Saddam claims US offered exile in exchange for help ending insurgency News
Saddam claims US offered exile in exchange for help ending insurgency

[JURIST] Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] defense lawyer and former head of the Jordanian Lawyers Association Saleh al-Armouti said Friday that Hussein has claimed that the United States had offered him life in exile "like Napoleon" if he would use his influence to end the Iraq insurgency. Armouti said Hussein made the claim when he visited the ousted Iraqi leader in prison in January. A US military spokesman in Baghdad dismissed Armouti's report as "completely unfounded and, frankly, rather ridiculous," saying the story was a "vain attempt" by his lawyer to "make it look as if Saddam still has some power or authority over people, which he doesn't."

Armouti was one of the defense lawyers thrown out of court [JURIST report] January 29 after arguing with the new chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman. Al Arabiya TV claimed in a fall documentary that Hussein actually accepted a previous offer of exile [JURIST report] extended by the United Arab Emirates before the Iraq war, only to have that fall through when members of the League of Arab States refused to assent to the plan. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Pope Urban II sparks First Crusade

Pope Urban II threw his support behind what would become the First Crusade on November 27, 1095 during the Council of Clairmont. The Pope urged the council's participants to render aid to the Byzantine Empire, which was being attacked by the Seljuks. Pope Urban called for a wide coalition of rich and poor to combat the threat, which eventually resulted in the conquest of much of the Muslim-controlled Levant by the Crusaders and the establishment of the Crusader States. Read Pope Urban's address.  

Catholic Code of Canon Law revised

On November 27, 1983, the revised Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church went into effect. Learn more about the history of Canon Law from Professor Kenneth Pennington of the Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law.

Alfred Nobel creates Nobel Prize in his will

On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his will, creating the Nobel Prize. Learn more about the history of the Nobel Prize and the Nobel Commission.