Saddam's Verdict Will Be On The Last News Cycle Day Before Elections (Nov. 5th)

November Surprise?
Tom Engelhardt

<snip>

A possible death-sentence for Saddam and his top lieutenants on November 5? Now, shouldn't that raise a few eyebrows somewhere? If you happen to have a calendar close at hand, pull it over and take a quick look. That verdict would then come, curiously enough, just two days before the midterm elections. It's the sort of thing that--you would think--that any reporter with knowledge of the US election cycle (no less of how Karl Rove has worked these last years) would at least note in an article. But no, you can search high and low without finding a reference to this in the mainstream media.

<snip>

"For sure. That November 5 date is designed to show some progress in Iraq. This is the last full news-cycle day in the US before the elections. It'll be Monday. And the American public will see Saddam condemned to death and see it as a positive thing.

"When you look at polling figures," Horton said," there have been three significant spike points. One was the date on which Saddam was captured. The second was the purple fingers election. The third was Zarqawi being killed. Based on those three, it's easy to project that they will get a mild bump out of this.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?pid=130487

October 26, 2006

 
The verdict of President Saddam Hussein’s first trial and that of seven former Iraqi leaders- the Al Dujail case- due on October 16th  has been postponed till November 5 in order "to complete verifications". Actually the postponement has been required by Bush’s public relations consultants in the hope that the announcement of  the capital sentence on the Iraqi President, his half-brother, Barzan Al-Tikriti, former head of the secret services before 1984 and the Vice-President, Taha Yassin Ramadan,  will help the Republicans secure more votes in the coming half-term elections to be held …two days later. Unless an unforeseen event, the sentences will be enforced within 30 days. By hanging.
 
On October 3rd, at Managua, Donald Rumsfeld expressed his opposition to lengthy legal proceedings against Saddam Hussein. He wanted them to be swift. The other charges – the Anfal trial- brought against Saddam Hussein will be tried and capital sentences passed on …..posthumously. This method would, in the eyes of most Americans, blur the responsibility of the Western leaders, especially the huge responsibility of Rumsfeld himself, in the deliveries of arms to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. The origin of the combat gas used by both belligerents at Halabja will not be discussed nor the amount of kickbacks paid to political parties in France, the States and elsewhere…
 
Whatever our views on President Saddam Hussein, it is a fact that the war of aggression on Iraq is regarded as illegal and the arrest of its leaders, an illegal act. The verdict that will be passed on November 5 by "the Green Zone Magistrates" will have no legal standing

bloody occupation, the verdict could be spun as a symbol of our achievements in Iraq. As it is, no one will say but everyone will think "We were probably safer with him in power."

A lot of the violence is saddam loyalists. They are using horrifict tactics.

The kurds are better off without him. But our invasion and occupation made iraq into a catastrophe but he was no walk in the park either.

The iran-iraq war was brutal. Saddam was hitting tankers, bombing schools.

Saddam gassed the kurds in a horrific fashion. His sons and cousin were dispicable too. Anything is better than what we have now but he is no great leader either. The leader before him was far better.