Get on with it!

Iraq: Dijail Attacks Linked to Saddam Trial

It would appear from the above article that the residents of Dijail are now being terrorised by Saddam loyalists because they are potential witnesses against him:

Dozens of residents of Dijail, about 65 kilometres north of Baghdad in the Salaheddin province, have been abducted or killed in the last two months while travelling along the road to the capital.

The attacks are widely believed to be connected to the case against Saddam and seven of his associates, who are charged with killing 148 people in the town in 1982 following a failed assassination attempt against the former dictator.

The kidnappings and murders began in late March at makeshift roadblocks set up by insurgents near al-Mishahida, a village about 45 kilometres away which is a known centre of the Sunni Arab insurgency....

Some in the town are now regretting their insistence that Saddam stand trial for the 1982 killings.

"If we would have known that this would have happened to us, we would never filed a complaint against Saddam and his deputies," said one man, Ali Essa.

"We've paid the price twice - first in the Eighties and again today."

Read the article for more detail.

This is terrible. I have said before that the longer his trial and execution take (is there anyone who thinks the trial process won't end in that?) the more mayhem there will be from mad loyalists who think there is some hope while ever their leader is alive.

It never seems to be suggested that there is anyone else to fill the vacuum that Saddam's death will create for his followers, so hopefully their motivation for taking revenge attacks will fade quickly.

So - they just have to get with the trial with greater haste than that displayed so far.