That is all I can think of calling this, the conviction of Saddam Hussein for the murder of 148 citizens of his country. Their crime? Being unlucky enough to live in a town where some tried to assasinate Saddam Hussein. They were murdered in reprisal.
After all the appeals are over and the conviction stands, Saddam will swing by the neck until he is dead. I wonder if the downcast Ramsey Clark will file an appeal on the basis the chief judge did not grant Saddam's last wish, to die by firing squad and thus emotionally harmed the defendant. Like to see him try aftr being tossed on his ear.
Some pundits are suggesting due to the violent reaction by Sunni and Shia factions in Iraq this will exaggerate the bubbling unrest. To put it simply lets not do the just thing because we are afraid, that is their reasoning in a nutshell. If that had happened at Nuremburg, would the Verevolf Komandos been quelled in less than four years? No, to allow the likes of Goering to walk free would have emboldened them to further acts of terror. Yes things are tense right now, but for the Iraqis to have even a smidgen of faith in a democratic country and rules of law then Saddam's trial, conviction, appeals, and probable execution need to be allowed to happen. His execution can also be a catharic event allowing both sides to put everything on Saddam and his closest henchmen and then forge ahead to building a new future.
As a thought experiemnt, the Iraqi government could probably raffle off the chance to pull the lever ending Saddam's evil life and rake in a fortune. Probably the insurgetns would buy tickets also thinking they could rescue Saddam while actually depleting their funds. Be very wary around Al-Sadr city and Ramadi if their are brisk sale of tickets.