A fair trial for Saddam
Opinion Journal:
"With Saddam's capture, we are now hearing that Iraqis should be able to govern themselves in all ways except holding a trial. The same people who didn't want to depose the dictator are saying he deserves to be tried only by an 'international tribunal.'
...
"The fear seems to be that Saddam might not be able to get a fair trial in Iraq, as if there's some global suspense about his guilt. Worse, Iraqis might be so barbaric as to impose the same death penalty on Saddam that he imposed on so many thousands of his own people. 'There are no circumstances that can justify the death penalty,' a spokesman for the European Union said this week. Ah, the white man's moral burden.
...
"There is a peculiar condescension to the view that only Europeans or the U.N. can properly try and punish Saddam, as if Iraqis are too uncivilized to run a trial. This is the same mentality that says Arab cultures aren't yet 'ready' for democracy and need to be governed by strongmen like Saddam. Newly free Iraqis deserve to see that justice is dispensed to Saddam by a jury of his countrymen."
Opinion Journal:
"With Saddam's capture, we are now hearing that Iraqis should be able to govern themselves in all ways except holding a trial. The same people who didn't want to depose the dictator are saying he deserves to be tried only by an 'international tribunal.'
...
"The fear seems to be that Saddam might not be able to get a fair trial in Iraq, as if there's some global suspense about his guilt. Worse, Iraqis might be so barbaric as to impose the same death penalty on Saddam that he imposed on so many thousands of his own people. 'There are no circumstances that can justify the death penalty,' a spokesman for the European Union said this week. Ah, the white man's moral burden.
...
"There is a peculiar condescension to the view that only Europeans or the U.N. can properly try and punish Saddam, as if Iraqis are too uncivilized to run a trial. This is the same mentality that says Arab cultures aren't yet 'ready' for democracy and need to be governed by strongmen like Saddam. Newly free Iraqis deserve to see that justice is dispensed to Saddam by a jury of his countrymen."
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