most likely the last chance I’ll get to speak FREELY

I have lived 30 plus years. I was raised with both parents - one who was very interested in political events. So much so, that by the age of 10, I knew everything or just about most things that was going on, not only in the U.S., but also in every Country and continent. While Barbie was ruling over her small tent, I was able to name most of the rulers, kings, and queens around the world. While I grew up watching Fred Flintstone’s neighbors and his boss, I knew what role Alan Greenspan meant to our Country as well as my dad’s remarks when Nixon was impeached. I recall the people’s republic of China and then leader Xiaoping. In addition, Neil Bush, the director of Silverado Banking, Savings and Loan when it crashed in 1988 at a cost of $1 billion to taxpayers.

Okay, through alllllllll of that, I never, ever,…. Let me repeat NEVER ever knew my civil liberties UNTIL I watched the Bill Maher show on Friday, March 03, 2006! It is NOW that I KNOW I live in America and have freedom of speech.

With that said, I thank Bill for such a great show and for allowing his guest to speak out and to tell the truth – LIVE on television. I felt like crying, as this new revelation had finally hit me in the noggin! I live in America and I, yes I, have freedom of speech. Lawd!

Oh, and Bill is certainly not alone, and certainly not the first to say that Saddam Hussein should return to power. I said it first. (ha ha) Sad, that not enough people can see the mess our Village Idiot has made in Iraq.

If Saddam Hussein was such a bad leader, then why didn’t the U.S. do something about him in 1963 when he was the interrogator and torturer for the Baath Party or in the 1970’s when he was more lethal? That country was already in turmoil prior to him becoming VP.

While the U.S. did everything in its power to lead the world to believe Saddam would be better removed, then why did the vast majority of the Middle East seem to believe that if Hussein is deposed the country will break into pieces, leading to more problems in the already troubled region? One could hint that the vast majority of these Middle Eastern leaders were correct = they were right and that someone else was wrong.

Prior to hearing Bill Maher "joke" about returning Saddam Hussein to power, I had already presumed that it would be the best move for the Middle East, the United States and the rest of the world.

I am not an advocator to anyone causing harm to another, but is it not the American way to understand a persons present acts based on ones past? Saddam was beaten and denied education by his step dad. Is this a reason for the crimes he is alleged in committing? I am not a therapist, psychologist or any of the sort, but just an observer of the actions of the people in my Country.

Again, I am NOT a defender of any criminal and certainly NOT Saddam Hussein. However, if someone plots against you, or you fear a person who perhaps may cause bodily harm and you fear for your life, would you not eliminate said person or persons?

I am not the protector of Saddam, but if someone gave me weapons, I would only assume that they would be used to rid myself of my enemies.

With the destruction of Meir Tweig, this proves that Iraq is now at Civil war and because of its fall, we can expect the worse is yet to come.

In short, I wonder where the REAL Saddam is located as it had been reported that he has (had?) many lookalikes. In "his-story" it is claimed that he is 6 feet 2 inches tall, dyes his hair black, walks with a limp and may have had a stroke and/or has disc problems in his back. I suppose, the man I have seen on television who continues to jump up and down in the hall of justice, and poses his body in all shorts of positions, could be Saddam. I’m not sure. As Charles Barkley, says, ‘I could be wrong, but I doubt it.’

I honestly believe there are other reasons, but I do feel that the plot to invade Iraq stems from April 14, 1993 and the elder Bush, which is part of the equation.

I agree with our NEXT president: "This President is a miserable failure!"

04/05/06
Saddam Says Shiites Plotted to Kill Him (By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer)
BAGHDAD, Iraq -
Saddam Hussein was cross-examined for the first time in his 6-month-old trial Wednesday, saying he approved death sentences against Shiites in the 1980s because he believed the evidence had proven they were involved in an assassination attempt against him.

