Sparing Saddam: beyond victor's justice

[Briar]

Sparing Saddam: beyond victor's justice
John Sloboda



A US call to spare Saddam from the gallows could restore America's reputation for justice, and be a powerful gesture of reconciliation for the middle east, says John Sloboda.




At a unique moment in world history, all eyes are on the Democrats in Washington. The United States electorate, in handing them control of both houses of Congress in the mid-term elections on 7 November 2006, has given them a unique chance to shape world events. Right now, with George W Bush openly seeking the Democrats' help to get America out of the hole it has dug itself in Iraq, they possess - at least for a while - unique authority. There is a window of opportunity to take a bold initiative, to signal to the world the values that the Democrats will bring back to an administration which many believe has lost its moral compass.

...

Some are claiming that the Bush administration has influenced this trial at every stage, right up to and including the timing of the sentencing, in an effort to manipulate American public opinion to keep it in power. Whether or not this theory is true, it is widely believed. Democrats could now help Washington restore some of its lost legitimacy by joining the international call for clemency. If Americans were to unite behind such a call, it could have a transformative effect, not only within Iraq, but across the region.

The US intervention in Iraq has been presented by George W Bush and his principal ally Tony Blair as about values: offering the Iraqi people, and the entire middle east, the opportunity to embrace the values that underpin democratic civilisations. Those values, for the vast majority of democratic countries, including Britain and all other members of the European Union, include a firm and absolute rejection of the death penalty.

If America stands apart now, and allows Saddam to go to the gallows unchallenged, it sends a signal to the entire world that the US prefers to remain isolated from those who should be its closest allies and friends, and that the prevailing philosophy of its new "bipartisan" government is likely to continue as one of vengeance rather than justice and reconciliation.

...

http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-iraq/sparingsaddam_4092.jsp

[daninthemoon]

1. I'm against the death penalty, even for sadaam, but there is zero

chance he will be spared. The moment they pulled him out of that hole, his fate was sealed.

[Briar]

2. Exactly

The trial was a fix, the whole thing a political charade designed to satisfy the domestic audience. The rest of the world can see this. Now the US can show it really has turned over a new leaf and rejected what Bush stands for.

[Demeter]

3. Bush Family WANTS Saddam Dead, So He Can't Testify!

To save Saddam for the Bush war crime trials, Impeach NOW!