Saddam Hussein Trial (DVR blogging experiment)

1:58AM 21 Dec 05
Just started listening to CNN International's coverage of Saddam Hussein's trial.

Saddam insisting on Noon prayers (despite Judges admonition to continue with trial), and so far attentive, subdued used to describe Saddam

also co defendants UPBEAT

and the coverage tape delayed 'somewhat censored' according to reporter Anish Raman.

I'll update throughout, give impressions.

UPDATE 2:10AM
They just showed Saddam's request for noon prayer and continue with Ali Haj Hussein Al-Haydari's testimony about being stripped naked, threatened with rape and starvation of his village. Plus he mentions many of his family members both men and women who died in prison or due to starvation.

Descriptions of forced 'donations' of money and jewelry (presumably for a 'Palace' fund for poor Uncle Saddam)

UPDATE 2:25AM
Judge questioning witness about his direct experience with the defendants. He testifies to direct contact with many of the co defendants and once with Saddam himself.

Then he continues with naming his 7 brothers killed at by the intelligence services and also mentions that they wouldn't get death certificates or bodies so they couldn't be buried properly.

UPDATE 2:33AM
Mark Ellis, CNNi's expert on International Law mentions Judge preventing defendants from directly questioning witness and Mr. Ellis said this differed from earlier in the trial when he felt that some witnesses were allowed to be questioned by the defendants.

UPDATE 2:38AM
Najib Al-Nuaimi questions witness about his role in the assasination attempt in 1986 [update: 1982 attempt, not 1986, see below] that lead to this decimation of the village. The witness responds that he was only 14 (He's younger than me!) at the time and wasn't involved.

The next line of questioning was did the witness observe any executions, and he answers no, but he saw the evidence of torture and he knew that they didn't come home from jail.

break time, I'll catch up back with what I missed later.

UPDATE 5:41AM Best laid plans..... I fell asleep, and my cable glitched so I'm missing some testimony, and besides I'm no expert, and the running translation is difficult to follow at times to say the least (Arabic strikes me as a language of tales and not testimony, so many required repititions, rote patterns, and florid digressions, at least that's the view from an outsider trying to follow a translator's troubles in translating from the arabesque curlicues of that language to the straight lines of English)

This trial will go on much longer and people better able to put this into perspective will do so.

And the reporting of this report seems fair with what I heard, but a picture (above) reveals a thousand biases, sometimes (they didn't call him defiant, but why not show him as the pathetic, broken, awful, petty, evil, scoundrel he is (also I would guess that more good pictures of Saddam Hussein have been published by AP or Reuters photographers than have been of Pres. George Bush).

UPDATE AGAIN: I mixed up some facts (Al Haydari was describing events from 1982, not 1986 (or he was describing events that happened over many years, but the assasination attempt was from 1982)