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US military tried to censor coverage of Saddam hearing
By Robert Fisk in Baghdad - 03 July 2004
A team of US military officers acted as censors over all coverage of the hearings of Saddam Hussein and his henchmen on Thursday, destroying videotape of Saddam in chains and deleting the entire recorded legal submissions of 11 senior members of his former regime.
An American network cameraman who demanded the return of his tapes, which contained audios of the hearings, said he was told by a US officer: "No. They belong to us now. And anyway, we don't trust you guys."
According to American journalists present at the 30-minute hearing of Saddam and 11 former ministers at Baghdad airport, an American admiral in civilian clothes told camera crews that the judge had demanded that there should be no sound recording of the initial hearing. He ordered crews to unplug their sound wires. Several of the six crews present pretended to obey the instruction. "We learnt later," one of them said, "that the judge didn't order us to turn off our sound. The Americans lied - it was they who wanted no sound. The judge wanted sound and pictures."
Initially, crews were told that a US Department of Defence camera crew would provide the sound for their silent tapes. But when CNN and CBS crews went to the former occupation authority headquarters - now the US embassy - they found that three US officers ordered the censorship of tape which showed Saddam being led into the courtroom with a chain round his waist which was connected to handcuffs round his wrists. The Americans gave no reason for this censorship.
"They were rude and they didn't care," another American television crew member said. "They were running the show. The Americans decided what the world could and could not see of this trial - and it was meant to be an Iraqi trial. There was a British official in the courtroom whom we were not allowed to take pictures of. The other men were US troops who had been ordered to wear ordinary clothes so that they were civilians' in the court."
Three US officers viewed the tapes taken by two CNN cameras, Al-Djezaira' (a local, American-funded Iraqi channel), and the US government. "Fortunately, they were lazy and they didn't check all the tapes properly so we got our audio' through in the satellite to London," one of the crew members told The Independent yesterday. "I had pretended to unplug the sound from the camera but the man who claimed he was a US admiral didn't understand cameras and we were able to record sound. The American censors at the embassy were inattentive - that's how we got the sound out."
The only thing the Americans managed to censor from most of the tapes was Saddam's comment that "this is theatre - Bush is the real criminal."
Originally posted by Brian0U812
It is a joke. Saddam should have been "shot while attempting to escape". That would have made things so much smoother for all parties involved.
Originally posted by kozmo
Was Saddam kidding when he gassed over 100,000 Kurds? Was Saddam joking when he slaughtered tens of thousands of Shi'ites and buried them in mass graves? Were people rolling around on the floors laughing as Saddam ordered to have political dissidents dropped into shredders feet first so that he could hear their screams?
If Saddam's trial is a joke, I hope the punchline is his execution!!!
Originally posted by NothingMakesSense
Originally posted by Brian0U812
It is a joke. Saddam should have been "shot while attempting to escape". That would have made things so much smoother for all parties involved.
Hey, could still happen. I wouldn't be surprised if the guards to the courthouse "accidentally" let someone in with a gun and he shot Saddam. Of course, it's equally likely that Saddam will either escape or go free. What a farce.
Originally posted by kozmo
Was Saddam kidding when he gassed over 100,000 Kurds?
Originally posted by The Merovingian
Any gassing was only done with chemicals provided by US and British companies! Don't overlook the Turks as they were responsible for the alleged killing of many of these Kurds. And what did the USA do, but turn a blind eye.
Originally posted by The Merovingian
As for the mass graves....where are they??
The same BS was pulled in Kosovo when they claimed that there was mass genocide by Milosovic. Only, they didn't dig up any mass graves did they? Sure a few dead bodies were found here and there but nothing that the Western media puppets claimed and this surely did not justify the NATO goons from bombing the hell out of Yugoslavia.
Originally posted by The Merovingian
Dropped into shredders feet first??
It sounds curiously familiar to what the US government pulled prior to their entry into WW1. Only I believe then they were telling the US people that the Germans were ripping babies' arms off. It worked as the US people slowly backed the involvement in the war but it didn't really happen. Can't you see what they are trying to do?
Originally posted by The Merovingian
Any gassing was only done with chemicals provided by US and British companies! Don't overlook the Turks as they were responsible for the alleged killing of many of these Kurds. And what did the USA do, but turn a blind eye.
As for the mass graves....where are they??
The same BS was pulled in Kosovo when they claimed that there was mass genocide by Milosovic. Only, they didn't dig up any mass graves did they? Sure a few dead bodies were found here and there but nothing that the Western media puppets claimed and this surely did not justify the NATO goons from bombing the hell out of Yugoslavia.
And as for the killing of people, you will find that the US has killed more people worldwide through their twisted foreign policy and covert operations than any supposed dictator from Iraq. Come on, give me a break.
Originally posted by nyarlathotep
Merovingian, I truly feel real sorry for you, I really do. Where was the personal insult towards you?
They have identified thousands of bodies, check with the Red Cross, they are the ones doing the exhumation of the bodies.
Originally posted by The Merovingian
Why would they keep Saddam alive? I am not sure. Maybe Esoterica is right in that the real Saddam was killed or disposed of. Somehow though, I don't think so. My opinion is that there was a deal made between the US, Russia and Saddam to effectively hand over his country to the Anglo-American oil companies and their 'for hire' military. Make it look like a real nasty war, blah, blah, blah. Why is it though that since they allegedly captured Saddam to the present time, we had not seen any other video footage or anything else for that matter except for the staged medical examination video that they constantly replay?? Just curious, and once again...my opinion.
Originally posted by The Merovingian
I do not in any way accept the rhetoric which comes from the Red Cross, the World Health Organization or the UN. They are all outlets for the controlling globalists and their mandates of operation fall directly under the Rockefeller-IG Farben pharmaceutical-industrial cartel.
Originally posted by The Merovingian
While I can appreciate that some Kurdish folk lost their lives, can it be determined with absolute certainty that they weren't killed by the rival Turks or as collateral damage during the Iran - Iraq war? I don't think so. Furthermore, how many innocent men, women and children have died in Iraq since the implementation in the early/mid 90's of the illegal sanctions spearheaded by the US?? Far more than any gassing I would say.
Originally posted by The Merovingian
Why would they keep Saddam alive? I am not sure. Maybe Esoterica is right in that the real Saddam was killed or disposed of. Somehow though, I don't think so. My opinion is that there was a deal made between the US, Russia and Saddam to effectively hand over his country to the Anglo-American oil companies and their 'for hire' military. Make it look like a real nasty war, blah, blah, blah. Why is it though that since they allegedly captured Saddam to the present time, we had not seen any other video footage or anything else for that matter except for the staged medical examination video that they constantly replay?? Just curious, and once again...my opinion.