Posted by
arandomguy on Monday, November 06, 2006 11:37:00 PM
Saddam Hussein was found guilty yesterday, of crimes against humanity. He has been sentenced to death by hanging, after his appeal. According to the Iraqi justice system, he will get one appeal, where the verdict can be overturned, though it is unlikely that it will be.
This is a great success for the Iraqi people, and for the war effort, because it is just another example of the success of the mission. Saddam Hussein went from being one of the world's worst and most brutal dictators, do being a smarmy prisoner, to finally, hanging from the gallows.
Bush heralded this success as a great victory for the Iraqi people, and he is right. In any democracy, the rule of law is something extremely important. Our country is founded on the rule of law, but even we did not have to establish this rule during wartime. Furthermore, we had centuries of English common law on our side. The Iraqi's have neither advantage, so any victory is a big one. Saddam has been given a mostly-fair trial, and has been found guilty of crimes against humanity.
The trial wasn't perfect - and the appeal should correct most of these problems - but it was still a large step in the right direction. Furthermore, it shows the American people what is being accomplished in Iraq. Saddam will never again be a threat to the Iraqi people. He will be hung - likely before January - and never heard from again. His days of tyrannizing the Iraqi people are over, and the Iraqi people are rejoicing because of it.
However, the New York Times disagrees. They think, in their editorial today, that Saddam wasn't given a fair trial. They think that, though the appeal process should fix some of these mistakes, that the trial was so disgusting, that a second trial of Saddam should be started.
Do they not realize how stupid the first trial was? Saddam should have taken a bullet to the temple long ago - though admittedly, seeing him hanging will be a plus. This tiral gave Saddam a chance to spread his message through the airwaves, something he never stopped doing, even as the verdict was read to him. A second trial would undermine much of the work we've done in Iraq, as well as turning a victory into a defeat.
A second trial is an extremely stupid idea. Saddam should be hung, and that will be the end of it.