Just An Innocent Bystander

AFP reports that the prosecution of Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity has hit a snag:

Prosecutors are struggling to build a case against Saddam Hussein because they lack both witnesses and evidence to prove the ousted Iraqi dictator is guilty of atrocities.
Although the US-led coalition has caught 40 of the 55 people on its list of “most-wanted” Iraqis linked to Saddam’s former regime, none of them will testify for the prosecution, according to a British official quoted by The Times on Monday.
The newspaper’s source also said the Iraqi dictator, ousted by the US and British invasion in March 2003, had hidden any written proof of his direct responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity. “Saddam was very clever at power-laundering, which meant that decisions were filtered down to junior levels, making it difficult to prove a direct line of responsibility”, the source said.

I assume they’ll succeed in getting a “conviction” in the end, although, who knows? Maybe an O. J.-style acquittal is in Saddam’s future. This shows the folly of trying to apply a law enforcement model to tyrants like Saddam or, for that matter, to terrorists.

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