Let the Show Trials Begin (Redux)

The day after Saddam Hussein's first appearance in court facing war crimes charges, his former subjects are not universally pleased. The depths to which some of these people are deluded really makes you wonder if something vaguely resembling democracy has any chance in Iraq. They don't deny Saddam's alleged crimes, but have easy justifications for them. Killing political and religious leaders and brutally suppressing a Kurdish uprising? According to one man, "[t]hose mass graves were all graves of looters and criminals." The 1990 invasion of Kuwait? Justified by Kuwaiti insults to the honor of Iraqi women (whom the Kuwaitis wanted to turn into prostitutes).

The idea of the rule of law does seem to be sinking in with some Iraqi's, however. A young doctor said, "[h]e tortured our people. He killed our people. He took our youth. Most of us suffered, . . .. He must be tried, and he must be tried fairly. . . . If he has a fair trial, maybe one day I'll have a fair trial." That is what equal justice for all is all about.