Sums it up

Without a dog in the election, the Times of London assesses the Hussain verdict:

THIS is victor’s justice. There is a tiny chance that it will calm Iraq’s turmoil, but much more likely, it will have the opposite effect.

The verdict is no surprise. One hundred per cent of Iraqis anticipated it; 80 per cent with a sense of vindication, 20 per cent with fury.

The only doubt yesterday was whether the court would consider that the Dujail case was sufficiently strong to warrant the death penalty, or whether it would wait for one of the later charges, where the chain of command from Saddam Hussein to the killings might be more firmly established. But it didn’t.

For more than a year, this court has looked like an exercise in vengeance of the Shia majority in Iraq, brutally suppressed by Saddam Hussein. The court and its succession of judges have been overwhelmed by violence, threats, and the sectarian rifts within the country’s politics, to the point where it became impossible to see it as a contribution to the political health of the country.

There were high hopes at first that it might help to heal Iraq’s rifts, but it is hard to see now that it will do anything but deepen them.

I have little doubt that when things shake out, despite (and frankly because of) the Bush Administration's screaming denials, that it was arranged for this verdict to come down JUST before the election. All in the hope it would mitigate GOP losses.

The tragedy is, as always, the long-term interest of some kind of broad success in Iraq has fallen victim to immediate political concerns.

Once again, I remind Americans (all 2,000 of you who read this blog and have undoubtedly decided to vote Democrat all along) that if Bush does not have his party severely trounced in this election he will call it "victory" and say his disastrous policy has been ratified.

NOT ONE FUCKING THING WILL CHANGE if that happens.

UPDATE: Here is Riverbend on the matter,

I’m more than a little worried. This is Bush’s final card. The elections came and went and a group of extremists and thieves were put into power (no, no- I meant in Baghdad, not Washington). The constitution which seems to have drowned in the river of Iraqi blood since its elections has been forgotten. It is only dug up when one of the Puppets wants to break apart the country. Reconstruction is an aspiration from another lifetime: I swear we no longer want buildings and bridges, security and an undivided Iraq are more than enough. Things must be deteriorating beyond imagination if Bush needs to use the ‘Execute the Dictator’ card.

Iraq has not been this bad in decades. The occupation is a failure. The various pro-American, pro-Iranian Iraqi governments are failures. The new Iraqi army is a deadly joke. Is it really time to turn Saddam into a martyr? Things are so bad that even pro-occupation Iraqis are going back on their initial ‘WE LOVE AMERICA’ frenzy. Laith Kubba (a.k.a. Mr. Catfish for his big mouth and constant look of stupidity) was recently on the BBC saying that this was just the beginning of justice, that people responsible for the taking of lives today should also be brought to justice. He seems to have forgotten he was one of the supporters of the war and occupation, and an important member of one of the murderous pro-American governments. But history shall not forget Mr. Kubba.

Iraq saw demonstrations against and for the verdict. The pro-Saddam demonstrators were attacked by the Iraqi army. This is how free our media is today: the channels that were showing the pro-Saddam demonstrations have been shut down. Iraqi security forces promptly raided them.Welcome to the new Iraq.