Free Republic

Let us now praise the Iraqi legal system. Scorned by international watchdog organizations and self-credentialed legal minds since its establishment in 2003 as a newly independent institution, it has now done something that the international community’s premier courts have consistently failed to do: punished, in a reasonable timeframe, a mass murderer and delivered justice to his victims. Back in November, it may be recalled, Iraq's High Tribunal judged Saddam Hussein guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to hang for the 1982 massacre of 148 Shi’ites in the city of Dujail. Initial concerns about an interminable appeals process have...

AMERICA has begun legal moves that could lead to death sentences being passed against Iraq’s former leaders. International lawyers and human rights groups say that the Bush administration is planning to try senior figures from Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraqi courts to ensure the death penalty can be imposed. The US plans, unveiled last week, show that an international criminal tribunal, established under the auspices of the United Nations, has been rejected, as has trying Iraq’s former leaders under American law. An international tribunal would not be allowed to impose capital punishment and the Iraqi leaders could be tried under...