Area man going to Iraq to try former leaders

~ Larry Ferrell is one of eight federal prosecutors being sent to Baghdad.

The region will soon send another resident to Iraq, but this time to serve in a much different capacity. Larry Ferrell, assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, is one of eight U.S. prosecutors being sent to Baghdad to help try former Baathist leaders before the Iraqi High Tribunal.

Ferrell does not know all the details of the cases he will help prosecute and for security reasons cannot relate much of what he does know. But he makes no secret of his belief that bringing Saddam Hussein and others to justice is crucial to rebuilding Iraq.

"It is established that Saddam is responsible for between 300,000 and 1 million deaths and countless tortures and instances of false imprisonment," Ferrell said. "It is critically important for the reconstruction of Iraq for the country and the world to see that there is respect for the rule of law in Iraq and that even Saddam Hussein has the right to a fair trial."

Unglamorous assignment

Life in Iraq for Ferrell and his fellow lawyers will not be glamorous. He will share a two-bedroom trailer within the U.S.-operated "green zone," formerly Saddam's palace compound. Ferrell expects to work 12- to 14-hour days, seven days per week helping Iraqi prosecutors compile their cases. He will receive hazard pay from the Department of Justice for his service.

Deciding to leave Cape Girardeau was difficult, and the decision will bring with it a dangerous journey. But in the end the opportunity to serve his country was too strong a pull, Ferrell said.

"I've always tried to teach my children to be flag bearers and not flag wavers," he said. "I don't think I'd be setting a very good example if I chose not to do what I thought was right just because it involved some personal sacrifice."

Since hearing of his approval for the assignment on Nov. 7, he's been dealing with the reality of his departure. "I am anxious to get it started. I look at it as a tremendous opportunity, the opportunity of a lifetime to participate in this case," he said. "But there have been some moments when I thought to myself, 'Now when did I think this was a good idea?'"

Part of an understandable anxiousness comes from the fact that until last week Ferrell did not know when he would leave. The Department of Justice told him to be on call to leave at any point in the past weeks for what will be at least a six-month tour. He now knows his departure date is set for Monday.

The long lead-up to decampment has been made manageable, he said, by his staff, who have reshuffled assignments to cover for his absence and the encouragement he gets from his three children.

"I have their complete support," he said. "My daughter Jennifer told me, 'Dad, I don't want you to go to Iraq, but you wouldn't be you if you didn't want to do this.'" Ferrell said his children also organized a surprise farewell party.

Preparation for Ferrell has meant a two-week course in Arlington, Va., where he and his fellow lawyers were schooled on everything they might encounter in the war zone. Training ranged from an Arabic language program to cultural sensitivity to improvised explosives recognition and hostage survival techniques.

The prosecutor has also been deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service and while in Iraq anticipates carrying a 9 mm pistol at all times outside of the courtroom.

What a lawyer who does not speak Arabic and has no particular knowledge of the region or expertise in international law can do to help in the case against Saddam and his henchmen may not be obvious, but Ferrell said the cases there won't be terribly different from some he's tried in Cape Girardeau.

In 1986, he tried Douglas Wayne Thompson for a murder that occurred 25 years earlier.

"That's the kind of thing that we'll be doing in Iraq, putting together historical conspiracies," he said. "I have a lot of experience putting together cases that are either historical or involve large networks of people."

Ferrell served as Cape Girardeau County's prosecuting attorney for three years. Morley Swingle, the county's current prosecuting attorney, was hired by Ferrell in 1984. He is deeply impressed by his former boss' decision to go to Iraq.

"I can't think of a better service he could do for his country," Swingle said. "Larry is one of the best trial lawyers I've ever met. He knows his craft as well as anyone. Being a courtroom lawyer is the same in Missouri as it is in California, and it will be the same in Iraq."

Swingle also points out that Ferrell never lost a jury trial during his years as Cape Girardeau County prosecutor.

The Iraqi High Tribunal was created in December 2003 thanks mainly to $75 million in start-up funds from the U.S. government. The tribunal consists of two chambers with five judges each. There are also 20 investigative judges led by a chief investigator charged with compiling evidence against suspected criminals.

Saddam and seven other defendants were the first brought before this tribunal in October. They are now being tried for a 1982 attack that killed 148 Shiites in the village of Dujail, north of Baghdad.

The tribunal has given no indications about any future charges that may be brought against Saddam and other members of the Baathist party. Observers believe, however, that Saddam and others will likely be held responsible for the 1988 Anfal campaign where Kurdish villages were attacked with mustard gas and nerve agents in addition to crimes that occurred during the 1991 invasion of Kuwait.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

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