The trial of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein began last week in Baghdad. While Hussein and seven others are the defendants of record, the real focus is the tribunal itself -- its legitimacy and by extension, that of the current government in Iraq. Never before has justice been so important to Iraq.
The accused are being tried for their role in the 1982 killings in the village of Dujail. The prosecution alleges that men from the village tried to assassinate the Iraqi leader when his convoy passed through the town. In reprisal, Hussein ordered the torture and killing of 148 men from Dujail. It is also alleged that more than 1,500 townspeople were arrested and banished to desert prisons. Orange and date groves, the primary livelihood of village residents, were plowed over.
Although the death penalty is possible, this is likely to be only the first in a series of trials that attempt to hold Hussein accountable for the killings and imprisonment of tens of thousands of Iraqis during his 23-year reign. The current trial was held first because the evidence is reportedly the best; the prosecution has videotape showing the Iraqi leader interrogating four men from the village.