Justice in Baghdad

IN THE NEWS
I've obviously missed a step somewhere in the decision-making about the ultimate fate of Saddam Hussein. Hearing Bush muse aloud today about how hard it is to determine when we'll hand over Hussein to an Iraqi court is embarassing, both to us and the Iraqis.

Please, fill in the blanks for me, if I'm just being dense. Here's how the situation looks to this apparently uninformed observer:

• No one doubts that Hussein is a prime candidate for charges under international law, most clearly for the invasion of Kuwait, the attacks on the Kurds and the marsh Arabs, and his long, well-documented record of torture and murder. If the Nazis deserved to be in the dock at Nuremburg, Hussein should have a cell waiting for him at the Hague.


• We know the Iraqis want to try him themselves. Many good-hearted Iraqis believe that the stain the Baath Party left on the nation's honor won't disappear without Hussein facing justice at Iraqi hands.


• At the same time, the interim Iraqi government won't be able to guarantee that Hussein will stay in jail after the June 30 de jure handover of sovereignty. This is the embarassing bit: we're saying that the handover is meaningless, since in the world of de facto sovereignty, the Iraqi authorities can't guarantee the security of one prisoner. With the Iraqi military and police still understaffed and undermotivated, there's a real risk that Hussein's supporters might break him out of jail, given the opportunity. The symbolic blow to the interim government and the United States would be enormously valuable to many groups in the Iraqi insurgency--and not just the former fedayeen and other ex-Baathist forces.

Therefore, if (1) as the Bush Administration says, Hussein was the reincarnation of Hitler, (2) the interim government needs time to build up its security forces, but (3) every day that Hussein stays in a US prison, the interim government looks foolish for not bringing Hussein to trial, why aren't we pushing for an international trial prior to an Iraqi one? Whatever happens at the Hague wouldn't invalidate or trump anything an Iraqi court decides later, and it would be a face-saving way of giving the Iraqis time to be truly ready for their own trial.

Again, I feel I'm missing something. If the reason for avoiding the international trial is something as base as US promises to Chalabi that his nephew will be the chief prosecutor against Hussein, and the Chalabi clan is impatient to cement its position in the post-handover regime--well, truly, shame on us.

Comments

[Another Dreamer]

The part that is missing is that we're dealing with evil, incompetent fucks. And I'm not talking about Saddam.

[Oscar]

Have you noticed how well international law has worked recently with regard to Jugoslavian crimes, etc? Turning him over to any international court would be equivalent to turning him loose. He and the Iraqi people deserve having him tried in Iraq by a Muslim court.

[Kingdaddy]

Even if an international trial were a total farce, it would buy time and save all parties major embarassment. That's not a trivial issue, if we care about the credibility of a new Iraqi government in the eyes of its own citizens.

[Oscar]

I doubt it would help the credibility of the Iraqi government at home. But, if you were right on this point, I would agree with you.

You and I seem to have very different news sources.