Saddam's Trial Round-Up

Here's Wretchard, going back to Nuremberg.

Here's Austin Bay, agreeing with me that dispatch is of the essence.


I'll update this as the day progresses.


UPDATE: Working for Change goes through the "Why didn't we stop him then?" routine. A fair question, and one which can be chalked up to the "He's a sonofabitch, but he's our sonofabitch" Great-Game international-chess-board. Not our proudest moment, and saying that we had other fish to fry at the time is hardly an answer. But what to draw from this, other than the Saddams and Mugabe's must not be tolerated any longer, must indeed be regarded as the enemy?


And the University of Chicago Faculty Law Blog draws a fascinating parallel.


AND FURTHERMORE: George Will, from the day of Saddam's capture. He was wrong about Saddam being "bravely defiant," but he reminds us, in his discussion of the position of the then-Democratic candidates, of the fact that getting rid of the wicked sometimes involves dirtying our hands.


COULDN'T RESIST: Lileks plays the Clinton Hypocrisy card:

I don’t mean to start out the day with a polarizing note, but: do you think that if President Clinton had invaded Iraq and knocked Saddam for power in 1998, we’d be seeing a movie about the dictator’s trial right now, with George Clooney as the prosecutor?

The promised Screedblog is good, too, though not about Saddam.


ET CETERA: Deseret News says that history will be kind to the trial.

John Kunich, an international law specialist at Appalachian College of Law in Grundy, Va., says Saddam's trial has the potential to have an impact similar to last January's vote for an interim Iraqi government.
"This could be another 'purple finger moment,' " Kunich says, referring to the dyed fingers identifying voters that Iraqis displayed as proud symbols of their democracy. "This is really a first in the Arab world, a former leader being called to account for his crimes, in the dock like an ordinary criminal. There's no telling how potent that will be.

And here's a go-to source: The Trial of Saddam Hussein on Blogspot. To the blogroll!


HA!:
"I prefer the trial goes like this:
Q:Are you Saddam Hussein?
A:Yes.
Then take this bullet in the head."

Not that I'm advocating such an approach, mind you, even as poetic justice. But it has a certain economy. And yes, I know economy in a capitol trial is not a good thing.