Safire Strikes Back

Just when you thought it was safe to cheer the capture of Saddam, Bill Safire comes along and ruins it.

Bill's a Nixon man, and therefore the Country Pundit likes him. Anyways, to the points:

Why did he not use his pistol to shoot it out with his captors or to kill himself? Because he is looking forward to the mother of all genocide trials, rivaling Nuremberg's and topping those of Eichmann and Milosevic. There, in the global spotlight, he can pose as the great Arab hero saving Islam from the Bushes and the Jews.

While the Country Pundit knows that no right-thinking individual would believe that Saddam Hussein could claim the mantle of great Arab hero¹, the Pundit also knows that there are plenty of deluded people who would, as stated earlier, suggest that Saddam was doing his duty against the Zionist oppressor if he was caught in an Israeli sheep pen with his pants down.

I don't know the mind of Saddam Hussein, but one wonders if he has in essence surrendered himself to his fate. By this I don't mean surrendering to objective justice, heavens no. I guess I'm more wondering if he thinks he'll ever get Iraq back again, or if he's figured it's time to break out Bon Jovi's "Blaze of Glory" after watching Young Guns II for inspiration.

Safire goes on for a little while longer, but closes with this gem:

We are not finished with this remorseless monster; Saddam will have his day in an Iraqi court. But so will the ghosts of poison-gassed Halabja and Iraqi children forced to clear minefields in Iran. The meticulous presentation of his offenses against humanity will demonstrate again that all that would have been necessary for the triumph of evil was for good people to do nothing.

I haven't made a final decision as to what the best use of Saddam Hussein would be, but as one of those pathetic individuals struggling through law school (And nowhere near the front of the class, either! --Ed.) I'd like to see him standing in a dock somewhere with a bill of indictment being read against him. Ideally this will be in the hands of a reconstituted Iraqi criminal justice system. Hopefully he'll be given as fair a trial as can be, in order to show the old coot how civilized nations go about the even-handed application of the rule of law, not of men.

¹ Setting aside for the moment the fact that those three words may be a contradiction in terms.

[Yes, this is posted late. I've had to write thirty-plus pages of pseudo-analytical legal text and take two exams in the last four days. Right now I'm happy to not be falling asleep on the keyboard.]

Posted by: Country Pundit at 10:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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