The trial would proceed in the absence of the defendant because the defendant would refuse to cooperate. They might as well sentence them without a trial.

There is no way you can have a trial in a country where there is absolutely no authority. That is the situation in Baghdad today.

We have not had any charge laid formally against the accused, nor have we had any evidence as to what the elements are of the charge. There has not been a single document served to the defense on the charges, not any shred of evidence, nothing.

It's one thing to topple a regime, but it's another thing to dismantle a state and not replace it with an apparatus to maintain order.

How can one review thousands and thousands of pages in just a matter of a few days? This court has been deliberating with the evidence for the past year, but it has been keeping it away from the defense, which is not fair.

The trial is totally meaningless. It's a political issue, not a legal issue. The procedures and the outcome were decided a long time ago. The people behind this want a lynching; they don't want justice.