"Was Justice Too Swift?" YES!!

[orleans]

the headline in the chicago trib for sunday

and when they kept talking about saddam all i could think of was:

"Hours before Hussein's hanging, some critics also warned that the dictator's fast-track execution would confound efforts to establish exactly what happened during his rule and would be another squandered opportunity for Iraqis to come to terms with their past.

"When Hussein was executed, he was in the midst of a second trial for the Anfal campaign, the 1987-88 operation that resulted in the deaths of 180,000 Kurds, including tens of thousands who died in chemical attacks. Many Kurds protested the announcement that Hussein would die before the Anfal trial could be concluded.

"The other victims are being cheated out of justice," said Cassel, the Notre Dame law professor. "There is no need to rush to execution."

snip

""The proceedings against Saddam Hussein are a lost opportunity on a grand scale," Dicker said. "There was no shortage of evidence that could have been used against him. . . . The race to execution will undercut the legitimacy of the whole process and deprive the Iraqi people of an indisputable record of what happened during his regime."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0612310387dec31,1,1462417.story?page=2&cset=true&ctrack=1&coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

why don't people seem to see this or understand this? including the iraqis who are "celebrating" and including the bush cheerleaders. (of course, now, all the crimes we helped saddam commit will not be on official record--so naturally that's to bush & his daddy's advantage.)

[Higans]

1. --so naturally that's to bush & his daddy's advantage.)

Bingo.

[Mind_your_head]

2. "Yes"

something horrible just happened and it's soooo complicated that I'm unable to sort it out just now. Will I EVER be able to sort it out, I'm not sure that I will ever be that wise.

I feel sort of sick about it all, and I'm not quite sure "why".

Peace,
M_Y_H

[orleans]

5. speaking of "soooo complicated" have you seen

the power of nightmares?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x664

i just recently watched it and it blew me away!

[Mind_your_head]

8. I have heard it mentioned here before, but now I will make it a

point to watch it all. I just watched the first 10 minute segment so far. I found this comment in the introduction quite interesting/intriguing:

"Increasingly, politicians are seen simply as managers of public life. But now, they have discovered a new role that restores their power and authority. Instead of delivering dreams, politicians now promise to protect us from nightmares."

Thanks for the recommendation to watch this. :hi:

M_Y_H

[Old and In the Way]

3. It's pretty obvious why they had to get him executed ASAP.

(1) Discovery process in the Anfal trial.
(2) A Democratic Congress coming onboard in a few days.

[stranger]

4. hanging is not "justice"

Hanging isnt justice. (imho)

Worse, it desensitizes humanity to barbaric
lynchings and revenge, and makes it much
easier for humanity to accept
the next time an unpopular figure (guilty or innocent)is put on trial
by his/her political opponents, or imperialist crusaders/invaders.

But your point I take. They halted his 2nd trial in the middle of the proceeedings
which just illustrates the capricious nature of the whole thing.


Bush loves executions; Look at his tenure as guvnah of tex-ass.

i hate "executions" because they are not
"just" as i understand the word.

here is an excerpt whuich essentiallly agrees with you,
by Richard Dicker from The Guardian:

Friday December 29, 2006
The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk

"...There is no question that Saddam and his cohort were responsible for horrific practices. But by ratifying the execution order the tribunal's appeals chamber has compounded the serious errors committed at trial and further undermined the credibility of the process.
The trial judgment was not finished when the verdict and sentence were announced on November 5. The record only became available to defence lawyers on November 22. According to the tribunal's statute, the defence attorneys had to file their appeals on December 5, which gave them less than two weeks to respond to the 300-page trial decision. The appeals chamber never held a hearing to consider the legal arguments presented as allowed by Iraqi law. It defies belief that the appeals chamber could fairly review a 300-page decision together with written submissions by the defence and consider all the relevant issues in less than three weeks.
This follows a trial whose serious flaws rendered the verdict unsound. The trial was undermined from the start by persistent political interference from the Iraqi government. Furthermore, the rights of the defendants were systematically denied by failures to disclose key evidence to the defence. There were also serious violations of the defendants' rights to confront witnesses testifying against them. Most disturbing were the frequent lapses of judicial demeanour by the trial's second presiding judge. In January, the first chief judge resigned in protest over the public criticism of his trial management practices by leading officials..."


happy new year, haha-(bet you have heard that one one before)

[newyawker99]

6. Hi stranger!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[johnaries]

9. Welcome to DU! And I agree with you.

You might find this post interesting:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=3018667&mesg_id=3018946

[EstimatedProphet]

7. Of course! They couldn't insult Islam any other way!

I think that was half of the reason it was done this way - hanging him just before Eid started.

[mdmc]

10. lol "Justice"

:eyes:

[alfredo]

11. To allow Saddam testify about killing Kurds would expose

the US for their complicity in the massacre.

[Uncle Joe]

12. Thanks for the post orleans

Kicked and recommended