"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

The Guardian reports today that Saddam Hussein's legal defense team is experiencing personnel difficulties. Apparently, 1,100 lawyers have resigned.

Some 1,100 Iraqi lawyers have withdrawn from Saddam Hussein's defense team, citing insufficient protection following the slayings of two peers representing co-defendants of the ousted Iraqi leader.

The article goes on for fifteen paragraphs, never pausing to explain, or even notice, the oddity of a defense team made up of more than 1000 lawyers. Can anyone explain exactly how that's supposed to work?