I have a question, based on one of the rationales being used to try Saddam (ie he signed the death warrants of 148 of his citizens), would that then mean that every Governor of each US state that enforces the death penalty would be liable for each person who they either signed a death warrant for, or refused to quash the death penalty for? Eg, the USA performed 60 executions in 2005 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution). Why do we as western citizens have the "right" to say that we have the right to kill people, but others don't? Flawed logic in my book, and certainly makes for some interesting thoughts...

It depends on what he signed the warrant for. If he signed the warrant for a psycopathic murderer who had been tried with all his rights, given a right to appeal etc. and it was used against him, it'd be a double standard.

I somehow doubt that happened though.

Noahth i think you have it spot on, i think that basically he has the right to kill those in his own state if those are what he mandates the rules of his own country as. As wrong as i think it is its the principle at hand that we can't charge his retroactively for laws we believe he should have had and human rights protections he should have given to people but never did in the first place.

We should have just extradited him to Kuwait and let them hang him for war crimes...trying people for genocide is always a joke and a disaster if its against his own people, even if all human beings are entitled to Human rights as a basic right of life from birth you can't retroactively institute that as a mandate for punishment against someone as it therefore undermines the entire independance or credibility of the or a judiciary or judicial proccess.

This is totally about procedure and technicalities not about Saddam by the way, he was a bastard and deserves everything he has coming to him but most of the charges against him do bear no weight, we have to fry him for the right things.

I suppose there could be a very procedural argument made that he overhrew the old system in Iraq and the governance structure was illagelally ciolated under that law then when he led the military revolution but as i understand it that would require that system to be actively used or the current one to accept and recognise it as at least some form of docemntation for then and that's assuming there's no stature of limitation under their (new and the law then when he committed the crime) law.

This is completely procedural but this is something i've thought from day 1 and eventually it'll pose the question of whether the ruler of a country or leader of a country reserves the right to implement laws he legalises or should he always fear being unable to run his own country?

What's the point of comparing the kangaroo court to legitimate courts? Saddam's actions were legitimate. This court is not.

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[SIZE="1"]Hispanic immigrants, the 21st-century answer to 17th-century slavey. Americans will be paying for it, forever.[/SIZE]

The court was created by the US, the judges appointed by the US, it's financed by the US, and it's thrown out the Iraqi constitution.
So to say Saddam is being tried in an Iraqi court is a stretch of the imagination.

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"I think -- tide turning -- see, as I remember --I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of -- it's easy to see a tide turn -- did I say those words?"
-- George W. Bush, asked if the tide is turning in Iraq

I actually agree on this and he shouldn't be tried there, he should be handed over to the Kuwaiti's and let them execute him in public and let the world watch him die.

That’s a rather odd belief. If he hadn’t committed suicide, do you believe it should have been likewise applied to Adolph Hitler? Don’t you believe the leaders of nations have any responsibility to the people living in their borders?

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A Conservative – A liberal who got mugged the night before - Frank Rizzo

A Liberal - A conservative who's been arrested - Thomas Wolfe

George Bush signed plenty of death warrants as a governor.
These were people who were found by an Iraqi court to have been involved in an assasination attempt, and the punishment was death.
Now I don't support the death penalty, but unless you want to haul the governors of numerous US states into court, signing a death warrant for a person convicted of a capital crime isn't a crime.

You can whine about the fairness of the court, but it was a court, and there was a judge and the verdict was guilty.

This wasn't sending people to a death camp because they were jews or homosexuals or gypsys or communists. This was the execution of people convicted of a capital crime.

And no one was convicted at Nuremburg for genocide, the convictions at Nuremburg were for waging a war of aggression.

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"I think -- tide turning -- see, as I remember --I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of -- it's easy to see a tide turn -- did I say those words?"
-- George W. Bush, asked if the tide is turning in Iraq

Really??? I apologize, I was going by the article at the start of this thread. This article doesn’t say anything about an Iraqi court case, I have no idea what article you were reading. This article just says Saddam drove to the area with an armored column and began “interrogating” and executing anyone suspected of having had any role in the plot.

Maybe you should post the article you were citing so everyone can see what you’re talking about.




Do you have any relevant points??? Who said anything about a conviction for committing genocide??? Do you think a conviction for committing genocide should carry a lighter sentence then a conviction for waging a war of aggression???

__________________
A Conservative – A liberal who got mugged the night before - Frank Rizzo

A Liberal - A conservative who's been arrested - Thomas Wolfe

from the original post
"Saddam has said he ordered the trial which led to the execution of the men"


These people were arrested, "interrogated" (Abu Ghraib style), convicted and executed, although a few died during interrogation (same as Abu Ghraib)


Dude you brought up Hitler, or don't you remember that far back?

__________________
"I think -- tide turning -- see, as I remember --I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of -- it's easy to see a tide turn -- did I say those words?"
-- George W. Bush, asked if the tide is turning in Iraq