by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Rodney Brown never spoke to Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi dictator never uttered a word to Brown. However, on Nov. 5, 2006 the two exchanged a quick look just moments after an Iraqi High Tribunal found Hussein guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Seven weeks later — on Dec. 30 — Hussein was hung and it’s not unreasonable to think Brown had something to do with ending one of the most powerful dictatorships in modern history.
Brown has been an assistant United States Attorney assigned to the Jacksonville Division of the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida since 1995. But, for six months — August 2006 through February of this year — Brown served as an Attorney Advisor with the United States Department of Justice’s Regime Crimes Liaison’s Office in Baghdad.
Brown and the other attorneys were deployed as part of the Operation Iraqi Freedom initiative and while they didn’t have a direct effect on the trial of Hussein — or any others for that matter — they did make sure everyone received as fair a trial as possible.
They did research, collected depositions, saw much of Iraq, advised the Iraqi attorneys, got to know the Iraqi judges and the Iraqi judicial system and got a first-hand look at both the dark and bright side of a nation trying to turn a corner and rewrite its history. Oh yeah, Brown also ran the 26.2 mile Baghdad marathon.
“We ran it in the international zone, which is supposedly safe,” said Brown, who got his undergraduate degree from the University of South Carolina and went to law school at Florida. “There was an occasional rocket or mortar. About 500 people ran, mostly military. I trained in the international zone. One day it was 118 degrees. That’s crazy and I’ll never do that again.”
Race day — Nov. 11 — was another story. It was 47 degrees and cloudless.
Brown enjoyed the marathon and his time in Iraq, which he found surprisingly pleasant and surprisingly civilized. Sure there were surprise rocket and mortar attacks and car bombs and the one-time need to duck for cover under an abandoned tank. Sure there unpredictable sirens and alarms that necessitated immediate full body armor. Sure it was hot — 135-140 degrees in the desert. And yes, the justice is different as was surely seen on TV. But, Brown says what appears to be total chaos isn’t.
Unlike American trials which — outside of the TV courtroom shows — seem to be quite civil, Iraqi trials do have a more free-for-all atmosphere.
But, it’s organized chaos and those involved, from the judges to the defendants, are more in control and aware than you might assume.
“At times it was difficult,” said Brown of the Hussein trial. “There were outbursts by the defense attorney and Saddam had several outbursts. But, the Iraqi judges and the prosecutors pressed forward. They had a sense of how important the trial was.
“The Americans were not in the courtroom during the trial. All of the final decisions were made by the Iraqis.”
Given the media coverage of Hussein’s alleged crimes, Brown said he thought the dictator still got a fair trial. He doesn’t think for one second that the Iraqi justice system put on anything resembling a dog and pony show for a worldwide audience they surely knew was watching.
“The evidence was very strong,” said Brown, when asked if Hussein got a fair trial. “It wasn’t a show. I found that the Iraqi judges bent over backwards to allow the defense to put on its case. The defendants are allowed to speak in court, too. Here, unless you are called to testify, the defendant doesn’t speak.”
Brown went to Iraq of his own volition. He found out about the opportunity, applied, got the blessing of his boss and peers and was accepted. Brown spent two weeks in Washington, D.C. where he learned the basics of Iraqi culture and language. He also received some military training. Brown was, afterall, heading to a country in which a war was taking place.
Brown said he went for two reasons.
“What an interesting experience to be in on one of the trials of the century, like the Nuremburg trials,” he said. “Two, I was never in the military and this was my opportunity to serve.”
While there, Brown spent a majority of his time interviewing potential witnesses and gathering facts — all designed to help convict Hussein and others. There was a trip to the northern province of Kurdistan where Brown — through an interpreter — interviewed 60 people, most of whom lost family in a 1983 massacre orchestrated by Hussein and carried out by his supporters.
“It was heartwrenching,” said Brown of hearing the stories of death or the disappearance of a loved one forever.
Travel wasn’t easy, though. The trip to Kurdistan took five weeks to plan. It required military approval, State Department approval, justification of the travel and the need to make security arrangements. Brown had been taught the basics of shooting a gun and things like hostage avoidance, but he wasn’t enlisted military and he was heading into northern Iraq.
Brown may have lived in a trailer while in Iraq, but he worked out of the United States Embassy in Baghdad, which just happened to be the former presidential palace.
Brown admitted that there were times when he found himself saying, “Wow, I am in Baghdad.”
“I never quite got used to that feeling,” he said.
Brown probably also didn’t get used to the daily explosions that rocked the trailer and the palace, but he did find they came regularly. According to Brown, there wasn’t much need for an alarm clock since car bombs were a daily occurrence that went off about 7-7:15 a.m.
“You would just say prayer and wonder, gosh, how many people got hurt,” said Brown.
The Hussein trial wasn’t Brown’s only assignment. In fact, it was going on when he arrived in Baghdad.
“I thought I was going to work on the Saddam Hussein trial every day,” said Brown. “My bosses gave me other cases, many of which got no attention. I helped the Iraqi judges and investigators. It was very different. It was like starting from scratch. I did a lot more investigating than lawyering.”
Brown could not have committed to the experience without the support of his office and his family. His coworkers helped with his caseload — although modern technology did allow Brown to stay mildly involved with his domestic cases — and his wife Kelly OK’d the trip.
“I could not have gone on this deployment without the support of my family and my coworkers,” said Brown, who has two teenagers. “I can’t thank them enough.”
Brown said he found the Iraqi people more appreciative of the American presence than he thought, especially the Iraqi judicial system.
“The people treated me wonderfully. I had a great experience with the Iraqi people,” said Brown. “The judges were extremely cordial and appreciative. The day before I left I went to say good-bye to one particular judge. He said, ‘I wish you could stay 10 years.’ I said, ‘I don’t think my wife would like that.’ “