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American Morning
Saddam Likely to be Indicted for War Crimes
Aired December 15, 2003 - 07:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Now that Saddam Hussein is in U.S. custody, what is his legal status? For that, we turn to CNN's senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin.
Jeffrey -- good morning.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.
COOPER: First, Donald Rumsfeld on "60 Minutes" last night said that Saddam Hussein is being treated as a POW, though he may not necessarily be one. Do you know what his status is?
TOOBIN: Well, the reason he's a POW is -- I mean, the way he's saying treating him like a POW is that he is not being treated with dignity and respect. He's not being tortured.
One of the key distinctions about POWs is that they are not supposed to be interrogated in great detail. That's why the people in Guantanamo Bay are called detainees, not prisoners.
COOPER: Right.
TOOBIN: Because they are being interrogated. They are interrogating Saddam Hussein, so that's why they are leaving a little room about whether he is actually a POW.
COOPER: Right. Rumsfeld basically said it's going to be up to lawyers probably from the Defense Department to decide, and what they are going to look at is the degree that they believe that Saddam Hussein was involved actively in the ongoing insurgency.
TOOBIN: That's right. If you're a detainee, if you were involved, an unlawful combatant, that's the term.
COOPER: Let's talk about what may happen down the road, some sort of tribunal -- international or it could be in Iraq. What's more likely?
TOOBIN: The initial statements seem to be that this will be an Iraqi tribunal. Just last week, by coincidence, the Governing Council in Iraq set up a structure. It's a very basic structure. No one knows precisely how it would work.
Interestingly, in the creation of this tribunal, it's said there could be international advisors to it. There will be a lot of pressure from the international community to make this a fully international tribunal like in the Hague. But I don't think the administration seems very interested in that.
COOPER: For political reasons? Because in the past they have shown sort of a dislike, I guess, maybe not too strong.
TOOBIN: Absolutely. I mean, this administration has rejected participation in the International Criminal Court. They're not wild about the prosecution of Slobodan Milosevic. Very importantly, those trials in the Hague do not have the death penalty. This is an administration very committed to the death penalty. The Iraqi tribunal does have the death penalty. So, I think for all of those reasons, they are going to probably keep their distance from a true international prosecution.
COOPER: And the No. 1 thing is it's got to be very public.
TOOBIN: You know, one of the things that's worth remembering is that the Nuremberg trials are what made the Holocaust well-known. It's only these public trials that really define the legacy of these kinds of defendants. And I think a public televised trial will be absolutely mandatory.
COOPER: All right, Jeffrey Toobin, thanks very much.
TOOBIN: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired December 15, 2003 - 07:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Now that Saddam Hussein is in U.S. custody, what is his legal status? For that, we turn to CNN's senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin.
Jeffrey -- good morning.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.
COOPER: First, Donald Rumsfeld on "60 Minutes" last night said that Saddam Hussein is being treated as a POW, though he may not necessarily be one. Do you know what his status is?
TOOBIN: Well, the reason he's a POW is -- I mean, the way he's saying treating him like a POW is that he is not being treated with dignity and respect. He's not being tortured.
One of the key distinctions about POWs is that they are not supposed to be interrogated in great detail. That's why the people in Guantanamo Bay are called detainees, not prisoners.
COOPER: Right.
TOOBIN: Because they are being interrogated. They are interrogating Saddam Hussein, so that's why they are leaving a little room about whether he is actually a POW.
COOPER: Right. Rumsfeld basically said it's going to be up to lawyers probably from the Defense Department to decide, and what they are going to look at is the degree that they believe that Saddam Hussein was involved actively in the ongoing insurgency.
TOOBIN: That's right. If you're a detainee, if you were involved, an unlawful combatant, that's the term.
COOPER: Let's talk about what may happen down the road, some sort of tribunal -- international or it could be in Iraq. What's more likely?
TOOBIN: The initial statements seem to be that this will be an Iraqi tribunal. Just last week, by coincidence, the Governing Council in Iraq set up a structure. It's a very basic structure. No one knows precisely how it would work.
Interestingly, in the creation of this tribunal, it's said there could be international advisors to it. There will be a lot of pressure from the international community to make this a fully international tribunal like in the Hague. But I don't think the administration seems very interested in that.
COOPER: For political reasons? Because in the past they have shown sort of a dislike, I guess, maybe not too strong.
TOOBIN: Absolutely. I mean, this administration has rejected participation in the International Criminal Court. They're not wild about the prosecution of Slobodan Milosevic. Very importantly, those trials in the Hague do not have the death penalty. This is an administration very committed to the death penalty. The Iraqi tribunal does have the death penalty. So, I think for all of those reasons, they are going to probably keep their distance from a true international prosecution.
COOPER: And the No. 1 thing is it's got to be very public.
TOOBIN: You know, one of the things that's worth remembering is that the Nuremberg trials are what made the Holocaust well-known. It's only these public trials that really define the legacy of these kinds of defendants. And I think a public televised trial will be absolutely mandatory.
COOPER: All right, Jeffrey Toobin, thanks very much.
TOOBIN: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
