A Quietly Hidden Snippet of Reportage

Normally we do not report the day-to-day carnage in Iraq - it is well reported elsewhere. But this article is unique in that something else is mentioned at the very end of the article that is intriguing to say the least. One thing is certain: we'd like to read the entire transcript of the trial someday.

Suicide bomber kills 14 in Baghdad
By Borzou Daragahi, Times Staff Writer
December 21, 2006

BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber wearing an explosives-packed belt killed 14 Iraqis near a crowded police recruitment center in the capital this morning, in the latest salvo by Sunni Arab insurgents against the Shiite Muslim-dominated government.

Also today, three U.S. troops were reported to have been killed in separate combat incidents.

[snip]

Meanwhile the judge in the genocide trial of Saddam Hussein and six codefendants silenced testimony suggesting that Turkey, a U.S. ally, cooperated with Baghdad during a late 1980s operation to use chemical weapons to crush rebellious Kurds.

"There has to be very delicate cooperation with the Turkish side to ensure that these ... ," said a passage in Aug 21, 1988 document read in the courtroom before the judge cut off the sound.

Another audio snippet a few minutes later referred to a "secret Iraqi-Turkish protocol" that allowed Turkish troops to enter Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish guerrillas fighting the Ankara government.

Read all of it here.