Should Saddam be tried in the States or Iraq?

[Sltrawick]

Now that Saddam has been captured (YES!), should he be tried here in the United States or in Iraq?

[Gone-Camping]

It is the Iraqi people that he betrayed, and it should be the Iraqi people that try him, convict him, and execute him! (under the watchful eye of OUR military) IMHO....
 
Judging from the way the Iraqi's were dancing in the street, I think they are ready to deal with it!!

[wiininkwe]

I agree, he really is much more of a criminal there in his own country, and that should be where he is tried.   I hope that they are able to do it tho, with both factions of politics working there.

T

[angelsmom10]

Was thinking of this on the drive into work, I really don't know where, I heard that Iraq has the death penalty, but so does the US in most places, but with all the appeals he could live a long time here.
 
Here's my thought -- sufffffffer dude!!!
 
Put him standing in the middle of a lot of explosives with detinators completely around him, then take pot shots hitting him, but not killing him -- he'll then have to stand and take it, or fall down on a detinator and blow up.
 
Sorry, I'm not usually that vendictive, but I feel he deserves it.

[AustinBoston]

I voted that he should be tried in Iraq, for a variety of reasons:

If he is brought to the US, it could invite Iraqi nutcakes still loyal to Sadam to do desparate things here instead of there, in the hopeless hope of bringing about his release.

It could cause significant legal difficulty in the US.  When Manuel Noriega was brought back from Nicaragua, there were some issues with the US invasion there that threatened to bring about his release.  We should avoid that at all costs.

I do not believe he should be tried by Iraqis, however.  What he did should not be viewed as crimes against Iraqis, they should be viewed as crimes against humanity.  It needs to be made clear that some things are crimes even if there is no law forbiding them, and that the world will hold you accountable.  This was the case at the close of WWII with the Nazis.  What they did was not a violation of any written law, but they were most rightfully found guilty anyway.  The same should be true of the Iraqi shoe-shine boy.

It is important for an international tribunal to be set up to do this, or it will end up looking like a purely Iraqi issue.  By using an international tribunal, it becomes clear that the world will not stand for the mass killing of people, even if you break no laws doing it.

If the trial is handled by Iraqis, he would most certanly be executed, but it would open up the tribunal, judge, or their particular ethnic group to reprisals when things go wrong in the future.  In the hands of an international tribunal, it becomes very difficult to blame someone.  Who do you "blame" for the execution of Sadam?  The Bolivians?  The Bulgarians? The Japanese?

Austin

[Danusmom]

The Iraqis' did away with the death penalty after the fall of Sadam's regime.  Besides, killing him would only make him a martyr in the eyes of the extremists.  He should be tried in Iraq & by the Iraqi people

[Turn Key]

...he should be taken out and shot.