Security Concerns For Saddam Trial

Jessica Ennis of Britain (center) competes against Dawn Harper of the U.S. (right) and Danielle Carruthers of the U.S. (left) during the womens 100m hurdles during the Great City games in Manchester north-west England on May 20, 2012. (ANDREW YATES/AFP/GettyImages)

Three masked gunmen in a speeding Opel assassinated a second lawyer in the Saddam Hussein trial Tuesday, casting doubt on Iraq's ability to try the case and leading a prominent war crimes prosecutor to urge moving the proceedings to another Arab country.

Adel al-Zubeidi, lawyer for former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, died when bullets were sprayed his car in a largely Sunni Arab neighborhood of western Baghdad. The shots also wounded Thamir al-Khuzaie, attorney for another co-defendant, Saddam's half brother Barazan Ibrahim.

The brazen daylight attack on a major avenue came three weeks after the kidnap-slaying of another defense lawyer, Saadoun al-Janabi. His body was found Oct. 20, one day after the trial's opening session, where he represented Awad al-Bandar, a former official in Saddam's Baath Party.

No group has claimed responsibility for the killings.

The White House says today's deadly attack on a lawyer involved in the trial of Saddam Hussein shows the importance of security as the trials take place.

Press Secretary Scott McClellan says a secure environment needs to be in place for the trials to proceed and for witnesses to participate in a safe way.

Saddam's main lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, blamed the government for Tuesday's attack. "The aim of these organized attacks is to scare Arab and foreign lawyers," al-Dulaimi said. "We call upon the international community, on top of them the Secretary-General of the United Nations, to send an investigative committee because the situation is unbearable."

CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick reports that al-Dulaimi insists both lawyers were killed by gunmen posing as Iraqi security forces.

Laith Kubba, spokesman for Shiite Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, suggested pro-Saddam insurgents were responsible, saying "we know that Saddam and his followers are ready to do anything when it serves their interest and to block the work of the court."

In related developments:

U.S. and Iraqi forces secured the town of Husaybah after four days of fighting along the Syrian border and neutralized al Qaeda-led insurgents there, the Marine commander said Tuesday. "The city of Husaybah has been cleared and is secure at this time," Col. Stephen W. Davis said. About 2,500 U.S. troops and 1,000 Iraqi soldiers on Saturday began the assault on Husaybah, described as a major entry point for foreign fighters coming from Syria bound for Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.

The U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq has been given permission to remain in the country for another year. The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously today to extend the mandate of the force past its previous December 31st deadline. The Security Council had defined that date as the end point of Iraq's political process. It's about two weeks after parliamentary elections there. The resolution was adopted in response to a request for the troops to remain from Iraq's prime minister. U.S. officials say the vote shows an international commitment to Iraq's political transition. "The Security Council has few options but to extend the mandate since Iraq requested the extension," said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk from the U.N., "but the unanimous vote was more of a statement, particularly by France and Russia, that at least for one more year, the multinational force is supported by the international community."

Ahmad Chalabi, Iraq's deputy prime minister, will meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday in a visit that would have been unimaginable two years ago. "He is an official and a representative of the government of Iraq," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said in explaining Rice's decision to meet with the Shiite leader.

Police found six handcuffed corpses in a water treatment plant.

One civilian was killed when gunmen opened fire in the notorious Dora district in the south of the capital.

A car bomb exploded near Mustansiriyah University, killing one person and injuring another.

Two Islamic terrorist cells were competing to become the first to stage a major bombing in Australia, a prosecutor said Tuesday after police arrested 17 suspects in a series of coordinated pre-dawn raids in two cities. About 500 police arrested nine men in the southern city of Melbourne and eight in Sydney, including one man critically injured in a gunfight with police.