I just want to comment a little about former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark who served under LBJ. He flew in to Iraq to be part of the defense team recently and he's been treated like a traitor in much of the media. It just really bugs me that the media can't seem to wrap it's head around the fact that this man is courageous and brave. Let me explain: I think it absolutely necessary that justice be administered fairly and properly, and in the judicial system, anyone accused of a crime is owed good representation. Charles Manson is a pretty sick and twisted guy, but in a court of law, even he is owed a lawyer. Like I heard one talking head say on tv today, "If Saddam started fell ill in court and it took a doctor to come in quick and help him, no one would frown upon the doctor since that's their job".

For me it should work that way with lawyers too. Ramsey Clark is being treated like a senile old man who is coming to the defense of a close friend or something, when in reality he's just a man who wants to see the process through, especially since it such a fragile one as it is Iraq's first trial of this kind. Ramsey Clark isn't a traitor at all but a very brave American who is imparting wisdom and experience in a very sensitive case.

First, maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt Clark would ever defend an American or Israeli official brought to trial for war crimes.

Secondly, the statements he has made in Saddam's defense are egregrious. He's not just trying to dispute the process or cast doubt on the connection between Saddam and the massacre in question. Rather, he has tried to justify it by saying that the action was understandable in light of the assassination attempt on him. He used a similar tack with Milosevic.

The guy is an apologist for mass murderers, and only anti-American mass murderers. I'm not mad at him for being on Saddam's defense team, or Milosevic's. Everyone brought to trial deserves a defense. But Clark's support for genocidal tyrants has never been limited to trial situations.

It's possible that Clark, having been a mediocre Attorney General, wants to make a name for himself in the history books before he dies. It's also possible that he just likes to play with unwinnable cases just to see what happens. Kind of a first hand account of defending the indefensible. It would make a good book in any event.

Or, and more likely, Saddam could be this guy's Mt. Everest. He's defending Saddam just because he's there.

Like I said, nothing wrong with defending him in court. What's galling is defending him by excusing his atrocities, not by saying he was innocent of the atrocities.

Have all of you missed the fact that Ramsey Clark was freiends with, (or at least on speaking terms with )Saddam while he (Ramsey) was Attorney General???

One thing I do agree with is that He stated (Quote) "The greatest crime since world war two, is American Foreign Policy" (unquote)

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A mugawump is a bird who sits on a fence with his mug on one side and his wump on the other--[COLOR="red"][B]
A fence sitter-upon[/B][/COLOR] IE: a moderate/independent:

[COLOR="Blue"]Any fool can find fault, but it takes a thinking person to find the appropriate solution[/COLOR]

Or, perhaps Ramsey Clark is one of the few people in the US with any brains left, who actually understand the symbolism of a fair and open trial in this case? That it is paramount for the image of the US, and the rule of law, that Saddam will have a fair trial? That if they simply excecute the bastard, this will mark it as "american justice" in the entire region forever? And that a trial and a phony verdict now would've been the same as the "special councils" Saddam offered his victims? Is it completily lost on you that there are people in Iraq right now who are struggling like madmen to maintain a semblance of legality with their proceedings under very difficult circumstances right now - and what do they see? America thinking nothing of skipping past such things as rule of law and elections when it suits them. It sends a signal, you see, that the "freedom" and "democracy" in Iraq only goes so far. But hey, most people knew that on beforehand, anyway.

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[SIZE="1"][I]Filled with mingled cream and amber/ I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber/ Through the chamber of my brain -
Quaintest thoughts, queerest fancies/ Come to life and fade away.
What care I how time advances? I am drinking ale today.
- Edgar Allan Poe[/I][/SIZE]

Well, now, Muspell, we all ain't as smart as you is, so if you wanna splain it to us, you gotta type slow.



Matt

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Low rates. Inquire within.

Maybe you don't understand the meaning of advocate.
His job is to provide the representation that is in the best interests of his client. If he can show that Bush is a war criminal and that America has committed greater atrocities than Hitler, and it gets Saddam off, or even if it just gets him a lighter sentence, he has done his job and served the higher cause of justice.

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"I think -- tide turning -- see, as I remember --I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of -- it's easy to see a tide turn -- did I say those words?"
-- George W. Bush, asked if the tide is turning in Iraq

Except he does that kind of thing whether he's representing someone or not.

He is also, er, selective about who he represents. Usually anti-American genocidal tyrants.

Nah, just read it slowly and pretend like I'm speaking to you like you're stupid. Works a treat.

But I hope you understand the problem here, perhaps? That defending Saddam is suddenly turning into an attack on Bush? And ultimately on the United States, of course.

That is, the case the defense for Saddam will make is going to be an attack on the current US foreign policy. What that means, and if that translates into that Clark is an anti- american partisan, I suppose will be up to you people. And obviously, since I don't underestimate any of you, I wouldn't dream of that a smear- campaign against Clark is going to strike home and blow away all kinds of consideration for the actual case that is being made. Much less what this case, democracy and crap like that actually means. Oh, no. Never will happen.

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[SIZE="1"][I]Filled with mingled cream and amber/ I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber/ Through the chamber of my brain -
Quaintest thoughts, queerest fancies/ Come to life and fade away.
What care I how time advances? I am drinking ale today.
- Edgar Allan Poe[/I][/SIZE]