Who in their right mind could have conceived of this as recently as 4-5 years ago? Yesterday, the trial of Saddam Hussein began in a courtroom in the heart of Baghdad. A judge presiding over a court to begin the first of what is expected to be a dozen cases brought against the former tyrannical Iraqi dictator.
Specifically, this particular trial finds Saddam facing charges that he ordered the 1982 massacre of his own citizens in the Dujail region.
If convicted, Hussein faces the death penalty, and it is conceivable that it could be carried out quickly thereafter. However, due to formal legal proceedings, the trial could be held in a largely halting, stop-and-start manner.
Hussein was defiant on the first day. When the formal proceedings began and he was asked to state his name, this despicable excuse for a human being replied to the judge in a combative tone "Who are you?!", implying that the judge was no one, and had no right to be questioning him.
Hopefully we, and more importantly the Iraqi people, won't have to be putting up with very much of his rhetoric during the trial. And here's to hoping that this judge has a little more going for him than our own fumbling American jurist from the O.J. Simpson trial, Lance Ito.
"Death to America!", Saddam?
How's the shoe feel on the other foot, pal?
1 comment:
It's a shame we don't have any picture of Saddam in the hole hiding.
But the mental picture in my mind can be quite hysterical.
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