More Saddam

I missed the later session of the trial but the press reports of the second session today are going to get greater coverage since we have Saddam claiming to be a victim himself.

This passage is quite humorous:

During an argument with a prosecutor, Hussein asked if the U.S. forces would be punished for abusing him and other defendants.

"If the multinational forces are abusing your position, from this platform I ask the coalition forces to turn over all defendants to the Iraqi forces," the prosecutor said. "The treatment will certainly be different from what they suffered from the coalition."

I'm sure the Iraqis would treat Saddam with the respect and dignity he bestowed on his subject during his rule given the chance. (Which is to say he'd be beaten, mutilated, violated, threatened, tortured, humiliated and all that would be before noon prayer the first day, at least if he got what he deserved, the Iraqis might actually not do all that out of a commitment to prove that they are not monsters like Uncle Saddam and his cronies but the temptation would be overwhelming)

The judge didn't take these charges seriously, our government doesn't take these charges seriously, I doubt the Iraqi people take these charges seriously, but I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see an OpEd from someone at one of the major U.S. papers take these charges very seriously (I hope I'm wrong).

(and the links (here and here and here) accompanying the WaPo article all seem to be of the 'don't worry, that silly little election really was a defeat for Booosh' variety, and for the picture on their U.S. Fatalities link they chose the youngest looking marine they could find, cause you know this is like a children's crusade and all)