Black’s enemies might wish they
had kept their mouths shut, says philip delves broughton |
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TThe great risk of kicking a man when he's down is that one day he will get back up and kick you right back. After the past few days of Conrad Black's trial in Chicago, it would be no surprise if his more excitable critics were not suddenly having nightmares along the lines of those old zombie films in which a man thought to be dead suddenly thrusts his arm out of the ground, shakes away the dirt and, before you know it, is wreaking hellish vengeance.
When Black's trial opened in March, the odds against his acquittal seemed overwhelming. But one by one, the prosecution's witnesses have put in ever-more dismal performances. First came the former Hollinger directors who all but admitted to skim-reading the documents in which Black's alleged crimes were described and then approving them.
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| In a matter of days, Black's chances of walking free from court have gone from negligible to reasonable |
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Then came David Radler, Black's former business partner and the prosecution's supposed ace. To the frustration of the youthful prosecution team, Radler was swiftly dismantled by Black's Canadian lawyer, Edward Greenspan. He presented Radler as a practised liar who had cut a generous deal with the prosecution to sell out Black in return for a short spell in a country-club Canadian jail, which offers inmates 'golf therapy'.
In a matter of days, Black's chances of walking free from court have gone from negligible to reasonable.
The critic with most to lose if Black is found not guilty will be Tom Bower, who published a vituperative biography of Black and his wife, subtitled Dancing on the Edge. In Black's view, Bower cast him as "psychiatrically maladjusted, unrelievedly odious, in fact evil and devoid of any redeeming or even mitigating qualities". Bower's reporting from Black's trial in Chicago has been in equal parts gloating and hysterical.
The one with most to gain will be Mark Steyn, whose blog reporting from the trial  |
