Saddam Hussein trial resumes: a grotesque display of imperial justice
By Bill Van Auken - World Socialist Web Site
The second session of the trial of Saddam Hussein convened and closed after barely two-and-a-half hours Monday, ample
time to expose the farcical and illegal character of the US-orchestrated prosecution of the deposed Iraqi head of state.
Following a 40-day adjournment, the continuation of the trial was put off for another week, in part to find replacements
for defense attorneys of prisoners on trial alongside Hussein. Two have been assassinated, another wounded, and others
forced into hiding by death squads supporting the US-backed regime.
While the trial’s presiding judge and the prosecutors are Iraqis, the court is an American creation and all of its
operations are stage-managed behind the scenes by US officials.
The chief defendant denounced this reality in his statement to the court, pointing out that he had been hauled up four
flights of stairs in shackles by US security personnel before being escorted into the court. The American guards had
also confiscated from Hussein documents that he had prepared in his own defense....