Saddam letter: Iraq's 'liberation' at hand

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein issued an open letter Monday, saying Iraq's "liberation is at hand" and calling for an end to sectarian killings. The brother of the prosecutor in his genocide trial was shot to death at home, the latest death linked to proceedings against the deposed leader.\nSaddam said he was addressing Iraqis in a letter because "my chances to express my opinion are limited" while in detention. He faces genocide charges in the killings of thousands of Kurds during the Iran-Iraq war and is charged separately in an anti-Shiite crackdown in the 1980s.\n"It was only a few times that I managed to address you through the farcical, so-called trial when the microphones were not switched off," Saddam said, acknowledging that he tries to use the trials for political propaganda.\n"The hour of liberation is at hand, God willing, but remember that your near-term goal is confined to freeing your country from the forces of occupation and their followers and not be preoccupied with settling scores or deviate from your goal," Saddam said.\nImad al-Faroon, the brother of the chief prosecutor in the genocide trial, was shot to death in front of his wife at his Baghdad home and died immediately, Dr. Ali al-Lami, head of the government De-Baathification Committee, told The Associated Press.\nAl-Faroon's death came less than three weeks after the brother-in-law of the judge in the genocide trial was fatally shot.\nAl-Faroon's brother is Muqith al-Faroon, who is leading the prosecution of Saddam in the genocide trial. There was no immediate word from law enforcement authorities about the killing or who might have conducted the assassination.\nHis death adds to the troubles surrounding legal proceedings against Saddam, who could be hanged if convicted in either trial. During Saddam's first trial, three defense lawyers were killed, and in July, Saddam and three other defendants refused food to protest lack of security for lawyers and conduct of the trial.\nThe letter from Saddam, a text of which was obtained by the AP in Amman, Jordan, appeared designed to cast him in the role of a nationalist leader who could reconcile and rebuild a nation now beset by rising sectarian violence, an enduring insurgency and deepening economic woes. The letter also appears to reflect Saddam's belief that the tide may be turning against the Americans in Iraq and the Shiite-dominated government they support.\nRaid Juhi, a chief investigating judge in the trial linked to the anti-Shiite crackdown, said a verdict against Saddam and seven co-defendants will be announced Nov. 5. He said sentences for those found guilty will be issued the same day.\nSaddam's trial began a year ago with him and his co-defendants facing charges arising from the deaths of nearly 150 Shiites from the town of Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam in the town north of Baghdad.\nSaddam's co-defendants include his former deputy, Taha Yassin Ramadan, and his half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim.\nSaddam is the chief defendant in another trial, facing genocide charges in connection with a government crackdown in the 1980s against Iraqi Kurds. The prosecution alleges about 180,000 people died in that campaign.\nSaddam's chief lawyer in both cases, Khalil al-Dulaimi, said the former president dictated the letter to him during a four-hour meeting in a Baghdad detention facility Saturday. The meeting was also attended by other Saddam lawyers, including former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, he said.\nIraqis, said Saddam, were "living the most difficult period in history because of the occupation, killing, destruction and looting." Echoing fears among some Iraqis over the breakup of the country, Saddam appealed for unity.\nHe called on Iraq's Sunni Arabs to forgive their enemies, including informants who aided U.S. forces hunt down and kill his two sons -- Odai and Qussai, three year ago in the northern city of Mosul.\n"When you achieve victory, remember you are God's soldiers and therefore, you must show genuine forgiveness and put aside revenge over the spilled blood of your sons and brothers, including the sons of Saddam Hussein," he wrote.\n"I call on you to be forgiving rather than being rough with those who lost the right path."\nSaddam remains popular among hardcore remnants of his now-disbanded Baath party and small pockets of the once-dominant Sunni Arab minority.\nOn Sunday, 35 Sunni Arab tribal leaders from the oil-rich city of Kirkuk called for Saddam's release in a meeting in which portraits of the former leader were hoisted along with banners declaring allegiance to him.\n"The release of Saddam Hussein and his comrades will solve the Iraqi crisis," said Abdul-Rahman Monsheid al-Obeidi, one of the tribal chiefs who took part. "It will ensure the success of the national reconciliation the government is talking about."\nIraq's Kurds say Kirkuk is Kurdish and want to annex it to their autonomous region in northern Iraq. The city's Turkomen and Arab communities reject that claim and a referendum is scheduled to be held next year to decide the fate of the city. Saddam settled thousands of Arabs in Kirkuk as part of what is known as his "Arabization" policy.\n--Associated Press reporters Jamal Halaby and Shafika Mattar in Amman, Jordan, and Yahiya Ahmed, in Kirkuk, Iraq, contributed to this report.