BRINGING SADDAM TO IRAQI JUSTICE

Good idea...unless you happen to be a liberal.

Saddam Hussein and hundreds of his aides could go on trial for crimes against humanity and genocide in an Iraqi-led tribunal that will be established in the coming days, Iraqi and American officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

Some human rights groups criticized the plans, saying Iraq's U.S. occupiers have too much of a hand in them and that Iraqi judges and prosecutors may not have the experience needed to try the cases.

The law creating the tribunal which could be passed as early as Sunday will be similar to proposals made in Washington in April, one member of Iraq's Governing Council said. The law calls for Iraqi judges to hear cases presented by Iraqi lawyers, with international experts serving only as advisers...

Richard Dicker, director of the international justice program at Human Rights Watch, said he was concerned officials didn't consider bringing in judges who have worked on major war crimes trials in other countries.

''After three decades of Baath Party rule, the capacity of Iraqi judges to conduct incredibly complicated trials has been greatly diminished,'' he said by telephone from New York. He said he worried about the tribunal's ability to provide fair trials.


So which way do the libs want it?...the French want the US out of Iraq last July, supposedly because they want the Iraqis to govern themselves, but then HRW intimates that the Iraqis aren't up to the task of figuring out of Saddam Hussein might be guilty of some crime against the Iraqi people.

Sheesh.