Hussein's Trial

Where should Saddam Hussein be tried - in Iraq by the "new government", at the international court, or in the United States? What type of charges should Saddam be charged with? Don't turn this into a flamewar, I just want some opinions of my fellow doomworldians!

Well, since he is an international war criminal, I'd say he should be tried by the international courts. He should be tried for gassing the Kurds and Iranians (dunno what kind of charge that would be exactly), plus whatever charges may be against him for illegaly annexing Kuwait.

The court should consist only of those he has directly wronged. The US deserves no part in the trial, nor does Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Israel...

Ultraviolet: That would be like a murderer being tried by a jury comprised entirely of the friends and family of people he's supposedly murdered.

Well, all I'm saying is that the US would be like "OMG you caused us economic discomfort you must die." I do hope he is assured an adequate defense.

He will be tried in Iraq and be sentenced to lifelong imprisonment.

I'd laugh if he did get life imprisonment and then retook Iraq in a coup.

Job said:

I'd laugh if he did get life imprisonment and then retook Iraq in a coup.

How would that work exactly.

Job said:

I'd laugh if he did get life imprisonment and then retook Iraq in a coup.

Would that be before or during being incinerated by a nuclear explosion? =P

His crimes are what? Who is to judge? America? Let's check ..., he has used chemical weapons against civilians, so has America! He was trying to use nuclear weapons against civilians? Well America HAS used them against civilians! He has commited war crimes? So has America! Tell me a crime he has commited that others have not. Recent details of America wanting to invade Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran during the oil crisis show the true reason for recent events. Go look at reports of the "Road to Basra" to see who can commit the most heinous crimes.

definitely by the iraqis. anything else would be a slap in the face to them.

Crimes against humanity.

Dose it matter? They can have their show trial on mars for the difference it would make. While I don’t generally support the death penalty, I'm not going to lose much sleep over this.

Fredrik said:

How would that work exactly.

How wouldn't it work?

EDIT: Hey, wait. I just noticed the error I made. Same statement minus the life imprisonment part.

He should be tried before the creators of South Park. That'll be funny to see....

Two words: Celebrity Deathmatch

Whatever happened to that show? I miss watching clay hollywood hacks beat eachother to death.

kill.

Bush! Saddam! One ring with two men standing! Only one leaves! Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

fodders, since you're so good a looking up America's crimes, why you look up Britain's crimes while you're at it! Ah, Great Britain, that shining star . . . As I've said before, none of us are saints, so stop putting forth America like it's the only country with dirty laundry. And especially considering that Britain was with us on this litlle adventure . . .

In any event, international courts can kiss our collective asses. They didn't want to help us bring him down, they can sit on the sidelines.

As the original post was questioning if Saddam should be tried by the US I had to base my reply on that premise. There was no mention of Britain trying him or I would have couched my reply to include my objections to that too. :P

Job said:

Bush! Saddam! One ring with two men standing! Only one leaves! Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

Na...Not Bush. He's too weak. How about the governator?

Na...Not Bush. He's too weak. How about the governator?

Tag team!, Bush and Ahnuld against Saddam and Bin laden!, or maybe Tony blair if the governator is busy on kindergarten cop 2...though gordon brown could have them both and bush and a mulleted egg-chucking yob with one hand tied behind his back

fodders said:

he has used chemical weapons against civilians, so has America!

The US has used chemical weapons against it's own people? When did this happen?

I didn't actually say that, I said civilians but ok...let's go look
The Pentagon has admitted use of chemical weapons during numerous military-training operations in the late ‘60s.

Vieques, a small island off the eastern shore of Puerto Rico’s main island, was among the list of many beautiful places which continue to suffer from these Cold War-era tests.

The past couple years have brought many similar admissions from the Pentagon. Throughout 2001, numerous reports came out condemning the contamination of Vieques.

The Navy was forced to come clean and admit to firing 273 rounds of uranium projectiles on the island as late as 1998. These are evidenced in photos of missiles washed up on shorelines and underwater photos of toxic barrels decomposing on what was once a lush coral reef.

These admissions were, in large part, brought on by veterans claiming serious health conditions demanding to know the cause of their suffering.

“In Vieques, the test was conducted in May 1969. Both an amphibious unit of Marines, as well as the U.S.S. Fort Snelling, were sprayed with trioctyl phosphate, a nontoxic substitute for the much more sinister VX, a nerve agent,” wrote Gwyneth Shaw in the Orlando Sentinel.

Even TV ads for Rep. Mike Thompson focus on his successful pressuring of the Defense Department, which finally agreed to release details about the tests and contact the participants.

The Pentagon has admitted that during the Cold War, it tested chemical and biological weapons on its own troops in the U.S., United Kingdom and Canada.

James Turner, spokesperson for the Defense Department, declared that around 500 people were involved in these tests which were conducted "under strict control".

The 27 tests were carried out between 1962 and 1971 in Maryland, Florida, Alaska and Hawaii, according to Turner. These revelations can be added to others which became public in May which indicated that U.S. warships had been fumigated with chemical and biological weapons.
1956: Army manual explicitly states that bio-chemical warfare is not banned. Rep. Gerald Ford wins policy change to give U.S. military "first strike" authority on chemical arms.
1966: Army germ warfare experiment in New York subway system.
1968: Pentagon asks for the chance to use some its arsenal against civil rights and anti-war protesters to demonstrate the "efficacy" of the chemicals. "By using gas in civil situations, we accomplish two purposes: controlling crowds and also educating people on gas," said Maj. Gen. J.B. Medaris. "Now, everybody is being called savage if he just talks about it. But nerve gas is the only way I know of to sort out the guys in white hats from the ones in the black hats without killing any of them."
1970: Sarin nerve gas used by U.S. forces in a secret raid into Laos called Operation Tailwind. "Upwards of 100'' people perished in the raid, including Laotian civilians. Platoon leader Lt. Robert Van Buskirk estimated up to 20 U.S. military defectors were killed. Adm. Thomas Moorer, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed the raid on CNN in 1998.
1985: U.S. resumes open-air testing of biological agents. U.S. firmsbegin supplying Iraq with numerous biological agents for a four-year period (according to a 1994 Senate report).

Compiled from a column by Alexander Cockburn, from articles that appeared in "Z" magazine by Stephen Shalom and Noam Chomsky (February 1991) and Zoltan Grossman (March 1991), from information at the Website of the Council for a Livable World, William Blum's "Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II," and from recent news reports.
See also, "Bullets, Gas, and the Bomb: The Spread of Conventional and Unconventional Weapons" by Stephen R. Shalom http://www.lol.shareworld.com/zmag/articles/ShalomWeapons.html

It's relatively well documented that America has tested various chemical and biological agents on its own prison inmates in the past (at least up until the mid 70's, if not later). Various other medical experiments and drugs tests were carried out on them too.

There's also those nukes the US blew up to study the effects on its soldiers . . .

Fair enough...I did not know that.

What he should get: Trial by proper Iraqi authority, as soon as it is realistic to do so.

What he will get: Kangaroo court, if not in the US then controlled by Americans, sometime this coming October or November at the height of the Presidential campaign.

It amuses me to no end that President Hussein will be subect to the same sad parody of justice that he practiced.

I seriously doubt he will ever come to trial, heart or renal failure are a good bet. He is in too strong a position to embarrass serving and ex Gov. people in a few too many western countries :P