"Goodnight from Newsweak, and Death to America"
Posted on 12/30/2006 10:27:28 PM PST by indcons
The saga of Saddam's end—his capture, trial and execution—is a sad metaphor for America's occupation of Iraq. What might have gone right went so wrong. It is worth remembering that Saddam Hussein was not your run-of-the-mill dictator. He created one of the most brutal, corrupt and violent regimes in modern history, something akin to Stalin's Soviet Union, Mao's China or Kim Jong Il's North Korea. Whatever the strategic wisdom for the United States, deposing him began as something unquestionably good for Iraq.
But soon the Bush administration dismissed the idea of trying Saddam under international law, or in a court with any broader legitimacy. This is the administration, after all, that could see little advantage to a United Nations mandate for its own invasion and occupation. It put Saddam's fate in the hands of the new Iraqi government, dominated by Shiite and Kurdish politicians who had been victims of his reign. As a result, Saddam's trial, which should have been the judgment of civilized society against a tyrant, is now seen by Iraq's Sunnis and much of the Arab world as a farce, reflecting only the victors' vengeance.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Not surprisingly, he exhibits his true sympathies in this ridiculous article.
An absurd writer!
Talk about showing your true colors!!!
SymPATHETIC to the enemy of Americans.
It is worth remembering that Saddam Hussein was not your run-of-the-mill dictator. He created one of the most brutal, corrupt and violent regimes in modern history, something akin to Stalin's Soviet Union, Mao's China or Kim Jong Il's North Korea.
Good point, I'll get the ropoe.
While Saddam's trial had some frustrating and ridiculous moments, it achieved the desired result relatively quickly. More likely, the international court was bypassed due to the joke it made of Milosevic's trial.
That's funny stuff. LOL!
I am sure the Dixie Chicks are in mourning..
Flood Newsweak with their own subscription litter cards.
Sheesh! Did this idiot think the Iraqis would reelect Saddam
without a gun poited at their heads?
If history can pay Saddam any homage at all, it will be that he knew what it took to keep the factions in Iraq in line. A vicious dictator for a people who would be ruled by nothing less.
Why is a 'fair' trial the holy grail of justice. Justice with saddam was done. ask anyone who says that the trial was unfair if he was guilty or not. 'fair trial' is a smoke screen.
In this piece Zakaria exhibits his own astounding shallowness as a thinker. He believes that only Dutch lawyers may legitimately try a man he admits is as bad as Stalin or Kim Jong Il. He believes that the victims and the forces that overthrew him have no legitimate standing.
He thinks furthermore that unless the Dictator has full access to all of the legal subterfuges that money can pay for, that justice has not been served. He's mistaken.
This was a war trial. This was not a trial to determine Saddam's criminal guilt or innocence; during Saddam's rule of terror, Saddam was the law. By definition, whatever Saddam did was legal. He could only be brought down by extra-legal means and he could only be tried by an extra-legal standard.
Zakaria furthermore seems to believe that the war could not be legitimate if it was not fought under UN auspices. He seems not to have noticed that the UN was on Saddam's payroll.
The witch is dead. God bless the men who pulled the lever.
It is not only fair, but also pivotal to establishing an Iraqi government to allow the Iraqi courts to try Saddam.
Ok lets see. America fights a war almost singlehandedly with some token support from the UK, spends hundreds of billions of dollars from its own pocket, sacrifices the lives of thousands of its brave men and women, puts up with vilification in the world community and even within its own borders..for what ? To have it's chief spoil of the war turned over to some phony America hating organization whose only contribution to the whole effort was unifying the voices of America hatred? International Court, my rear end. And on top of that they would probably have apologized to Saddam for the unjust invasion of his country.
A few things. Zakiria supported the war on Iraq, until recently, when public opinion turned against it. He is now against it and acts like he's been against it all along. Second, Zakiria intimates that Saddam's fate would have had more legitimacy had it been carried out through a UN tribunal? Really. You mean like the "legitimacy" of Milosevic's convinction and sentencing...oh yeah that never happened because the tribunal was such a drawn-out joke that Milosevic died before that happened...in part because Milosevic was denied medical treatment. That went really well, and I'm sure a reptition of that farce would have gone over great in Iraq. Finally, would the Iraq people have "appreciated" that the world dealt Saddam justice, or that their government, their democracy, was responsible for meting out justice against their tormentor for so many years? Zakaria's twisted logic and second-guessing is par for the course for a mainstream media whose lock on public discourse has continued for such length that the intellectual seriousness of their arguments no longer matters; their arguments will "carry the day" anyway.
Considering the charges were that he murdered his own countrymen, it was fitting that it was they who would try him for his crimes.
trying Saddam under international law, or in a court with any broader legitimacy
If we had let that happen, he would have been slapped on the hand and set free.
"Goodnight from Newsweak, and Death to America"
If history can pay Saddam any homage at all, it will be that he knew what it took to keep the factions in Iraq in line. A vicious dictator for a people who would be ruled by nothing less.
Factions of people who won't get along, shouldn't be forced to. Obviously, a society that is divided against itself is more than one society and it is immoral and foolish to insist that national boundaries be drawn without regard to the peopole who inhabit that land.
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