No Trial For Saddam
Dec 17, 2003 

IRVINE, CA--With Saddam's capture, commentators immediately presumed he would be put on trial, and asked who should try him and when and where he should be tried: Should it be the American military, the Iraqi people, the World Court in the Hague, etc. President Bush has decided that the Iraqi people will try Saddam and his crimes will be published before the world. Is there any reason not to let the Iraqis try Saddam, asks Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute.

"Yes, the U.S. Congress has already tried and condemned Saddam to death," says Dr. Brook. "The U.S. military, which includes the Commander-in-Chief, was authorized, and attempted several times with laser-guided bombs, to execute Saddam. To my knowledge, that authorization was not rescinded in the President's declaration of victory in Iraq. 

"The values compromised or lost by going through an Iraqi trial would be far greater than anything we could possibly gain. By its nature a trial grants the defendant the presumption of innocence. With the evidence of his guilt so overwhelming, how can the Congress, the President or any honest person presume Saddam's innocence? A trial also grants the presumption that there could possibly be some sane defense of mass murder. That presumption should never be allowed. Worst of all, a trial would give Saddam a platform to address the world while under the presumption of innocence--an unconscionable concession to evil. 

"Saddam is guilty of killing hundreds of American soldiers; he's guilty of initiating a war against the Kuwaitis; and he's guilty of murdering hundreds of thousands of his own people. This murderer deserves a firing squad, and the sooner the better."

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Dr. Yaron Brook is available for interviews. To interview Dr. Brook or book him for your show, please e-mail media@aynrandcenter.org

For more articles by Yaron Brook, and his bio, click here.