WELL: via Harry's Place I find this report from the BBC on the status of Saddam Hussein's trial. I think I'm in substantial agreement with Marcus on this one--not giving over evidence to the other side isn't entirely fair to Saddam (and I'm wary of treating him substantially differently than other defendants get treated, for somewhat obvious reasons). On the other hand, I find the expidited trial to be somewhat refreshing on a substantive level (has Milosevic been found guilty yet?), and I highly approve of this all being taken care of at the national level--it seems, as Marcus suggests, to be an important part of Iraqi's process of reconciliation with its past. So all to the good.
But.
I actually find myself a little wary here, because, of all reasons, of the possibility of the death penalty being given to Saddam. Not because he doesn't richly deserve it, nor because I'm opposed to the idea of the death penalty in general, but this is an instance where the first interest shouldn't be to getting over the death penalty hurdle: I think, on balance, I'd prefer some kind of reckoning with everything that happened. Then let him fry (or equivalent).
"Thou shalt not extinguish thine anger, but shall master it,
that thy conscience may not be blunted by adjustment
to wrong causes."
-The Dutch Ten Commandments to Foil the Nazis
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