Of course.. it's not the Boooosh administration that hopes to delay it, they still very much want it out on November 5th as planned.
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"Saddam verdict may be delayed - prosecutor"
By Mariam Karouny
BAGHDAD (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 November 5, two days before U.S. elections in which President George W. Bush's Republicans fear they could lose control of Congress.
A court trying Saddam Hussein for the killing of Shi'ites in the 1980s could delay delivering a verdict, due next Sunday, for a few days to give judges more time to review testimonies, the chief prosecutor said on Sunday. Saddam is seen in this October 18, 2006 file photo during his trial in Baghdad. (REUTERS/David Furst/Pool)
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.
U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad denied Washington had any say over the timing of the verdict or the court's decisions, saying the American role was limited to logistics and security.
"The United States had nothing to do with the selection of the date and we don't know whether the judges have come to a judgment or not," Khalilzad told CNN in an interview.
News of the possible delay follows a week of public spats between U.S. officials and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Maliki's aides say he is furious at U.S. pressure on him ahead of the elections as the American public turns increasingly away from Bush's Iraq policy.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/10/30/worldupdates/2006-10-30T003929Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-274121-2&sec=Worldupdates