Christopher Le Mon has a good new post about the Saddam Hussein trial over at the Transitional Justice Forum blog. In it, he reviews the recent developments in the trial and some of the commentary in the US legal community about it.
He concludes:
- In the end, the text of the Tribunal’s verdict matters less than does the effect of the prosecution of Saddam Hussein upon Iraq’s nascent attempt to leave behind an era of violence, and move forward toward a more democratic future.
I agree strongly with this statement. I am, however, a lot less optimistic on this point than Le Mon seems to be. (See, e.g., here.)
When I have time, I’m going to go over there and drop off a comment onto his post. I warmly invite JWN readers interested in the trial to do the same.
(Full disclosure: I am one of the founders and authors of that blog. I also moderate the comments there. Guys, we need more comments there!)