Lynching Saddam – Part 4: the NYT enjoys that bloody show!

The Washington official reactions to the lynching of prisoner of war President Saddam Hussein comes - as usual - from the pages of the New York Times:

No arrests have been made in any of the trial-related assassinations, including those of a judge and his son, also a court employee. Some American officials strongly suspect that members of Mr. Hussein's Baath Party may have played a role with the aim of discrediting the court. Indeed, each killing has been followed by an upsurge of demands, from Western human rights organizations as well as Baathists, for the trial to be moved out of Iraq. (1)

But once again, something doesn't seem right here.

A few days ago the same New York Times wrote:

Iraqi witnesses said that Mr. Obeidi was transported in a convoy of vehicles by people known as belonging to the Mahdi Army, a Shiite militia known to be affiliated with the rebellious anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr. Witnesses said they wore flak jackets and shouted "terrorist" at one point. Mr. Obeidi was taken to a spot called Hamidiya, about six miles from his house, according to witnesses. His body was dumped in a place for construction debris, apparently retrieved again, and then dumped in a lot in Sadr City. It was then taken to the Tahtheeb police station there, an area known as a stronghold of the Mahdi Army, riddled with bullets in the head, chest and back. (2)

What did it happen between this first NYT's story published on June 21 and the other NYT's story, published four days later on June 25? Do "some American officials" have new elements to tell the NYT that they "strongly suspect that members of Mr. Hussein's Baath Party may have played a role with the aim of discrediting the court."? And why All The News That's Fit to Print does not ask "some American officials" to demonstrate what they say with facts and evidence instead of publishing undocumented speculations? Does the NYT believe in "conspiracy theories"?

Let's go back to facts.

Two years ago, on 3 July 2004, Al-Jazeera reported:

Shaikh Raid al-Kadhimi, a senior preacher among Iraq's Shia, warned the lawyers, whom he described as "mercenary lawyers", against coming to Iraq.

"I advise the monkeys, those mercenary lawyers, who wish to defend Saddam, not to come to Iraq because Iraqis will be ready to deal with them," he said from the pulpit of Baghdad's Kadhimiyah Shrine.

"We demand the execution of Saddam Hussein and we think we represent the opinion of al-Sadr's supporters and most Iraqis," said Shaikh Awad Khafaji, a chief aide of Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, during his Friday sermon in a Shia district of Baghdad. (3)

Earlier this year, Reuters reported about the resignation of the chief judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein:

The killings of two defense lawyers have already prompted questions over the U.S.-backed decision to hold the trial in the midst of bitter sectarian and ethnic conflict. (...) A source close to Kurdish judge Rizgar Amin himself told Reuters that tribunal officials were trying to talk him out of his decision but he was reluctant to stay on because Shiite leaders had criticized him for being “soft” on Saddam in court. “He tendered his resignation to the court a few days ago but the court rejected it. Now talks are under way to convince him to go back on his decision,” he said on Saturday. “He’s under a lot of pressure, the whole court is under political pressure. “I am not sure if he will go back on his decision,” said the source, who is familiar with Amin’s thinking. “He had complaints from the government that he was being too soft in dealing with Saddam. They want things to go faster.” The last straw, the source said, was a letter criticizing his handling of the trial from radical Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr, whose movement is part of the ruling Islamist bloc. (4)

Just a few months ago, the Associated Press reported about shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr:

The cleric, speaking from the holy city of Najaf, said Saddam Hussein should not be tried but executed immediately. He criticized what he called American intervention in the trial and causing to take too much time. (5)

It's also interesting to notice that while Gulf News reported:

Shopowners told reporters that three gunmen had dumped the body at a roundabout under a poster of a senior Shiite cleric killed by Saddam's agents in 1999. The cleric is the father of Moqtada Al Sadr, the leader of the Mehdi Army. "They fired into the air and said 'this is the fate of Baathists!'," said a shopkeeper.

the Independent wrote:

Mr Obaidi is the eighth person associated with the court case to be killed. Witnesses described how three masked gunmen threw his corpse under the poster of a prominent Shia cleric executed by Saddam Hussein's regime in 1999 while shouting "This is the fate of all Baathists." Police were unable to confirm reports that his abductors were wearing police uniforms. (6)

I wonder why the Independent didn't report that the cleric in that poster was "the father of Moqtada Al Sadr, the leader of the Mehdi Army."

Once again, I reiterate my questions with the hope that other people will join:

Will the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the European Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the "liberal media" (among others) have the courage and honesty to demand the (American directed) "trial" to be stopped?

Notes

1) Hussein Thinks He Will Get Death Penalty but Sees Escape Hatch, His Lawyer Says, EDWARD WONG, NYT, June 25, 2006

2) Third Lawyer in Hussein Trial Is Killed, By JOHN F. BURNS and CHRISTINE HAUSER, NYT, June 21, 2006

3) Saddam's lawyers threatened, By Ahmed Janabi, Al-Jazeera, Saturday 03 July 2004

4) Iraq tries to convince Saddam judge to stay. Amin tenders resignation amid claims of government interference, REUTERS, Jan. 15, 2006

5) Iraqi Shi'ite cleric calls U.S., Britain and Israel a 'Triad of Evil', By The Associated Press, 11/03/2006

6) Saddam's lawyer is tortured and murdered, By Kim Sengupta, The Independent, 22 June 2006

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Read also:

- - Lynching Saddam

- Lynching Saddam – Part 2: Juan Cole’s informed comment

- Lynching Saddam – Part 3: Stop that "trial" now!

- Lynching Saddam – Part 4: the NYT enjoys that bloody show!

- Lynchng Saddam – Part 5: United Nations and Saddam’s Lawyers’ call

- Lynching Saddam – Part 6: The More You Watch the Less You Know