Enemy of the State
The Trial and Execution of Saddam Hussein
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
At 12:21 p.m., on October 19, 2005, Saddam Hussein was escorted into the Courtroom of the Iraqi High Tribunal in Baghdad for one of the most important and chaotic trials in history. For a year, two American law professors had led an elite team of experts who prepared the judges and prosecutors for "the mother of all trials." Michael Scharf, a former State Department official who helped create the Yugoslavia Tribunal in 1993, and Michael Newton, then a professor at West Point, would confront such issues as whether the death penalty should apply, how to run a fair trial when political and military passions run so high, and which of Saddam's many crimes should be prosecuted.
Newton was in Baghdad in December 2003 when the Tribunal was announced and Saddam was captured. In the following months, Scharf and Newton helped write the rules of the Tribunal, conducted a mock trial in (perhaps appropriately) Stratford-upon-Avon, England, and provided legal analysis on dozens of issues. Newton then returned to Baghdad several times during the trial and appeal. Now, from its two shapers, comes the fascinating inside story of the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein and the attempt to bring the rule of law to post-invasion Iraq.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Law professors Newton and Scharf recount their involvement in the trial of Saddam Hussein, from the Iraqis' iconic removal of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdus Square in April 2003 to the deposed leader's chaotic hanging. Newton and Scharf helped write the rules of the Iraqi High Tribunal for the trial, giving them an insiders' view of the case. They candidly summarize the difficulties posed to courts and lawyers intent on bringing Hussein's crimes to light and exposing him to fair and unbiased judgment. Most illuminating is the day-by-day recounting of the tensest period of the trial, in a chapter aptly titled "Disorder in the Courtroom." They admit that the trial was "both revolutionary in its aspiration and at times rudimentary in its applications." Readers interested in the future of global jurisprudence will find much to ponder in this frank and detailed account.