SADDAM HUSSEIN CAPTURED BY U.S. TROOPS

Saddam Hussein, looking much like an Iraqi Karl Marx, was captured by American troops in a safe house in Tikrit. He was armed with a pistol and was travelling with $ 750,000 in U.S. currency.

Hussein is eligible for trial under the laws of war by Coalition forces under the precedent of Nuremburg; under the auspices of the Genocide Convention by an international tribunal; by a reconstituted sovereign Iraqi state and by the nations of Iran and Kuwait which have valid war crimes claims to press. The Bush administration will likely opt for the Nuremburg model with Iraqi and possibly Kuwaiti and even - this is unlikely but possible - Iranian participation. This would be after a lengthy intel debriefing process by the DIA, CIA and British intelligence.

Expect the international left, particularly transnationalist NGO's and the EU bureaucracy, to mobilize to move Saddam to international UN custody where his trial would become, like that of Milosevic, an endless farce where justice would be denied and the death penalty an impossibility. Failing that, as the Bush administration is unlikely to agree, a political campaign by the Left to discredit any other possible trial of Saddam will begin, probably within the next few days if not within hours of this posting.

This is a great moment, not merely in terms of American policy or for the Iraqi people but in terms of putting tyrants everywhere on notice that their abhorrent crimes may one day result in a day of reckoning that they cannot escape.

ADDENDUM

The Leftist NGO campaign to thwart a consequential trial for Saddam has, as I predicted, already begun. Wow ! That didn't take long now did it ? Tacitus has the link.  ¶ 9:02 AM 0 comments

  ZENPUNDIT ON EXTENDED HIATUS

Sorry for the long silence but I'm on a break until at least after Christmas. Too many things to do, too little time. I'll still visit and comment on other blogs or h-Diplo but not here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAY TO ONE AND ALL  ¶ 10:41 AM 0 comments

  RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER EMPHASIZES U.S. ROLE IN SHEVARDNADZE OUSTER

With no small degree of irony given Russia's recent history with the Republic of Georgia, Foreign Minister Ivanov atempts to finger the Bush administration for the joint Russian-American campaign to pressure Eduard Shevardnadze to resign the presidency of Georgia  ¶ 4:48 PM 0 comments

  SALUTORY EFFECTS OF REGIME CHANGE - AN OVERSEAS QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Iran knows that it is no longer a profitable policy to provoke the Americans. What was possible a quarter of a century ago is no longer possible today. Certain scenes cannot be repeated. Today, no state or revolution dares detain American hostages in their country's embassy, like Tehran did during the revolution. Not only because the Soviet Union no longer exists, but also because the U.S. has changed. One can only imagine what would befall a sate if it does what Iran did in the early, heated days of its revolution. Iran can no longer talk of exporting the revolution and ignoring international frontiers and treaties. Today, exporting the revolution would mean exporting terrorism. And such export comes at a very high price, starting with international isolation to potential sanctions. Today, Iran can no longer encourage its supporters to detain Western hostages in the streets of Beirut. Not only because the Lebanese stage has changed, but also because Iran would definitely be held accountable for such role.

Al- Hayat , November 27

  ¶ 7:46 AM 0 comments