Good Work Iraq...

At first I was kind if irritated by the proceedings against Saddam Hussein. I thought that we ought to just take him out back and shoot him. Of course this was a major contradiction to my general "pro-process" attitude. It is Saddam though. His guilt is hardly in question. Certainly we can all agree he has done SOMETHING worth being executed over.

In the end however, the Iraqi's (and Americans) took their time, conducted an open tribunal and found Saddam guilty. Today they sentenced him to be executed. There will be an appeal of course, but the reality is, Saddam will be hanged in front of the entire world. Kudos to the coalition on this though. They managed to take their time and lend some credibility to the entire process. The kicking and screaming of Saddam and the steadfast resolve of the tribunal (in the face of family members being murdered, and threats against their lives) has allowed us to reach this point. So where do we go from here?

Within 10 days, the court will forward the cases of Hussein and three other defendants to the appellate chamber of the Iraqi High Tribunal. Appeals of death penalties and life sentences are automatic.

Within 20 days after the appeals are made, the prosecution and the defense must submit their documents to the appellate chamber.

A court official told The Associated Press the appeals process was likely to take three to four weeks once the formal paperwork was submitted.

However, there is no time limit for the appellate court to rule on the appeal.

Once the court does reach a decision, if the sentences are upheld, they must be carried out in 30 days.

CNN.com

So, sometime in the next 3 months we will know Saddams ultimate fate. And within a month of that, you can expect to tune in and see Saddam hang for his crimes. Something to keep in mind is, that image you see is the very reason that the American government has opted against signing the International Criminal Court Conventions. We are afraid that if we hand any portion of jurisdiction to an international tribunal, one day people will tune in and watch an American official hanged. I have to say, that would be a pretty bad thing for our country. There is another way to avoid it though, outside of just "stiff-arming" the international community. DON'T DO ANYTHING THAT WILL GET YOU HANGED IN AN INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT! Maybe its best if we just be protectionist. That way we can undertake all the crimes against humanity we want.

They do make for great pictures...


So, maybe they can plan the hanging during the Super Bowl halftime? That would be priceless.

I know I'll be DVRing it.

Stay Tuned...