The Trial of Saddam, #2, Whose Justice anyway?

I spent a lot of time composing the previous post. This related comment and others that may follow are my way of keeping the process of eating an elephant reduced to single bites.

These comments of Professor David Crane are worth noting. The quote is longer, but here is a part that I like.

Despite my disdain for the way the IST was created outside of international norms by the United States, I must say I am impressed by the way the judges are carefully taking Iraqi law, along with various principles of international law, and shaping it for their use to ensure that justice is done from an Iraqi point of view. It has become their tribunal, despite the public perception that it is a US manipulated aberration. It is the Iraqi’s who are going to have to live with the result and I think that the judges know this as well. In my mind, the IST has only one chance to get it right, as we did in West Africa. One slip and the entire process could unravel. The fragile respect for the rule of law shattered.