Damages Awarded for Beating Saddam Look-alike

Union Leader and New Hamp. Sunday News

A tribal court in Connecticut has imposed a $33,070 civil penalty on two New Hampshire men for allegedly attacking a man at the Foxwoods Casino because he looked like Saddam Hussein.

According to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court record, Michael McLane of Goffstown and Emanuel Papadakis, formerly of Merrimack and now living in Florida, pointed their fingers at Michael Barbosa and told him: 'We're kicking your (expletive) over there and we'll do it here.'

'Over there' was apparently a reference to Iraq. The alleged assault took place on March 22, 2003, shortly after the war began.

Barbosa, of Randolph, Mass., who has a thick mustache, 'bears a remarkable resemblance to Saddam Hussein' and was wearing a beret in a style favored by the former Iraqi dictator, according to the tribal court judge, Edward B. O'Connell."