Elan Journo of the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI) has proposed that Saddam's trial be scrapped, because it is manifestly injust.
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His arguments are that Saddam is not like any private citizen, who has the right to be presumed innocent and for whom culpability for crimes should be proven objectively by a court. Saddam was a dictator, who was responsible for the tens of thousands of murders perpetrated by the regime he led - a regime that did not have the consent of the governed and granted no rights to them. Presuming him innocent is absurd, since he is indisputably guilty.
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He also claims that the court is farcical, by giving Hussein a stage to condemn his political enemies, the USA and to encourage terrorist insurgency.
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Journo suggests there be a public hearing to document the evil acts of his regime, and then he be summarily executed.
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He also argues that the existing court is not much better than courts under Hussein's regime. Only members of Saddam's tribe were seen fit to judge him "Whatever the tribal group feels is just--regardless of evidence or logic--is just. A trial conducted on this premise is a repudiation of justice asan objective principle."
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He is right - in fact a better (though not ideal) model for this is Romania, where the crimes of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu were clear - and they were executed after a brief trial, when their crimes were outlined. Having been disposed of appropriately, Romanians could start picking up the pieces of their country.
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Saddam Hussein is responsible for waging war against his own people, against Iran and Kuwait, and murdering and torturing political opponents. He is responsible for running a totalitarian dictatorship that ran roughshod over the rights of his citizens.
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I oppose the death penalty - because I do not believe the state has the right to kill civilians when convicted of crimes - and because the state getting that wrong is a far greater evil than it letting the guilty go free.
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Saddam Hussein is not a private citizen, he was a ruthless tyrant. There will never be any question of his guilt and the atrocities he is responsible for. He lost the right to live when he ran a state committed to brutal thuggery.
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The United States should not support this trial and withdraw any assistance it has provided to it - no man with any sense of honour should be defending this thug.
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Saddam should be executed, following a public hearing of evidence of those who were witness to the crimes of the regime - that deserves publicity and a reminder of the evil that has been overthrown.
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