Michael P. Scharf, co-author of Enemy of the State: The Trial and Execution of Saddam Hussein

Enemy of the State: The Trial and Execution of a Saddam Hussein

What's New:

April 15, 2009, C-SPAN broadcast a panel discussion of “Enemy of the State” and its relevance to the upcoming trials of Radovan Karadzic in The Hague and the Khmer Rouge leaders in Cambodia. Watch Now>

View the discussion of "Enemy of the State" featuring co-author Michael Scharf, Nuremberg Prosecutor Henry King, and National Public Radio commentator Daniel Maulthrop, held at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage on December 10, 2008.

"[Enemy of the State] offers a detailed, inside account of the court's creation and its proceedings, including gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trial itself and legal analysis of its decision. The book offers many insights and revelations omitted by contemporary media accounts, and places the tribunal in its broader international law context."
--The Volokh Conspiracy Blog (Read more)

On the two year anniversary of Saddam's execution, WCPN interviews Michael Scharf. Listen Now>

Gulf News, book review of "Enemy of the State," October 24, 2008, at p. 24

"When Saddam was being tried in Baghdad, no one needed to issue orders for a curfew, as the people remained at home, their eyes glued to the televisions.
'Enemy of the State,' a book authored by Newton and Scharf, has the same effect on readers. The book is a chronicle of the trial and a behind-the-scenes account of its goings-on - where the phrase 'one of the most important chaotic trials in history' seems to become an understatement." Read more>

Watch Michael Newton on WSMV 4 News with Dennis Ferrier

Watch the “Enemy of the State” Panel Discussion

Listen to an interview with Newton and Scharf discuss their book and the Saddam trial on PRI "The World", July 16, 2008. (mp3 file)

Listen to the authors read excerpts from the book.

Michael P. Scharf
co-author of Enemy of the State: The Trial and Execution of Saddam Hussein

Other Works by Michael Scharf

Michael Scharf is Dean of the Law School and Director of the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. In 2004-05, Scharf served as a member of the international team of experts that provided training to the judges of the Iraqi High Tribunal, and in 2006 he led the first training session for the investigative judges and prosecutors of the newly established U.N. Cambodia Genocide Tribunal. In February 2005, Scharf and the Public International Law and Policy Group, a Non-Governmental Organization he co-founded, were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by six governments and the Prosecutor of an International Criminal Tribunal for the work they have done to help in the prosecution of major war criminals, such as Slobodan Milosevic, Charles Taylor, and Saddam Hussein.

During the first Bush and Clinton Administrations, Scharf served in the Office of the Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State, where he held the positions of Attorney-Adviser for Law Enforcement and Intelligence, Attorney-Adviser for United Nations Affairs, and delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. In 1993, he was awarded the State Department's Meritorious Honor Award "in recognition of superb performance and exemplary leadership" in relation to his role in the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

A graduate of Duke University School of Law (Order of the Coif and High Honors), and judicial clerk to Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat on the Eleventh Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, Scharf is the author of over one-hundred scholarly articles and seventeen books, including BALKAN JUSTICE, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1998, THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR RWANDA, which was awarded the American Society of International Law's Certificate of Merit for the Outstanding book in International Law in 1999, and PEACE WITH JUSTICE, which won the International Association of Penal Law Book of the Year Award for 2003.

An internationally recognized expert in international criminal law, Scharf has testified before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Armed Services Committee; his Op Eds have been published by the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, and International Herald Tribune; and he has appeared on ABC World News Tonight, the NBC Today Show, Nightline, The O'Reilly Factor, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, The Charlie Rose Show, the BBC, CNN, and NPR. Scharf also teaches a free online course on International Criminal Law via Coursera at: Coursera.org.

Recipient of the Case School of Law Alumni Association’s 2005 “Distinguished Teacher Award” and Ohio Magazine’s 2007 “Excellence in Education Award,” Scharf teaches International Law, International Criminal Law, the Law of International Organizations, and a War Crimes Research Lab. In 2002, Scharf established the War Crimes Research Office at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, which provides research assistance to the Prosecutors of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the International Criminal Court, the Cambodia Genocide Tribunal, and the Iraqi High Tribunal on issues pending before those international tribunals.

Profiles of Michael Scharf appear in:

Craine’s Cleveland Business

Continental Airlines - In Flight Magazine (pdf file)

Cleveland Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine