From the murky depths of occluded grags and fetid recesses, the perverted hords of cockroach legions belched in unison as their new king was exhalted upon the putrid carcass of his executed predecessor......
Man, talk about a nightmare.
But something similar has happened in real time, unfortunately.
Al Qaeda in Iraq named a successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
"The shura council of al Qaeda in Iraq unanimously agreed on Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, to be a successor to Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," said a statement signed by al Qaeda and posted on a Web site frequently used by Islamist militants.
"Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir is a good brother, has a history in jihad and is knowledgeable. We ask God that he … continue what Sheikh Abu Musab began," it said.
Muhajir, little known in the West, was not among the names that al Qaeda experts had expected to succeed Zarqawi.
Al Qaeda makes up about five percent of Iraq's Sunni Arab insurgency but its suicide bombers have been responsible for the most spectacular violence, sometimes killing over 100 people in a single attack.
Although U.S. and Iraqi leaders have hailed Zarqawi's death in an American air strike as a major blow against al Qaeda, no one has suggested the 500-pound bombs that ended his life will halt the violence in Iraq.
And speaking of cockroaches, it does appear that some of saddam's witnesses for his defense were bribed to say nice things about him at his trial.
I'm shocked! Shocked!
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Four defense witnesses in the trial of
Saddam Hussein have recanted their testimonies, saying they were coerced into speaking on behalf of the Iraqi ex-president.
Two of the witnesses said they were offered money for their testimony and two said their families had been threatened, according to confessions that were read out in court.
"My family is detained in
Syria until I provided my testimony in defense of Saddam," said the confession of the first witness Monday.
"I had to say I received 500 dollars from (chief prosecutor Jaafar) al-Mussawi, in order to divert the attention of the world away from the Dujail case."
The confession of the second witness also indicated that he testified under threats to his family, but the final two witnesses admitted they did it for money, also 500 dollars.
"Khalil Dulaimi promised me he would get me appointments with (Saddam's daughter) Raghed and (wife) Sajida," said the confession, referring to Saddam's lead defense attorney. "Then my fortune would be assured and I would get residency outside
Iraq."
For all the recanting witnesses, the deals were organized by Saddam's former bodyguards with the final coaching on their court testimony performed by Dulaimi, according to the confessions.
The witnesses testified two weeks ago that they had seen the chief prosecutor in Dujail in 2004 offering bribes for people to testify against Saddam and that many of the supposed victims in the case were actually still alive.
Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial for crimes against humanity involving the arrest, torture and execution of 148 Shiites from Dujail in the early 1980s following an attempt on Saddam's life.
Following their testimonies, the four witnesses were detained by the court, which was pursuing legal action against the witnesses, the judge said.
Another one of Saddam's attorneys, former Qatari minister of justice Najib al-Nuami denied the earlier testimonies were fabricated, maintaining that the witnesses had been coerced into recanting.
"They said earlier they signed blank papers without knowing their contents," he said, though presiding Judge Rauf Abdel Rahman had said the confessions were handwritten.
"You were trying to use them as a pretext to undermine the case," replied the visibly angry judge.
Saddam or his sycophants obviously still have tentacles to taint this trial and threaten other people's lives. The sooner we get through this fair trial and follow it by a first class hanging, the better.
