Saddam's trial fair, prosecutor in Toledo says

11/16/2007

A federal prosecutor in Toledo who helped investigate the role the late Saddam Hussein played in suppressing an uprising in Iraq recently discussed whether the dictator got a fair trial.

The discussion occurred during a taping this week of the television program Deadline Now, which airs at 8:30 tonight and 2 a.m. tomorrow on WGTE-TV, Channel 30.

"He did get a fair trial," Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Karol said. "Was it perfect? Absolutely not."

Mr. Karol was an adviser to an Iraqi investigative judge in Iraq from September, 2006, until March of this year as part of the U.S. Justice Department's effort to assist the Iraqi investigation of the suppression that killed tens of thousands of Shiites soon after the first Gulf War.

The trial's imperfection was associated with the Iraqi legal system, which incorporated international laws about war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity specifically to try the Saddam regime, Mr. Karol said.

He was interviewed by Jack Lessenberry, ombudsman for The Blade.