SADDAM HUSSEIN'S AMERICAN LAWYER . . . The February Esquire magazine includes some interesting details about Ramsey Clark's representation of Saddam Hussein: "How the Attorney General of the United States Became Saddam Hussein's Lawyer," by John H. Richardson. Example:

. . . [Clark's] whole point is to make common cause wherever he can, and he is going to follow that inner logic wherever it takes him.

Today it takes him to see Saddam Hussein, flying in the plane that winds down like Death's own corkscrew. After filling him in on the latest press conference and yesterday's editorial in The Guardian and the letter he wrote to the UN, Clark pauses. The case is over now. There's nothing else to say about that. Everyone in the room knows that the President will soon be sentenced to hang. There's the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the United States, Clark tells Hussein. Because of the litigation over Guantánamo, the courts are hearing a lot of those right now.

But the President isn't interested. I don't want to, he says.

They serve dates. These are Jordanian dates, the President says. When you come to my house, you'll have Iraqi dates. But the purpose is to defend rights, Clark says. I'm sure it's as you say, the President answers, and I have no objection to others doing it. But I will never plead for my life.

That's from the end of the article, which concludes with this sentence: "He is on a campaign to achieve world peace by forgiving the worst sinners in the world, one at a time, and he will never give up."

The whole lengthy profile is online--just follow the link.

Related post: "Does Saddam Deserve Good Lawyers?" (5/31/05).