Iraq's PM expects Saddam hanging this year
Source: Reuters
By Ibon Villelabeitia BAGHDAD, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Iraq's Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki expects Saddam Hussein to be hanged before the end of the year, despite an appeal process legal experts have said could keep the toppled leader from the gallows for months. A day after Americans punished President George W. Bush's Republicans by handing Democrats control of the House of Representatives in mid-term elections seen as a referendum on the war, Saddam was back in court on Wednesday to face genocide charges in a separate trial. Saddam, ousted in a U.S.-led invasion in 2003, was sentenced on Sunday by an Iraqi court to hang for crimes against humanity for the killings and torture of hundreds of Shi'ites. Maliki, whose comments in the past that Saddam's execution could not come soon enough have drawn criticism of government pressure, told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Wednesday he hoped Saddam would meet this fate within two months. "We are waiting for the decision of the appeals court," he said. "If it confirms the sentence it will be the government's responsibility to carry it out. We would like the whole world to respect Iraq's judicial will .... I expect the execution to happen before the end of this year." Under the court's statutes, defence and prosecution have 30 days to lodge submissions with the appeal chamber after the verdict is made public. The appellate chamber, which can overturn the verdict or change the sentence, has to go through thousands of pages of evidence, a process legal experts and officials close to the court say could take months. Any execution would have to be carried out within 30 days of all appeals being exhausted. Saddam's lawyers, who have dismissed the verdict as "victors' justice", have said he will be executed. VOTERS PUNISH REPUBLICANS Riding to victory on a wave of public discontent over Iraq, Democrats swept Republicans from power in the U.S. House of Representatives and moved to the brink of control in the Senate, which would give them a hold on all of Congress. The United States has 150,000 U.S. troops suffering daily casualties in Iraq, where sectarian violence and a bloody insurgency have left many fearing the country is descending into civil war more than three years after the invasion. At least 2,837 troops have died in Iraq since the war. Bush, who has said he will consider changes in tactics but not strategy in Iraq, still has broad constitutional leeway in foreign affairs in the two years left in office. But Democratic control of the House means they will have more influence, increasing pressure for an exit strategy in Iraq. "Tonight is a great victory for the American people," said outspoken liberal Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who is likely to become the first female speaker of the House. "Today the American people voted for change, and they voted for Democrats to take our country in a new direction." Christopher Preble, director of foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, said: "Staying the course is no longer an option for Bush, not strategically, not politically." There was no immediate reaction from the Iraqi government on the results of the U.S. elections, though Maliki told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Wednesday that he did not foresee any major policy change. Relations between Baghdad and Washington have strained in recent weeks over perceived pressure from U.S. officials to set deadlines for progress. However, Maliki's government has announced it plans to ask for an extension of a United Nations mandate authorising the presence of foreign troops in Iraq. Bush could find a face-saving way to start extricating the United States from Iraq when a bipartisan commission co-chaired by Bush family loyalist James Baker presents recommendations. But Bush, clinging to his with-us-or-against-us worldview and not having to worry about re-election, may hold firm, believing as he often insists that history will vindicate him. Bob Woodward's book "State of Denial" quotes him as vowing to stick it out in Iraq even if his wife Laura and his dog Barney are the only supporters he has left. (Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick in Washington)
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