Punishing the unpunishable. Princeton international affairs professor Gary Bass writes a thoughtful piece on trying Saddam, here:

"Can such a proceeding avoid the bitter accusations of 'victor's justice' that have always accompanied war crimes trials? The risks are many. But if America develops the right approach -- supporting Iraqi efforts to confront their own history; allowing international bodies a supervisory role; inviting Saddam's victims in Iran and Kuwait to detail their own grievances -- then the prosecution of Saddam Hussein may prove to be a turning point in a troubled war."

Genocide scholar and writer Samantha Power advocates for a similar mix of international support for an Iraqi trial, here, and points out that such a hybrid model has a successful precedent, in Sierra Leone. Ultimately, Powers writes however, in spite of all efforts to achieve legitimacy and "Iraqi ownership" of a trial to air and punish them, Saddam's crimes are essentially unpunishable:

"The only predictable outcome of the Iraq trial is that nobody--in Iraq, in the United States, in the Middle East, and in the international public gallery at large--will find it suited to the gravity and barbarity of Saddam's assault on humanity...Saddam Hussein made the impossible possible, but his citizens and successors now have the chance to do the same. If Iraqis can emerge from the coming trials with the dignity, wisdom, and commitment to the rule of law that Saddam denied them, that will be their greatest revenge."

Posted by Laura at December 21, 2003 11:11 AM