Iraqi Judge Targeted, Plot Foiled (updated)

Via AP/Yahoo:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi police arrested eight Sunni Arabs for allegedly plotting to kill the judge who prepared the indictment of Saddam Hussein, authorities said Sunday, the day before the ousted leader's trial for crimes against humanity resumes.

The "plotters" (why can't AP get it right?) were apparently under orders:

The eight alleged plotters from Iraq's Sunni Arab minority were apprehended Saturday in the northern city of Kirkuk, police Col. Anwar Qadir said.

He said they were carrying written instructions from a former top Saddam deputy, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, ordering them to kill investigating judge Raed Juhi, who prepared the case against Saddam and forwarded it to the trial court in July.

Al-Douri is the highest ranking member of the Saddam regime still at large and is believed to be at least the symbolic leader of Saddam loyalists fighting U.S. forces and Iraq's new government.

If this keeps up it's going to be a long trial. In the meantime:

Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark arrived in Baghdad to help the defense but might not be allowed in court Monday when the first of up to 35 prosecution witnesses take the stand.

What is it about this guy? Is there a genocidal maniac that he wouldn't defend?

Update (8:00 am 28 Nov 05): Maybe it will be a longer trial than I thought:

Saddam Trial Resumes, Then Is Postponed

After a short session during which the first testimony was read into the record, Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin adjourned the trial until Dec. 5 to allow time to find replacements for two defense lawyers who were slain and another who fled the country after he was wounded.

Saddam's strategy appears to be "complain about everything":

The trial of Saddam Hussein for alleged crimes against humanity resumed in a heavily guarded courtroom Monday with the former Iraqi president angrily complaining about having to walk up four flights of stairs under foreign guard.

I really don't think he's going to get a lot of sympathy from his bellyaching, though.