in handing him over, but we need everything to be in accordance with the law,” the Iraqi official said. “We do not want to break the law.”

The American pressure sent Mr. Maliki and his aides into a frantic quest for legal workarounds, the Iraqi official said.


That is a sublime phrase -- "legal workarounds". Our polite media here at home refers to deliberate and knowing government lawbreaking as "bypassing" the law, or sometimes they will even pretend that the law being violated just does not exist. But "workaround" is a nice phrase, too....

[hlthe2b]

1. I have to say, that was the biggest damned noose I've ever seen..

Hollywood westerns and all.... No wonder they were worried about decapitation...

Truly horrendous.

[SpiralHawk]

2. legal workarounds = republicon "morality"

you can forget all their propaganda crap about "family values" now that they have proved themselves to be sexual deviants up the wazoo. The only "morality" the BushCo republicons follow is legal workarounds to avoid the law and morality.

THE REPUBLICONS ARE A PACK OF FREAKIN PHARISEES

[SmokingJacket]

3. Thanks for posting this. My revulsion for the spectacle of public

execution has caused me to avoid all the stories on the subject -- but Greenwald's article is supremely informative. :thumbsup:

[fasttense]

4. Your link didn't work for me. n/t

[BurtWorm]

5. Try it again.

Thanks for that. :toast:

[dogday]

6. So Iraq pushed to have him executed, not the

other way around? Go figure :shrug: :sarcasm:

[cali]

7. Oh, I think it's quite likely that

Al-Sadr was instrumental in the push for an immediate execution, though God knows, I find it highly implausible that the U.S. actually pushed to hold off til the end of the Eid.

[BurtWorm]

8. What I get from the article: US officials in Iraq were sensitive to Sunni reaction

but, as usual, the Bushists back in DC didn't give enough of a shit to think through the consequences of letting the Shiites hang Saddam the way they did. As usual, the Bushites back in DC, on another planet as usual, liked the idea of Iraq "taking charge" of Saddam's fate.

As usual, the Bushists in DC group"thought" their way into another Iraq fiasco.

[fooj]

15. It is my understanding that Little Lord Pissypants

gave orders that they should wake him ONLY if there was a problem with the execution. If not...he was to be allowed uninterrupted sleep. What a sick man.

[MrPrax]

9. Greenwald, like the Times,

I believe got it wrong....

chanted their religious-like allegiance to Moktada Al Sadr, the Shiite militia leader whom we are told is the Great Enemy of the U.S., the One We Now Must Kill.

The one they were invoking his Father -- which makes much more sense if you think about the context.

Do people seek revenge against people that are alive?

Even when Middle East experts try to make a 'good point' they still can't manage to put down the 'narrative' long enough to make a common sense observation.

[BurtWorm]

10. I thought they were chanting "Moktada Moktada"

I didn't see the video, so I don't know, but that was what was reported.

[Oilwellian]

11. They were hailing Muqtada

Riverbend, an Iraqi blogger, interpreted what she heard:

From the video that was leaked, it was not an executioner who yelled "long live Muqtada al-Sadr". See, this is another low the Maliki government sunk to- they had some hecklers conveniently standing by during the execution. Maliki claimed they were "some witnesses from the trial", but they were, very obviously, hecklers. The moment the noose was around Saddam's neck, they began chanting, in unison, "God's prayers be on Mohamed and on Mohamed's family…" Something else I didn't quite catch (but it was very coordinated), and then "Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada!" One of them called out to Saddam, "Go to hell…" (in Arabic). Saddam looked down disdainfully and answered "Heya hay il marjala…?" which is basically saying, "Is this your manhood…?".

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

[MrPrax]

14. But --

This widely circulated initial account by AP doesn't mention anything about a 'defiant' Saddam being heckled or engaging in conversation. (link courtesy of Cursor)

Then a cellphone video is released, which is small consolation to the rather ambitious plans to televise the execution and then all hell breaks loose.

Oddly enough Riverbend is agrees with Juan Cole:

There was also a demonstration in the northern Baghdad district of Adhamiya, at which protesters shouted condemnations of Muqtada al-Sadr, according to al-Zaman. Some of those present at Saddam's execution shouted "Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada!" Saddam mocked them, asking if this was their sign of manliness. (Personally, I believe this is Saddam's reference to rumors in Iraq that Muqtada's wife left him, saying that he is actually gay. He is saying that chanting Muqtada's name is a sign that they are also not real men.)

Really?

So Saddam moments before his execution at the hands of people he has nothing but contempt for, Saddam calls them 'fags'? Really...this exchange WAS reported as Saddam chastising them for not going out and getting Americans invaders. But Juan, with a perpetual ear to the Arab street...any Arab street, thinks it's some convoluted swipe at al-Sadr's rumoured homosexuality? Is this analysis or e-news?

BUT strangely -- (I am not sure about as Cole has been misquoted a lot.)

But if you note the his comment at the end of this thought piece -- yeah come to think of it it wouldn't be the first time violence in the ME was inspired by anonymously placed internet videos of suspicious pedigree and yeah come to think of it the 'audio' might be faked -- it appears Juan changed his opinion at some point...or the writer has fabricated a quote?

Did he scrub his initial thought that the reference was to another person? Cole goes from thinking it might be a reference to someone else (like I think) to some weird rap about al-Sadr's wife.

Anyhow -- Is Riverbend actually writing from Iraq these days? -- I should say I stopped reading Riverbend a while ago...I don't think her blog is on the 'up and up' actually.

[LynnTheDem]

12. ILLEGAL under Iraqi law. Well that's one thing george w. bUsh does well...

break laws.

[struggle4progress]

13. The usual apologetics for the Administration from the NYT:

On the eve of the hanging, Americans suddenly become the condemned man's "benefactors" and then graciously "provid<e> a helicopter <to> carr<y> Mr. Hussein home" following the execution, a courtesy for which he apparently did not afterwards express gratitude.

Two months ago, the commander-in-chief of the occupation forces hailed the death sentence as "a major achievement." Now the Times claims "Americans .. questioned the .. wisdom — and justice — of expediting the execution."

Bush himself gave instructions that he did not wish to be further disturbed, once he had been informed that the execution was imminent, the Times now claims "Americans .. counseled caution in the way the Iraqis carried out the hanging" and that "issues uppermost in .. Americans’ minds .. were a provision in Iraq’s .. Constitution that required the three-man presidency council to approve hangings, and a stipulation in .. Iraqi law that no executions can be carried out during the Id al-Adha holiday." This sudden and touching American concern for the niceties of Iraqi law, of course, did not prevent Americans from finally relinquishing custody of the man on Friday for the gallows, nor did the alleged concern actually ensure that the law was followed: not all the required signatures were obtained and the execution took place during the holiday after all.

In short, the occupation forces held Saddam, safely away from reporters, for three years, until all arrangements were complete for necktie party, at which point they handed him to the executioners

The Times piece reflects, of course, nothing but damage control, the motive being that "Americans’ concerns .. have been heightened by what happened at the hanging" and by the worldwide public relations backlash. And there you have it: the real problem is (the Times complains) simply the Iraqi "government’s failure to recognize its destructive behavior."

[Uncle Joe]

16. Legal workaround sounds like a signing statement to me n/t