Saddam Is Not Happy---Boo Hoo

AP is reporting that Saddam Hussein's morale has taken a nosedive, according to Judge Raid Juhi, the man who will be behind the bench for Saddam's trial.

Iraqi and U.S. soldiers continue to battle insurgents suspected of carrying out daily deadly attacks.

Eight people died Friday from insurgent attacks around the country, bringing to at least 830 the number killed since the Shiite-led government took office April 28 — an average of 23 deaths a day, not counting rebels, who are drawn from multiple groups, including Islamic extremists and Saddam loyalists.

A suicide car bomber attacked a police patrol in western Baghdad's Amil neighborhood Saturday, seriously wounding two policemen and setting two vehicles ablaze, Capt. Talib Thamir said.

Two other police officers were injured after gunmen opened fire on their patrol in Baghdad's western Ghazaliya neighborhood, while police found the body of an unidentified man who had been bound and shot in the head in an eastern part of the capital.

Raid Juhi, the judge in Saddam's trial, told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that the tyrannt and "some of the 11 other detained former regime figures are facing '12 cases' carrying punishments from life in jail to the death penalty."

"'The ousted president has suffered a collapse in his morale because he understands the extent of the charges against him and because he's certain that he will stand trial before an impartial court,' Juhi was quoted as saying."

Khalil al-Duleimi, Saddam's lawyer however, has a different story. He told AP that "his client was in high spirits and that he was not aware of the 12 cases the judge referred to."

According to al-Duleimi, "The last time I met Saddam was in late April and his spirits were very high."

That's hard to believe, given Iraqi security forces captured a terror suspect known as Mullah Mahdi early Saturday along with his brother, three other Iraqis and a non-Iraqi Arab national in eastern Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Iraqi army Maj. Gen. Khalil Ahmed al-Obeidi said Mahdi was captured after a brief clash in eastern Mosul. He is accused of affiliation with the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, one of Iraq's most feared terror groups, and had links to the Syrian intelligence service.

"He was wanted for almost all car bombs, assassinations of high officials, beheadings of Iraqi policemen and soldiers and for launching attacks against multi-national forces," al-Obeidi said.

The Ansar al-Sunnah Army is also the group that is holding Douglas Wood hostage.

The Iraqi interior minister reports that Operation Lightening has taken more than 700 suspected insurgents into custody and killed 28 militants.

Although Saddam's lawyer claims his client is in high spirits, it would appear that Saddam has good reason to have morale issues.

First, the underwear expose and now all this.