"Saddam Trial Won't Hide Bush's Historic Mistakes"

Iraqis have a new constitution. But they don't have drinking water or electricity. They have rights they never had before. But their women, once the freest in the Arab Middle East, are being pushed into purdah.

Saddam Hussein is on trial for his gulag in which 300,000 died. But between 25,000 and 100,000 Iraqis have been killed under the American occupation, another 500,000 having perished earlier under the U.S.-led economic sanctions.

Saddam's trial is meant to bring "closure" to his tyranny. Who or what will bring the curtain down on the current Iraqi nightmare? And how and when?

His trial is said to mark a new era of law and order. But Iraqis cannot venture out of their homes for fear of being blown up or shot dead. For that same reason, senior Iraqi judges are sitting out the trial, leaving it to juniors, four of whom did not show up on Day 1 for fear of being outed by the TV coverage.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1023-23.htm