Dictator’s Best Friend Wants to Try Him
The United Nations, that august body whose membership fought tooth and nail to keep Saddam Hussein in power, and whose bureaucrats and potentates skimmed billions of dollars from the massively corrupt Oil For Food program, now says the only way Saddam Hussein can get a fair trial is if they do it.
GENEVA (Reuters) - Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein should face an international court, Chief United Nations war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte said Thursday.
His trial should not be held in Iraq, as it would be difficult to avoid “political interference,” she told a news conference.
Saddam, arrested by U.S. occupation forces in December, is accused of atrocities including a poison gas attack by aircraft which killed 5,000 Kurds in Halabja 16 years ago.
“My opinion is that an ad hoc international criminal tribunal will be the best instrument to have a fair trial against Saddam Hussein,” she said.
The court “could be near Iraq,” she said. This would make the collection and transfer of evidence easier.
“It is difficult to conduct the trial if politics interfere. To avoid interference from outside, I think an international court could serve best,” she said.
Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney-general, is chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
And look at what a success that has been.