Posted on: Tuesday, December 16, 2003

EDITORIAL
Saddam's trial should be international, deliberate

Now that Saddam Hussein has been captured, the issue becomes what to do with him.

There is near universal agreement that he should be brought to justice by the Iraqi people, in an Iraqi location and on Iraqi terms.

But that poses a number of difficult questions.

First, despite the recent establishment of a tribunal in Iraq to deal with war crimes, the country still lacks a comprehensive legal system. The infrastructure needed to deal with a case of this magnitude is simply not in place.

Second, while Iraqi people have a legitimate claim to being the principal victims of Saddam's brutal rule, they are not alone. Saddam's record suggests he violated international rules of law and respect for human rights.

And his downfall was the result of an international effort (narrow though that might have been), not a direct uprising of the people of Iraq.

Third, there is a need for clarity on what kind of prisoner Saddam is. Is he a common criminal, an international war crimes subject or — as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested — a prisoner of war?

If he is a POW, we are already slipping down a bad slope. The photos of Saddam released after his capture, to the degree they were designed to be humiliating, would be banned under international prisoner of war conventions.

The best solution might be an international tribunal, Iraqi in personality and on Iraq soil, but with a strong presence of jurists from other nations (including some who were not originally part of the coalition of the willing).

This was an approach used in Cambodia and, currently, in Sierra Leone.

This leaves one last question: Assuming Saddam's guilt, the obvious penalty under Iraqi leadership would be death. That was the penalty offered under Saddam's regime to anyone who dared disagree with him.

But most of the international community (with the United States being an embarrassing exception) have long rejected the death penalty. One wonders how much international cooperation could be won for a trial that was destined to end in an execution.

In practical terms, it might be better to go toward a proceeding that leads to life in prison without parole. During Saddam's remaining years of life, we might be able to gain an understanding from him about how he became the monster he was.

And through that understanding, the world might be better prepared to stop the next Saddam before he succeeds in his evil work.