Saddam witnesses admit they were paid to lie for the former dictator

LA Times:

The trial of Saddam Hussein reached a moment of high drama Monday when the judge read statements from four defense witnesses recanting their previous testimony and swearing that the former Iraqi leader's defense team had bribed them to lie in court.

Khalil Dulaimi, one of the lead defense attorneys, paid hundreds of dollars and promised lifelong salaries to the witnesses in exchange for false statements favorable to the defense, the statements say.

During clandestine meetings in Syria and Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, Dulaimi and others conspired with the witnesses, telling them what to say in court, according to the statements. None of the four witnesses were named or appeared in court. The defense quickly countercharged that they had been intimidated by the judge and prosecution to change their testimony. Hussein and seven co-defendants are accused of crimes against humanity in connection with a crackdown on the Shiite Muslim town of Dujayl after a 1982 assassination attempt there on then-President Hussein. The defendants are accused of participating in the torture and killing of 148 villagers. In recent weeks, the defense team has questioned the integrity of chief prosecutor Jaafar Mousawi, charging that he appeared in Dujayl two years ago at an anniversary celebration marking the attempt on Hussein's life. That strategy appeared to backfire Monday amid the new and explosive testimony.

'I was promised that they will secure a job for me in Syria and that if I would not give my testimony, they would kill my family,' the first witness said in the statement. The statement says Dulaimi told the witness to testify in court that he had seen Mousawi in Dujayl and that the prosecutor had tried to bribe him. The witness also said he was given $500 and told he wouldn't be committing perjury because the tribunal had no authority.

The second witness said his son had been kidnapped. He recounted that members of the defense team told him: 'You have three days to decide whether to testify or not. Otherwise, we'll kill your youngest son.' Among other things, he was asked to say he had seen Mousawi in Dujayl at the 2004 celebration. 'They then made a rehearsal of that testimony so I would not forget it,' the witness said in the statement.

The third witness said the defense team had rented an apartment for him in Syria and that he was visited there by Dulaimi. The witness alleged that the defense lawyer gave him money and promised a meeting with Hussein and the former leader's wife. The witness also said he was promised a way out of Iraq and a lifelong salary if he would place Mousawi at the assassination anniversary.

'They told us we had to say inside the court that this man is Mousawi,' he said. The witness also said in his statement that Dulaimi had given him a list of names of 21 Dujayl victims and told him to testify in court that they were still alive. The fourth witness said he had met Dulaimi in Syria and was given $500. He was given room and board and told not to return to Baghdad until it was time to testify, he said. He too said he was given a list of victims' names and told to say they were alive, adding, 'I don't know for sure that they are still living.' Hussein looked despondent during the reading, resting his chin in his hands. Dulaimi protested afterward, 'We didn't reach out to anybody.'

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This is not surprising. The evidence is overwhelming that Saddam ordered the killing of people in the village. That he paid people to lie for him is just further evidence of his guilt and his lack of morals.