Saddam, standing alone as the sole defendant in the courtroom, dodged some questions from prosecutors over his role in the crackdown, giving long speeches calling the court "illegitimate." He accused the current Shiite-led Interior Ministry of killing and torturing thousands of Iraqis and bickered with chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman.
The session came a day after prosecutors indicted Saddam on separate charges of genocide, accusing him of trying to exterminate Kurds in a 1980s campaign that killed an estimated 100,000 people. The charges will be dealt with in a separate trial.
In the current trial, Saddam and seven former members of his regime are charged in a crackdown against Shiites launched after a shooting attack on Saddam's motorcade in the town of Dujail on July 8, 1982. In the sweep that followed, 148 Shiites were killed and hundreds were imprisoned, some of them undergoing torture.
Throughout Wednesday's questioning, Saddam — dressed in a black suit and white shirt — appeared relaxed, frequently shooting grins at chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi and even reciting a short bit of poetry to the judge.
Al-Moussawi asked Saddam about his approval for death sentences passed against the 148 by his Revolutionary Court, which prosecutors have argued gave the Shiites only a cursory trial.
"That is one of the duties of the president," Saddam replied. "I had the right to question the judgment. But I was convinced the evidence that was presented was sufficient" to show their guilt in the assassination attempt.
In a previous court session, Saddam acknowledged ordering the trial in which the 148 Shiites were sentenced to death but has maintained his actions were legal because they were in response to the attempt to kill him.
Al-Moussawi asked Saddam if he was aware that 28 of those sentenced to death were under 18 years old and presented identity cards for some of the killed minors. Prosecutors have earlier said an 11-year-old boy was among those killed.
Saddam replied that ID cards can easily be forged.
"There is a clear ulterior motive by those who have given you these documents. You can buy IDs like this in the market," he said. "Is it the responsibility of the head of the state to check the IDs of defendants and see how old he is?"
"I could get ahold of an ID saying Raouf is 25 years old," he added, waving toward the judge.
Al-Moussawi displayed a series of documents that he has previously shown the court — including an approval of medals for intelligence agents involved in the crackdown and approvals for the razing of Dujail farmlands in retaliation for the assassination attempt. Al-Moussawi repeatedly asked if the signatures on the documents were Saddam's.
But Saddam avoided a direct reply, refusing to confirm the signatures but also stopping short of saying the signatures were forged.
"Any comment, matter or document signed by Saddam Hussein, and it has been proven that the handwriting and the signature are his, then I take the responsibility," he replied.
The prosecutors also showed a video they said was taken in the 1980s that showed Saddam talking in an apparent interview about "enemies of the revolution," saying, "I would chop off their heads without one hair of mine shaking. ... As for the ranks of the enemies, if someone died during investigations, he has no value."
The video appeared to be taken from an anti-Saddam film, as the scene of Saddam talking was intercut with scenes of people being beaten. Pressed by the judge, the prosecutor acknowledged that the tape was not directly connected to the Dujail case but insisted it was relevant, asking Saddam what he thought about his comments.
Saddam said they were shown out of context and that he was talking about things "outside the borders" at a time when at war. He dismissed the video as "unrelated to this case."
When defense lawyer Bushra al-Khalil tried to comment on the video, Abdel-Rahman accused her of being out of order and, after an argument, ordered her removed from the courtroom.
At the beginning of the session, Saddam launched into a speech in response to the prosecutor's first question, bringing repeated demands by Abdel-Rahman that he answer the question.
Saddam denounced the court as illegitimate, saying "a body whose base and formation is illegitimate and unjust can't pronounce justice. How could anyone imagine that it could issue a verdict on the Iraqi president, who stood as a sharp spear inside the eyes of those who planned and worked to poke Iraq's eyes?"
He also denounced the current, Shiite-controlled Interior Ministry, calling it a body "that kills thousands people on the streets and tortures them." Some Iraqis accuse the ministry of backing Shiite militias that have assassinated Sunni Arabs in a wave of violence since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in the city of Samarra.
"Don't venture into political matters," Abdel-Rahman replied.
"If you are scared of the interior minister, he doesn't scare my dog," Saddam retorted.
Saddam had been due to testify and be questioned in the last session of the trial, on March 15. But instead, he gave a rambling speech calling on Iraqis to stop sectarian violence and unite to fight U.S. troops. After arguing with Saddam, Abdel-Rahman closed most of the session to the public to allow Saddam to finish his speech.





BAGHDAD, Iraq -
Saddam Hussein testified Wednesday for the first time at his trial, and the judge closed the court after the ex-dictator began a speech calling for Iraqis to end sectarian violence and fight American troops instead.

Even as the judge repeatedly yelled at Saddam to stop making what he called political speeches, the deposed leader read from a prepared text, insisting he was still Iraq's president.


"Let the (Iraqi) people unite and resist the invaders and their backers. Don't fight among yourselves," he said, praising the insurgency. "In my eyes, you are the resistance to the American invasion."

Finally, Chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman ordered the session closed to the public, telling journalists to leave the chamber. The delayed video feed also was cut.

"The court has decided to turn this into a secret and closed session," he said.

After nearly two hours, reporters were called back into the court, where Saddam sat alone in the defendants' pen before the judge.

The former Iraqi leader then refused to answer questions from the chief prosecutor, demanding to see a copy of his testimony given to investigators before the trial began. Prosecutors agreed and said they would question Saddam in the next session.

Abdel-Rahman then adjourned the trial until April 5.

Saddam was the last of the case's eight defendants to testify. Though he has spoken frequently since the trial began in October, Wednesday's session was to be the first chance for the judge and prosecutors to directly question him on charges of killing 148 Shiites and imprisoning and torturing others during a 1982 crackdown against the Shiite town of Dujail.

