Saddam gets better than he deserves, but it's necessary



It was remarkable to hear how many Iraqis commented Thursday that Saddam Hussein, appearing in the court in a crisp white shirt and striped suit coat -- facing capital charges -- was getting better than he deserved.
Time and again, the man in the street or woman in her home said Saddam did not deserve a trial, that he instead deserved a quick trip to the gallows. Some even said his carcass should be hung from a tree so that the people could stone it.
And based on what is known of the way Saddam treated his subjects -- even some members of his own family -- those people who advocate a swifter, more brutal justice than Saddam is facing may be right. But based on the rule of law, based on the need for the Iraqi people to establish a system of justice that was denied them during Saddam's regime, the treatment being afforded the former president strikes just the right chord.
Despite his protestations to the contrary, Saddam Hussein is no longer the president of Iraq. He is not longer in charge. He is no longer a threat to people he distrusted or feared.
He will never again order armies to kill his enemies by the thousands with poison gas, to round up opponents or potential opponents by the hundreds, drive them into mass graves and shoot them. His days of sending men off to be tortured and killed are over.
Difficult days ahead
Of course, proving to the satisfaction of a judge that Saddam did all those things will not be easy. His family, living in exile and presumably with access to at least some of the billions he looted from his people, is assembling a phalanx of lawyers who will claim that if there are mass graves, Saddam knew nothing of them, or if Kurds were gassed, it was done by Iranians, not Saddam's army.
Saddam and his 11 top aides will be tried by an Iraqi tribunal, with the right to their own counsel and the right not to testify against themselves. It will be important for prosecutors to assemble the evidence needed to convict Saddam and his cohorts of specific crimes beyond a shadow of a doubt. The Iraqi people and the world will be watching.
Of course there will always be some Saddam loyalists and apologists who will deny his guilt regardless of the evidence. There will be those who will question the legitimacy of the tribunals. There will be those who will continue to believe that Saddam is the president of the country that he took to war against both Iran and Kuwait, with disastrous results.
Some of them will believe that until the day Saddam dies and beyond.
But if the tribunal does its job correctly, Saddam will not only forfeit his life for his crimes against humanity, he will do so after all but the few blinded by their misplaced loyalty to him see that justice is being served.

By using this site, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use.

» Accept
» Learn More