BAGHDAD, Oct 29 (Reuters) - A court trying Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity could delay its verdict by a few days, the chief prosecutor said on Sunday, in a move that would shift the announcement until after U.S. midterm elections.
The U.S.-backed court had been due to deliver a verdict on Nov. 5, two days before U.S. elections in which President George W. Bush's Republicans fear they could lose control of Congress.The chief prosecutor, Jaafar al-Moussawi, said the Iraqi High Tribunal was still working on the judgment. "We will know a day or two before the trial if they are ready to announce the verdict," Moussawi told Reuters.
Saddam could go to the gallows if he is found guilty over his role in the killing of 148 Shi'ite Muslims in the village of Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt.
A guilty verdict could reflect positively on Bush as a vindication of his policy to overthrow Saddam in 2003. The former Iraqi president is also on trial separately on charges of genocide against the country's ethnic Kurds in the late 1980s.
Could someone please explain to me why a conviction of Saddam would be a vindication for Bush? What does the killing of 148 Shi'ites in 1982 have to do with the war on terror?
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