Instead, Saddam — dressed in a black suit — read from his statement, insisting he was Iraq's elected president and calling the trial a "comedy."

He addressed the "great Iraqi people" — a phrase he often used in his speeches as president — and urged them to stop the wave of Shiite-Sunni violence that has rocked the country since the Feb. 22 bombing of the Askariya shrine in Samarra.

"What pains me most is what I heard recently about something that aims to harm our people," Saddam said. "My conscience tells me that the great people of Iraq have nothing to do with these acts."

Abdel-Rahman interrupted, saying Saddam was not allowed to give political speeches in the court.

"I am the head of state," Saddam replied.

"You used to be a head of state. You are a defendant now," Abdel-Rahman barked at Saddam.

As Saddam continued reading from a prepared text, the judge repeatedly turned off his microphone to prevent his words from being heard and told him to address the charges against him. But Saddam ignored the judge and continued reading from his text.

"You are being tried in a criminal case. Stop your political speech," Abdel-Rahman said angrily.

"Had it not been for politics I wouldn't be here," Saddam replied.

He went on, urging Iraqis not to fight each other.

"What happened in the last days is bad," he said. "You will live in darkness and rivers of blood for no reason."

He continued: "The bloodshed that they (the Americans) have caused to the Iraqi people only made them more intent and strong to evict the foreigners from their land and liberate their country."

At one point, Abdel-Rahman screamed at him, "Respect yourself!"

Saddam shouted back: "You respect yourself!"

"You are being tried in a criminal case for killing innocent people, not because of your conflict with America," Abdel-Rahman said.

Saddam responded, "What about the innocent people who are dying in Baghdad? I am talking to the Iraqi people."

The stormy session was a stark contrast to the past three hearings, when each of Saddam's seven co-defendants was questioned by Abdel-Rahman and the chief prosecutor.

Saddam and the seven former members of his regime face possible execution by hanging if they are convicted in connection with the crackdown in Dujail following a July 8, 1982, shooting attack on Saddam's motorcade in the town.

Last month, Saddam stood up in court and boldly acknowledged that he ordered the 148 Shiites put on trial before his Revolutionary Court, which eventually sentenced them all to death. But Saddam insisted it was his right to do so since they were suspected in the attempt to kill him.
Before Saddam's testimony, his half brother Barzan Ibrahim — who headed the feared Mukhabarat intelligence agency at the time of the Dujail attack — was questioned for more than three hours by the chief judge and prosecutor.

Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi showed the court a series of Mukhabarat documents on the Dujail case from 1982 and 1983, some of which bore signatures he said were Ibrahim's. One of them was a memo from Ibrahim's office asking Saddam for rewards for six Mukhabarat officers involved in the Dujail crackdown.

"This is not my signature. My signature is easy to forge, and this is forged," Ibrahim said.
He said the same of another document listing Dujail families whose farmlands were razed in retaliation for the shooting. Another document, signed by an assistant to Ibrahim, talked about hundreds of Dujail detainees being held at Mukhabarat headquarters and the notorious
Abu Ghraib prison.

Ibrahim said that memo as well was forged.

At the end of Wednesday's session, Abdel-Rahman ordered forensic tests on the signatures to determine their veracity.

In previous sessions, Dujail residents testified that Ibrahim participated in torturing them at Mukhabarat headquarters. One woman claimed Ibrahim kicked her in the chest while she was hung upside down and naked by her interrogators.

But Ibrahim insisted the Mukhabarat was not involved in the investigation into the attack on Saddam and denied any personal role in the crackdown.

"I didn't order any detentions. I didn't interrogate anyone," he said, adding that he resigned from the Mukhabarat in August 1983. "There is not a single document showing that I was involved in the investigation."

Ibrahim insisted that the General Security agency carried out the Dujail crackdown. He said his only involvement came on the day of the shooting, when he went to the village and ordered security officials to release Dujail residents who had been arrested.

The defense has argued that Saddam's government acted within its rights to respond after the assassination attempt on the former Iraqi leader.

The prosecutor has sought to show that the crackdown went well beyond the authors of the attack to punish Dujail's civilian population, saying entire families were arrested and tortured and that the 148 people killed were sentenced to death without a proper trial.



Prior to viewing this site: It was important for me to write My Disclaimer. I have an illness that warps my mind and has certain ill effects such as my vision, loss of balance and muscle coordination, slurred speech, tremors, stiffness, bladder and bowel problems, difficulty walking, cognitive problems and even paralysis. With that said, to Mr. Bush, take it easy on a sistah as I am NOT responsible as to what may appear here. Perhaps if you, Mr. Bush had allowed treatment for my illness, then I wouldn’t be so insane. Please check the definition of INSANITY.