Rummy's Other Mission Accomplished

Justin Morahan notes the following points in his article on the trial of Saddam Hussein:

• Four defence lawyers were assassinated during the trial (two by alleged US/Iraqi collaboration)
• Four of the 5 original judges have either resigned or been killed
• The US spent hundreds of millions of dollars in support of the prosecution
• No confidential visits were allowed by defence lawyers to their clients and none at all until after the start of the first trial
• The Defence team was allowed only minutes to begin presenting its defence after the charges were made known on May 15th 2006
• Defence had to end its case within weeks but the Prosecution were allowed months
• Evidence was withheld from defence counsel.
• Defence lawyers were denied access to investigative hearings, denied prior notice of witnesses and denied permission to visit the scene of the alleged crime.
• Trial sessions were announced oftentimes without advance notice or consultation with the result that even the most experienced lawyers missed the hearings.
• Four of the five judges who started in the case were removed by publicly acknowledged US interference
• During the trial, George Bush declared that Saddam Hussein "will be" executed
• Transcripts of the proceedings were refused to defence lawyers.

and more....

In this exclusive interview for Indymedia.ie Alec Empire discusses the origins of Atari Teenage Riot in a climate of rising Nazi attacks in the early 1990's, experimentalism and conservatism in music, his future projects and much more besides.

With the would be 'Sir' Bonos of the world doing such a wonderful job as the soft, recuperating face of global governance, its easy to be cynical about the space where politics and music combine. Still, few artists spring to mind that can rival the continued enthusiasm of Alec Empire for pushing the boundaries of contemporary music to incorporate radical politics. As a techno innovator responsible for the emergence of the digital hardcore genre, Empire was a figurehead to a generation of German experimental artists emerging in the wake of the Berlin Wall's collapse through the creation of his Digital Hardcore Records label.

Starting off within the punk scene fronting bands like Die Kinder, Empire eventually grew disillusioned and moved towards the growing rave scene. During the turmoil of re-unifaction the bubbling techno scene was seizing ware houses in the east of Berlin for massive parties, linking it to a long standing autonome squatting scene that was spreading eastwards from its traditional bastions in areas like Kreuzburg.

Related links: Atari Teenage Riot Arrested Playing At Anti-fa March | Praxis on Breakcore In The Spectacle | Digital Hardcore Record Label | Kaboogie Myspace | Alec Empire Myspace | Oxegen, Poxegen: The Modern Rock and Roll Experience | Pimping the Music Industry and an Interview With A Vampire |