| What's New:
April 15, 2009, C-SPAN broadcast a
panel discussion of “Enemy of the State” and its relevance to the upcoming
trials of Radovan Karadzic in The Hague and the Khmer Rouge leaders in Cambodia.
Watch Now>
View the discussion of "Enemy of the State" featuring co-author Michael Scharf, Nuremberg Prosecutor Henry King, and National Public Radio commentator Daniel Maulthrop, held at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage on December 10, 2008.
"[Enemy of the State] offers a detailed, inside account of the court's creation and its proceedings, including gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trial itself and legal analysis of its decision. The book offers many insights and revelations omitted by contemporary media accounts, and places the tribunal in its broader international law context."
--The Volokh Conspiracy Blog (Read more)
On the two year anniversary of Saddam's execution, WCPN interviews Michael Scharf. Listen Now> Gulf News, book review of "Enemy of the State," October 24, 2008, at p. 24
"When Saddam was being tried in Baghdad, no one needed to issue orders for a curfew, as the people remained at home, their eyes glued to the televisions.
'Enemy of the State,' a book authored by Newton and Scharf, has the same effect on readers. The book is a chronicle of the trial and a behind-the-scenes account of its goings-on - where the phrase 'one of the most important chaotic trials in history' seems to become an understatement." Read more> Watch Michael Newton on WSMV 4 News with Dennis Ferrier
Watch the “Enemy of the State” Panel Discussion
Listen to an interview with Newton and Scharf discuss their book and the Saddam trial on PRI "The World", July 16, 2008. (mp3 file)
Listen to the authors read excerpts from the book.
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Sept. 11 Suspects Want To Confess
Defendants: Guilty Plea Decision Came On Election Day
By Michael P. Tremoglie, The Bulletin
Published: Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused architect of 9-11, and his four co-defendants told a military judge yesterday they wanted to immediately confess to their crimes.
In a letter the judge read aloud in court, the five defendants said they "request an immediate hearing session to announce our confessions."
The five said they decided on this strategy the day President-elect Barack Obama was elected. Mr. Obama has promised to close down the operation and trials at Guantanamo.
Some think the guilty plea is a ruse by the defendants. They think the accused terrorists want to be executed and gain martyrdom. Confessing their guilt is a way to accomplish this.
However, if it is a ploy it will be unsuccessful, according to Michael Newton, professor of International Criminal Law at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., and author of the new book Enemy of the State: The Trial and Execution of Saddam Hussein. Professor Newton was formerly in the Office of War Crimes Issues at U.S. Department of State.
"If they're looking to be martyrs, this guilty plea just might backfire on them," he said. "A guilty plea is a mitigating factor. The judge will consider it when sentencing and might not give them the death penalty."
Mr. Newton said it was analogous to the situation that con fronted Saddam Hussein when he was found guilty and sentenced to death in Iraq. He requested that he be shot. "Why wasn't Saddam Hussein shot? Because he wanted to be," said Mr. Newton, who also taught Iraqi jurists. Mr. Mohammed and another defendant have said in the past that they would welcome execution as a path to martyrdom. But the announcement came as a surprise to some of the select group of relatives of the 2,973 people killed on Sept. 11, 2001 who were there to witness the proceedings.
Alice Hoagland, of Redwood Estates, Calif., was there for her son Mark Bingham, who is believed to be one of the passengers who fought hijackers on United Flight 93 before it crashed in rural Pennsylvania. She said the defendants' announcement was "like a real bombshell to me."She told reporters during a break that she hoped Mr. Obama, "an even-minded and just man," would ensure the five alleged mass murderers are punished. She did not elaborate. She said she welcomed the opportunity to see the trial because it was a "historic" moment. But she said it did not heal the loss of her son.
"The U.S. is doing its best to prove to the world that this is a fair proceeding," said Hamilton Peterson of Bethesda, Md., whose parents Donald and Jean were on United Flight 93. "It was stunning to see today how not only do the defendants comprehend their extensive rights ... they are explicitly asking the court to hurry up because they are bored with the due process they are receiving."
The victims' family members watched from a gallery at the rear of the cavernous, high-security courtroom on the U.S. Navy base, and were not allowed to address the defendants.
The pleas were withdrawn when the judge said that two of the defendants must have a psychiatric examination and cannot enter pleas until they are completed. The defendants want to be tried at the same time so they will wait until the examinations are completed and make their pleas together.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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