BUSH Praises Fair Trial For Saddam-While Denying Justice In America

[kpete]

Saturday, December 30, 2006
The President's praise of fair trials and the rule of law

(updated below)

By Glenn Greenwald - President Bush today hailed the critical importance of fair trials and the rule of law . . . . in Iraq:

BUSH: Today, Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial -- the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime.

Fair trials were unimaginable under Saddam Hussein's tyrannical rule. It is a testament to the Iraqi people's resolve to move forward after decades of oppression that, despite his terrible crimes against his own people, Saddam Hussein received a fair trial. This would not have been possible without the Iraqi people's determination to create a society governed by the rule of law.

The President is certainly right that it is is a good thing that Saddam Hussein was given a trial, represented by lawyers, with an opportunity to contest his guilt, before being deemed to be guilty. That is how civilized countries function, by definition. In fact, allowing people fair trials before treating them as Guilty is one of the handful of defining attributes -- one could even say (as the American Founders did) a prerequisite -- for countries to avoid tyranny.

That is why it is so reprehensible and inexpressibly tragic that the Bush administration continues to claim -- and aggressively exercise -- the power to imprison and punish people without even a pretense or fraction of the due process that Saddam Hussein enjoyed. The Bush administration believes that it has the power to imprison whomever it wants, for as long as it wants, without even giving them access to the outside world, let alone "a fair trial." The power which it claims -- which it has seized -- extends not only to foreign nationals but legal residents and even its own citizens.

more at:
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/12/presidents-praise-of-fair-trials-and.html

[INdemo]

1. This could be ...A Controversial Question

Saddam had 58 days from the time of his sentencing to the time of his execution with a US judge having the final ruling to proceed as scheduled..so why do we have convicted criminals on death row for years waiting for their execution even after all appeals have been exhausted?

[NNN0LHI]

9. Because there are so many cases like this one

http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/96/960201.newsome.speech.shtml

Wrongfully Convicted Man Discusses Illinois Justice With University of Chicago Law Students

James Newsome, who spent 15 years in an Illinois prison for a murder he did not commit, will meet Tuesday, Feb. 6, with University of Chicago Law School students about the criminal justice system in Illinois. Newsome was released from prison in 1994 and pardoned by Gov. Jim Edgar in 1995 after fingerprints at the scene showed another man had committed the murder of a grocery store owner in Chicago in 1979.

University of Chicago Professor Norval Morris, who helped Newsome fight for his freedom during 15 years in prison, will introduce Newsome at the Chautauqua Law & Society meeting in the Law School. WHO:James Newsome

[rustydog]

12. I don't know, maybe because after 17 years on death row

then FINALLY getting DNA evidence that PROVES your innocence.

[Say_What]

2. Fair my @ss!! All the rights groups deplored the execution because of the 'deely flawed trial'

<clips>

Iraq: Amnesty International deplores execution of Saddam Hussein

Amnesty International deplored the execution today of Saddam Hussein following the confirmation of his sentence by the Iraqi Appeals Court on 26 December 2006.

The organization, which totally opposes the use of the death penalty, said it was concerned that the Iraqi Appeals Court had failed to address the major flaws during the former dictator's trial before the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal (SICT) which had rendered it unfair.

"We oppose the death penalty in all cases as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, but it is especially abhorrent when this most extreme penalty is imposed after an unfair trial," said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme. "It is even more worrying that in this case, the execution appeared a foregone conclusion, once the original verdict was pronounced, with the Appeals Court providing little more than a veneer of legitimacy for what was, in fact, a fundamentally flawed process."

Amnesty International said it had greatly welcomed the decision to hold Saddam Hussein to account for the crimes committed under his rule but this should have been done through a fair process. "His trial should have been a major contribution towards establishing justice and ensuring truth and accountability for the massive human rights violations perpetrated when he was in power, but his trial was a deeply flawed affair" said Malcolm Smart. "It will be seen by many as nothing more than 'victor's justice' and, sadly, will do nothing to stem the unrelenting tide of political killings."


http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGMDE144302006

[malaise]

8. I'll take Amnesty International for $2,000

Fuck Bush.

[WiseButAngrySara]

11. THANK YOU! Fair my @ss! ....n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Maybe it's good thing the "detainees" aren't given a "fair" trial.

Assuming the the "justice" levied by the junta would be similar to that given Saddam.

[bluedog]

4. The IST is an Instrument of U.S. Policy.

RAMSEY CLARK


October 10, 2006




The Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST)




The IST is an Instrument of U.S. Policy.

It is not Legal, Independent or Impartial

The creation and operation of the IST is designed and controlled to implement the political will of the United States. The IST is a creature of the 2003 U.S. war of aggression against Iraq implemented during the illegal occupation by the U.S. The Court is illegal. The trial itself is palpably unfair. Its verdict will be victor’s justice for the U.S. and its protégés.

U.S. lawyers wrote the statute creating the IST. The IST is financed by the U.S. Its personnel were selected, trained and are protected by the U.S. military. The U.S. directly influences the conduct of the IST. The Court is not legal, in part because it is an instrumentality of U.S. policy born from a war of aggression, functioning in an illegal occupation.

http://www.iacenter.org/Iraq/hussein-2-102006.htm

[Warren Stupidity]

5. The trial and execution were a black farce and

an indelible stain.

"But even assuming that the IST was legally established, it was – and remains – questionable that you could find any person in Iraq who could possess the degree of objectivity that such a serious trial required. This was confirmed by the conduct of the judges and the corresponding undue interference by the government in changing judges when they appeared to be unsuitable to other ‘authorities’.

But even assuming that the judges had the requisite qualities – the security situation and the threat to the proper conduct of the proceedings did not allow for a trial to be conducted with the requisite openness and transparency. No less than three members of the defense were assassinated and all were subject to threats on their lives, which, as we all know, cannot be taken lightly in Baghdad. During the trial, defense counsel several times manifested their fear for their lives and those of their friends and relatives.

Furthermore, the proceedings took place in war-like conditions, above and beyond the tight security that such trials warrant whenever and wherever they take place. The proceedings were not accessible to the public, although selected excerpts were broadcast. The little that was shown confirmed the concerns regarding the proceedings.

All this made a mockery of the seriousness of the proceedings that the crimes warranted. After all crimes against humanity are exactly that: it is humanity at large that has an interest that such crimes are punished and punished in a manner that is consistent with international standards.

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2006/11/failed-justice-in-iraq-trial-of-saddam.php

[DB1]

6. Bush and trial in same sentence gets me excited!

The only positive thing I can find in all of this is that a political leader was prosecuted 25 years after the attrocities he was linked to. I can only hope this sets some kind of precedence for old Georgie.

[Vidar]

7. Well said. I support the death penalty for Bush's brand of treason.

[Say_What]

10. Welcome to DU!!

I don't support the death penalty in any case, but my fingers are crossed that old Georgie ends up in the Hague with the rest of his ghoulish pals, Rice, Rummy, Unca Dickie, and Old Bush.

[newyawker99]

14. Hi DB1!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[shance]

13. WHAT FAIR TRIAL FOR SADDAM?? He has to be kidding.

Im not believing they are trying to now say he had a fair trial.

Fair as compared to who?

Saddam was no saint, but it is a foul lie and affront to us as Americans to believe he had a fair trial. He was killed so he couldn't incriminate the Bush Administration.

Guess theyll start pushing that lie now along with how Gerald Ford "healed" the nation by pardoning Nixon.