Politically Advantageous

Does it strike anyone as suspicious that Saddam Hussein be sentenced to death the weekend before the American mid-term elections? I'll be properly skeptical of this if/when the no doubt long and protracted appeal process ends in defeat, and Saddam's execution *just* before the Presidential elections in a couple of years.

I'm no fan of Saddam Hussein - he started as a puppet of the American Government who gave him lots and lots of weapons so he could try and destabilise the Iranian government, and then the Americans ignored his systematic abuse of his own citizens letting him become the murderous dictator we all know and love - but surely he should be given a better trial than the one he got?

His defence lawyers were murdered, replaced, murdered, replaced and murdered once more. Then the trial judge was replaced at least once. Yet at no point was the trial stopped or re-started. Why wasn't he tried in The Hague? The EU are condemning the capital punishment part of the judgement, but seem to be ignoring some fundamental flaws in the trial itself.

I'm pleased to note that Amnesty International are also voicing their concerns about this, here. Unfortunately, Dubya's view is that this is a brilliant result for everyone. That's the same George Bush who oversaw the execution of 154 people, so hardly a surprise.