As was widely feared, the trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has turned into an utter farce.
The trial has been delayed again with the removal of another chief judge after it was discovered he had close ties with Saddam's regime and was under investigation. The first judge in the trial stepped down due to political pressure being brought on the court by the new Iraqi government.
The new judge is a Kurd whose hometown (near Halabja, Iraq) was attacked with chemical weapons, leaving nearly 5,000 dead. The new judge has said that this will not affect his judgment. Maybe, maybe not, but the mere possibility cannot be tolerated. That leaves two judges left on the five-judge panel. And neither of those judges were properly vetted by Iraqi authorities either.
It's high time to end this fiasco, declare a mistrial and either wait until the judiciary is up and running properly, or send him to the Hague. Either choice is better than allowing him to get off for what he has done to his people.
Does the Iraqi government want the world to think that kangaroo court convicted him? That's how it looks right now. They've got to step in and get control of the proceedings before the court loses any more credibility in the eyes of the Iraqi people and the international community.
This man cannot be allowed to escape justice, and that's what is happening. More attention is being paid to the court itself instead of the trial and the testimony of the witnesses.
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