Middle Eastern Affairs

» Daniel Workman - Why Would Militants Kill Saddam's Lawyer?

Hi Am,

Help me to understand the reasons for murdering a lawyer who is defending perhaps the most committed anti-American on the planet, perhaps second only to Bin Laden.

Is the point that the lawyer may have been in collusion with the U.S.?

Or do the militants want to cause chaos, thereby showing that the situation in Iraq is out of control?

Your thoughts?

Cheers!

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» am_johal - Why Would Militants Kill Saddam's Lawyer?

Depending on which faction they represent, the militants want to ultimately delegitimize any process that is perceived as American in the region. Most of these groups have no love of Saddam Hussein and the trial itself has turned in to a sideshow.

To some extent, those who engage in a legal case which is widely perceived in Iraq as an American-led show trial, become the targets of militants. They have gained a profile by being in media and killing them gives the militants broad publicity around the idea that they are destabilizing the American presence in the region.

Without greater security protection, more deaths of high profile Iraqis are likely to follow in the coming months. Many people connect the recent killings with the US killing of Iraqi al-Quaeda leader al-Zarqawi.

-- posted by am_johal

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