I'm already on
record as not being on board with the trial of Saddam. It's not much better than a kangaroo court, in my opinion. Yet today, there has been an interesting
development (plus de détails
ici): according to witnesses, (1) about two dozen of the people supposedly killed by Saddam's government in Dujaïl are alive, healthy, and newly wealthy; (2) at least one of them recently got married, and the witness attended the wedding; (3) the judge was seen in Dujaïl, where he has stated he has never been, coaching and paying off witnesses.
Apparently, the Arab news network al-Arabiya has shown footage of the judge in the town, although it is difficult to tell when the video was taken.
Obviously, these anonymous witnesses have a credibility problem, but still, when you add this to the already tremendous kangaroo factor in this proceeding, discovering what might actually be a serious problem in the charge itself, not to mention a charge of subornation of perjury by the head judge, this case is going to start hopping right out of court. Or not.
It is interesting that I haven't seen this mention in the American press, just a sketchy article by the BBC and a somewhat longer one in Figaro. Probably, no one cares anymore.
However, they should care. At least one of the reasons in the sequence given by Bushco for why we are there was regime change. As we have been seeing, anything less than the kind of iron fist wielded by Saddam isn't likely to slow down the runaway violence there. But what if we start finding out (as some few have suspected) that some of Saddam's horrors have been exaggerated by his enemies and by our Republican government? It probably won't make a really qualitative difference at this point, but it does make the situation stink even more.
Greg Shenaut