Saddam Execution

ICH: Selective Justice Aand The Execution Of Saddam Hussein
By Gregory Elich

Hailed by President Bush as an act of "justice," former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was executed on the morning of December 30. Hussein's trial, Bush averred, had been a "fair" one.

Yet there was little that could be regarded as fair and legal about the proceedings.

The court itself was established at the Bush Administration's behest. U.S. dollars financed the proceedings, and U.S. officials provided aid, training and direct involvement.

The trial was fraught with problems. Three of Hussein's lawyers were murdered and many defense witnesses were intimidated into silence.

The trial was a U.S.-directed effort, intended to paint the occupation of Iraq in the best light. The U.S. and British invasion had, we are reminded by Western officials, overthrown this particular tyrant.

But tyrants, like war criminals, are in the eye of the beholder, and actions that might win praise and support for one man might be condemned for another. Saddam Hussein found himself on both sides of that equation at one time or another.