I just caught this on the reuters-apparently saddam may not face verdict on nov 5th. bush may not get his election eve surprise or whatever. it sounds like, from this article, the iraqi govt is under great pressure to have the verdict before the midterms so bush can get a "bounce." a important story to watch in the comming days.....
Saddam verdict may be delayed: prosecutor By Mariam Karouny
Sun Oct 29, 3:41 PM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A court trying Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity could delay its verdict by a few days, the chief prosecutor said on Sunday, in a move that would shift the announcement until after U.S. midterm elections.
The U.S.-backed court had been due to deliver a verdict on November 5, two days before U.S. elections in which President George W. Bush's Republicans fear they could lose control of Congress.
The chief prosecutor, Jaafar al-Moussawi, said the Iraqi High Tribunal was still working on the judgment. "We will know a day or two before the trial if they are ready to announce the verdict," Moussawi told Reuters.
Saddam could go to the gallows if he is found guilty over his role in the killing of 148 Shi'ite Muslims in the village of Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt.
A guilty verdict could reflect positively on Bush as a vindication of his policy to overthrow Saddam in 2003. The former Iraqi president is also on trial separately on charges of genocide against the country's ethnic Kurds in the late 1980s.
U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad denied Washington had any say over the timing of the verdict or the court's decisions, saying the American role was limited to logistics and security.
"The United States had nothing to do with the selection of the date and we don't know whether the judges have come to a judgment or not," Khalilzad told CNN in an interview.
News of the possible delay follows a week of public spats between U.S. officials and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Maliki's aides say he is furious at U.S. pressure on him ahead of the elections as the American public turns increasingly away from Bush's Iraq policy.
Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi warned a death sentence against the former leader would plunge Iraq into a "full scale civil war and allow Iran to take over Iraq and will have dire consequences for the stability" of the region.
.............see more here: http://news.yahoo.com/...