This piece was originally posted yesterday. I’m re-posting it today with some updates.
From The New York Times, as it all gets going:
Saddam Hussein defiantly faced a panel of Iraqi judges today in a heavily guarded courthouse in central Baghdad, as he was asked to answer charges for a 1982 massacre and begin the long process of public reckoning for the decades of brutal repression that Mr. Hussein brought to Iraq…
The first case being brought against the former Iraqi leader centers around the execution of more than 140 men and teenage boys from the mostly Shiite market town of Dujail, 35 miles north of Baghdad. The victims were seized by secret police after a failed assassination attempt on Mr. Hussein there in 1982.
It’s about time. May justice prevail.
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Dennis Sanders at The Moderate Republican (the kind of Republican I like) has a good post on Saddam’s trial: “If this trial is nothing more than a show trial or a way of getting back at Saddam or the Sunni minority, then there will be resentment among Sunnis and no chance for reconcilation and healing. Saddam may not deserve a fair trial, but if we want Iraq to a nation established under the rule of law, it has to be fair and impartial. If it follows the rule of established international law, then it will rob Sunnis of any chance to claim victimhood and hopefully move forward. Do it wrong, and it will only exacerbate ethnic tensions.”
Well put. And I agree.
Otherwise, I’m surprised this story isn’t getting a bit more attention, especially in the blogosphere. Yes, I realize that most of us are glued to Plamegate, Miers, and other such sexy, partisanship-enhancing issues, but we’re talking about a recently liberated country preparing to deal with its brutal past, facing its oppressor in a court of law, even as it continues its own struggle to establish viable self-governance and a sustainable sense of self-identity.
Shouldn’t we be paying attention?
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The Iraqis certainly are. See this piece in today’s New York Times.
And this is from the latest post at Iraq the Model:
While Baghdad’s streets were nearly empty, most Iraqis were glued to the TV and I bet many Arabs were as well…
We smiled seeing the news anchors lower their voices and nodding down when the prosecution grew stronger and more reasonable and convincing and they also abandoned the previous poetic sentimental tone that couldn’t stand in the face of facts and figures.
I think today’s session has also proven the independence of the court in making its decisions; while skeptics accused the court of being manipulated by the government which wants to get this done in 30 days, the judge set the date for the 2nd session 45 days from now with probably more sessions to come.We’re drawing the outlines of a change not only for Iraq but also for the entire region and I can feel that today we have presented a unique model of justice because in spite of the cruelty of the criminal tyrant and in spite of the size of the atrocities committed against the Iraqi people, we still want to build a state of law that looks nothing like the one the tyrant wanted to create.
Also check out Iraq the Model’s Iraqi blogroll. Interesting stuff.