A MAN IS KNOWN BY THE COMPANY HE KEEPS

O wise man, wash your hands of that friend who associates with your enemies. - Saadi (1184 - 1291)

Another member of the legal team is Washington, D.C. lawyer Curtis Doebbler, whose track record shows this isn't the first time he has advised opponents of the United States.

Doebbler is currently one of about 20 lawyers appointed by Saddam's wife, Sajida, to represent the deposed Iraqi dictator...

According to biographies posted on the Internet, Doebbler served as an adviser to the Taliban on the laws of war and consulted with detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. Biographies also state that he advised the Palestinian Authority, but Israel has prohibited him from returning to the occupied territories.

Doebbler has advised the government of Sudan on human rights, according to his website. Sudan is on the State Department's list of state-sponsors of terrorism. And he has written that the United States illegally occupied Afghanistan and Iraq.

"I believe that all people have a right and a duty to take all necessary measures to end the United States' inhumane dominance of the lives of billions of people," wrote Doebbler in a statement on his political views.

Doebbler has also published several poems online, including one that begins with the line "I am at war with America."

And while we're at it...it would appear that being Saddam's lawyer might be one tough gig.

Brandishing assault rifles and grenade launchers, masked Islamists have threatened in a taped message to behead any lawyers defending deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"Saif al-Allah (The Sword of God) group, belonging to the Islamic Jihad, warns all those who defend the criminal file of the cowardly criminal Saddam ... that we will sever your necks before you arrive," one gunman read from a piece of paper.

The gunman, from a previously unknown group, said in the tape given to Reuters that the warning was for "the Iraqi, Arab and foreign lawyers who have taken on the case of the criminal Saddam"...

Saddam's trial is not expected to begin for months but a more than 21-strong team of mainly Arab lawyers with power of attorney granted by Saddam's wife Sajida Khairallah have voiced fears about their personal safety in Iraq.

"We are getting one threat after the other," team coordinator Mohammed Rashdan said on Wednesday...

The seven gunmen, faces hidden by chequered head-dresses, said they would bring God's justice down on the heads of anyone who sought to defend the former president, accused of gassing Iraq's Kurds, crushing a Shi'ite uprising, and condemning countless Iraqis to death in his dreaded torture chambers.

"We will sentence you with cutting off your heads," one of the gunmen said, as they all drew out long glistening blades.

Look, guys...I know that Allah has apparently appointed you chief jurist and executioner (seemingly along with about every other Arab who can get his hands on a sword, grenade, car bomb, bomb vest, etc)...for whatever cause moves you to hide your face and spout really brave threats before the camera...but I'm thinking you haven't quite been paying attention to the changes happening in Iraq. Quick...get a calendar...LOOK! The year is no longer 437. Things have changed.

There is an old saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. However, since you guys got that whole "jihad" thing in your group's name, I'm keeping my distance. OK?

Oh...and just for the record...you guys are beginning to sound a bit like the Queen of Hearts.