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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Saddam’s Trials

Saddam’s Trials

by John Cole|  August 12, 200512:32 pm| 15 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, War

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Via Memeorandum, we see this story that Saddam may be executed after his first trial:

Saddam Hussein could be executed after his first trial if he is convicted and sentenced to death for his alleged role in a 1982 Shiite massacre, even though he faces other charges, an official close to the proceedings said Thursday.

The first trial, which involves the deposed Iraqi ruler’s alleged role in the 1982 massacre of an estimated 150 Shiites in Dujail, north of Baghdad, is expected to begin by the fall, said the official. He briefed reporters on condition that his name would not be used for reasons of security and the sensitivity of the case.

Saddam’s daughter, meanwhile, has threatened that the ousted leader’s defense lawyer could boycott the trial — and preliminary questioning — unless the defense gets better access to Saddam. The defense has complained in the past that it has only been allowed to meet Sadddam with U.S. or Iraqi military officials watching.

Iraqi authorities also are building about a dozen other cases against Saddam that they intend to try separately. Those cases include the killing of rival politicians over 30 years, the 1987-88 Anfal campaign that left tens of thousands of Kurds dead or displaced and the crushing of a 1991 uprising by Shiites following the Gulf War.

If Saddam is sentenced to death in the Dujail case, authorities could “theoretically” carry out the sentence without waiting for the other trials to begin, the official said.

“If the sentence were to be the death penalty, I think that the court will have to make a decision based on international principles, Iraqi law, whether or not there is need for him in another case for the prosecution or another defendant,” the official said.

While the salutary effects of immediately executing this thug are hard to ignore, and I am similarly thrilled by anything that will upset moral piker Ramsey Clark, I am not sure how I feel about this.

Seems to me the best approach would be to have a full hearing, sans controversy. This will be a test case for the new Iraqi government, and it is best they start correctly.

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Reader Interactions

15Comments

  1. 1.

    Brad R.

    August 12, 2005 at 12:49 pm

    While the salutary effects of immediately executing this thug are hard to ignore, and I am similarly thrilled by anything that will upset moral piker Ramsey Clark, I am not sure how I feel about this.

    Well, seeing that it’s gonna be a loooooong time before Iraq becomes a bastion of human rights, it’s probably the best you could hope for.

  2. 2.

    Another Jeff

    August 12, 2005 at 12:51 pm

    Well, at least if Saddam is sentenced to death, it’ll give Ed Asner, Mike Farrell and Danny Glover something to be pissed about now that Mumia’s been spared.

  3. 3.

    salvage

    August 12, 2005 at 12:55 pm

    Death is really too good for him, a small cell 23 hours a day for the next what? Thirty years? Far more brutal punishment for a man who lived in luxury.

  4. 4.

    neil

    August 12, 2005 at 1:08 pm

    The real question is, will it be televised? If not, can we at least torture him?

  5. 5.

    Moe Lane

    August 12, 2005 at 1:17 pm

    Try him fairly for what he’s been charged with.
    If he’s found guilty, determine a proper sentence.
    If the sentence is death, execute him.
    Then everyone else can get on with their lives.

    Moe

  6. 6.

    jg

    August 12, 2005 at 2:13 pm

    This is going to be the OJ trial on a global scale.

    Kill him, keep him alive. Makes no difference to me. He stopped being something for me to worry about 15 years ago.

  7. 7.

    Defense Guy

    August 12, 2005 at 3:21 pm

    I don’t think they can keep him alive. If he lives, his supporters may start using the tactics seen in Israel to get him released.

  8. 8.

    Cyrus

    August 12, 2005 at 3:39 pm

    I’m opposed to the death penalty in general so take it for what it’s worth, but I think a life sentence would be much more appropriate. As salvage said, it would be a harsher punishment, but also, this is one of our few remaining chances to show Iraq that there the difference between us and him actually is one of type, not just of degree.

  9. 9.

    Jimmy Jazz

    August 12, 2005 at 4:04 pm

    the crushing of a 1991 uprising by Shiites following the Gulf War.

    Yeah, I can see how they’d want to execute him before that one came up. Might raise some nasty questioning about how GHWB encouraged the Shi’ites to rebel after he specifically agreed to allow Saddam to use armed helicopters in the “no fly zone” as part of the cease fire agreement.

  10. 10.

    neil

    August 12, 2005 at 5:28 pm

    Oh yeah, Defense Guy, and we definitely would never want the “tactics seen in Israel” to start showing up in Iraq. Why, who knows what would happen then?

    If he really had any dedicated supporters, I would think they would start by hiring him a lawyer…

  11. 11.

    jg

    August 12, 2005 at 6:23 pm

    the crushing of a 1991 uprising by Shiites following the Gulf War.

    When this happened there were children around. They watched as we let Saddam kill their fathers, uncles, older brothers. But Bush thought we would be welcomed with candy and flowers when we came back 15 years later? Those children are grown up now. These are the people in the shiite militias. No love for the USA there. They didn’t welcome us, they won’t cooperate past what gets them what they want, they won’t throw us a parade when we leave.

  12. 12.

    DougJ

    August 13, 2005 at 12:41 am

    Why does Saddam even get a trial in the first place? We know he gassed his own people, we know he tried to get weapons of mass destruction, we know he hit Israel with scuds. Why not just execute him?

  13. 13.

    Randolph Fritz

    August 13, 2005 at 2:42 am

    A year and a half ago, I wrote, “I think [the Bush administration is] hoping to press the court to order the death penalty. The more I think about it, the less wise I think that would be. If nothing else there’s quite a bit of Iraqi history which Saddam knows, and knows how to find, which no-one else may know. He literally knows where the bodies are buried, and there’s a lot of families who would really like to have that information. His family might feel compelled to pursue revenge. The Islamic radicals might declare him a martyr.”

    I think this is still true, and I think Iraq would be well off without the death penalty, as well.

  14. 14.

    Steve

    August 13, 2005 at 3:13 am

    If we’re going to get totally pragmatic about it, I think the danger of Saddam becoming a martyr is outweighed by the danger of loyalists hoping to undermine the Iraqi government and restore him to power for as long as he remains alive. Keep in mind, as far as martyrdom goes, Saddam is at least not a religious figure.

  15. 15.

    Jimmy Jazz

    August 13, 2005 at 7:39 pm

    Why does Saddam even get a trial in the first place? We know he gassed his own people, we know he tried to get weapons of mass destruction, we know he hit Israel with scuds. Why not just execute him?

    I think we should just replace Saddam with somebody who looks a lot like Saddam, executes people without trial, tortures his political opponents, but without the mustache. That, right there, is the embodiment of democracy.

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