saddam

you can tell saddam has learnt a few tricks from his old pal george galloway.
saddam has started to boycott his trail

as the man says: "I will not return, I will not come to an unjust court! Go to hell!"

part of the reason he gave was the conditions of his confinement and how the trial itself was being conducted.
obviously this is a tactic that amnesty needed to impart to all those who did suffer under saddam. imagine those torturers being stopped in their tracks not by an appeal to their basic humanity, not by pleas or by begging but by a simple "oi you no torturing me until i get hot running (no not scalding) water and a tv in my cell..."
right there the torturers are stymied.

i have to make light of it as it is one of those situations where you find yourself knocked for six by the absurdity of the situation.
here is a man who we all know is guilty of some of the most heinous crimes against his own people, yet he is accorded the right to make a mockery of his trial. in doing so he partly proves the point that life without saddam is better. and many will argue that it is an unjust trial. (for me the trial is deserved, but the means to get there have been proved to be, well to be polite, false).

so there is a part of me that agrees he should be allowed to do his best to make a mockery of the trial, because that is part of the price you pay for a democratic freedom.
then there is the other side of me that thinks fuck it this man is evil, and frankly should be dragged to the court in chains.

but, especially in this case, justice has to be seen to have been done rather than the revenge that many want to see visited on saddam (and his cronies) head.