Trial for Saddam Hussein and his associates may begin this spring. This is a really interesting article on how it will unfold. Some of the trials will be televised.

One curious note:

But the Western legal expert said Iraqi court procedures, based on civil law, should prevent attempts to turn the proceedings into political theater. First, he said, the defense will be handled by lawyers, and not, as in Mr. Milosevic's case, by the defendant. Beyond that, the wide powers granted to the judges to select witnesses and direct prosecution and defense lawyers, as well as the absence of the adversary system used in American trials, would make the tribunal's hearings "more expeditious" than the tribunal in The Hague.

"You're not going to see a Johnnie Cochrane cross-examining somebody in the manner of the O. J. case," he said.

Six released Kuwaiti prisoners, held in Afghanistan, have made serious abuse allegations against U.S. soldiers:

Six Kuwaiti prisoners said they were severely beaten, given electric shocks and sodomized by U.S. forces in Afghanistan before they confessed to fighting with the Taliban and were sent to the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, their lawyer said Monday.

Captured in Pakistan or Afghanistan about three years ago, the Kuwaiti men were taken to U.S. bases in Afghanistan where they were hung by their wrists, beaten with chains and subjected to electric shock, said Tom Wilner, who represents a dozen Kuwaiti captives.

Truly disgusting. Time Magazine has a new report on the medical disarray at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The report is based on interviews with medical staff and a document it obtained about medical treatment at the prison and the use of restraints by the Army in Iraq medical facilities. From a press release received by e-mail:

Medical personnel and others who worked at Abu Ghraib prison tell TIME that, with straitjackets unavailable, tethers-like the leash held by Private Lynndie England-were put to use at Abu Ghraib to control unruly or mentally disturbed detainees, sometimes with the concurrence of a doctor. That such a restraint-which is supposed to be placed around legs, arms or torsos-ended up instead around a man's neck seems to be a case of a medically condoned practice degenerating into abuse, TIME's Adam Zagorin reports.

But there was also medical disarray at the prison: amputations performed by nondoctors, chest tubes recycled from the dead to the living, a medic ordered, by one account, to cover up a homicide. That in itself would have made Abu Ghraib a scandal even without the acts of torture inflicted on the inmates by their guards.

If you can't access the article at the link above, you can read it a snippet here and a full description here.

by TChris

Voting irregularities in the United States during the last two presidential elections produced angry commentary but little action. Not so in Iraq, where disenfranchised voters took to the streets.

Hundreds of Iraqis shouted slogans and waved Iraqi flags Sunday outside Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone to protest alleged irregularities they say prevented tens of thousands of people in Mosul from voting in last weekend's landmark elections. ... Electoral commission officials in Baghdad have acknowledged that many polling sites never opened Jan. 30 or opened late because of what they said were security concerns.

Sharia law may be coming to Iraq. This certainly isn't what the Bush Administration had in mind for the new Iraqi government. But Bush-backed candidate Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is behind in the vote tally to the United Iraqi Alliance.

It was the country's most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who initially demanded speedy elections, knowing that a popular vote would bring to power a legitimate government run by the majority Shiites. When the Bush administration objected, the ayatollah forced the White House to back down by calling protesters into the streets of Iraq.

Sabrina Harman is one of the remaining Abu Ghraib guards facing criminal charges over the abuse. The court has dropped the most severe charge against her, that of watching indecent acts. Her remaining charges involve:

She is accused of conspiring with other guards to abuse a group of detainees in early November 2003. Specific incidents of alleged abuse by Harman include writing "rapeist" on the leg of one detainee and forcing another to stand on a box with wires in his hands and telling him he would be electrocuted if he fell off.

She is also accused of taking photographs of a group of naked detainees who had been ordered to masturbate.

Who could forget this picture?

Sgt. Javal Davis has been sentenced by a military jury to six months in jail and a bad conduct discharge for abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib. He admitted the abuse and left it for the jury to determine his punishment. He could have received 6 1/2 years on the pleas, but the prosecution stipulated to no more than 18 months. Here's what he admitted:

The former Abu Ghraib guard confessed earlier this week to stepping on the hands and feet of a group of handcuffed detainees and falling with his full weight on top of them.

He had been charged with battery, dereliction of duty and lying to Army investigators. His lawyer argued:

Bergrin said Davis will forever have a felony conviction on his record, and that he has performed 10 months of menial duties, including painting curbs and picking up trash, while confined to a U.S. base in Iraq after his arrest.

"How much more do we kick him when he's down on the ground?" he asked.

What do you think, is it a fair sentence or too light?

Here's an interview with Spc. Aidan Delgado, a conscientious objector and Reservist who spent six months of a one-year tour of Iraq at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. [via Tena at First Draft.]

This doesn't sound good: Shots were fired during the kidnapping of Italian journalist Giulaina Sgrena.

Giuliana Sgrena, a journalist for the newspaper Il Manifesto, was seized shortly before 2 p.m. by gunmen who blocked her car near the Baghdad University compound at the Jadriyah bridge, located across the Tigris river from the Green Zone, police said.

The woman had gone to the neighborhood to interview refugees from Fallujah and then went on to Friday prayer services at a nearby mosque, colleague Barbara Schiavulli, an Italian radio journalist, told The Associated Press. Schiavulli said she received a call from Sgrena’s cell phone when the kidnapping was apparently under way.

“I couldn’t hear anyone talking ... I heard people shooting” and the sound of people splashing through the puddles left by a heavy overnight rain, Schiavulli said. “I kept saying, ’Giuliana, Giuliana,” and no answer,” Schiavulli said.

Italy is working on finding her.

by TChris

If and when Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis returns to the United States, you'd better hope he doesn't move next door. If he does, mind your manners. Mattis has a serious attitude problem.

According to an audio recording of General Mattis's remarks obtained by The Associated Press, he said: "Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right upfront with you, I like brawling."

He added, "You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil."

General Mattis continued: "You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."

Mattis has been "counseled" to be less honest about the delight he takes in killing people who don't pass his "manhood" test.

Iraq is demanding an investigation into yesterday's "riot" at Camp Bucca in Iraq during which U.S. guards opened fire and killed four detainees.

U.S. guards who shot dead four inmates should be put on trial if found to have used excessive force in quelling a riot at a military detention camp, Iraq's human rights minister said on Tuesday. Bakhtiar Amin said he believed two U.S. troops had fired on rioters on Monday but he did not know why. His ministry had sent a delegation to the camp in southern Iraq to investigate.

"If we are convinced there was no justification for the degree of force used then we want them to be tried," Amin told Reuters. "That is what the American side says as well."

This isn't the first time guards at Camp Bucca have been investigated for prisoner abuse. One former prisoner called it a "torture camp." From August, 2003:

Al Jazeera reports on a video received in connection with a claim that an Iraqi militant group shot down the British plane that crashed Sunday, killing 10 soldiers.

The video, issued by the military wing of the 1920 Revolution Brigades, also showed an explosion at a distance and what appeared to be the debris of a plane on the ground. Aljazeera said on Monday it had received a copy of the tape from the group.

British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said in a statement: "We are aware of reports that the aircraft may have been shot down, but we are not in a position to come to any conclusions until the investigation is complete."

More from The Guardian here and here.