If you thought we got away without an October surprise from Karl Rove check this out from Monday's Democracy Now. It's an exerpt from Amy Goodman's interview with Scott Horton, Chairman of the International Law Committee at the New York Bar Association and a Member of the Iraqi Bar Association.
SCOTT HORTON: "Well, I think the evidence against Saddam Hussein is clear and impressive and, in fact, I think we have to salute Human Rights Watch, which did a tremendous job over many years of documenting the violations, including the Dujail incident. So I think people are relieved to see that sentence.
But when we come to the fairness and legitimacy of the proceedings, there, there are very, very deep concerns, and I think it’s all wrapped around the timing of the announcement of the verdict, which was very carefully planned to be the last print media day, so we would have headlines above the fold in American newspapers on the day before Americans go to vote in very, very important mid-term elections.
AMY GOODMAN: Who decides this?
SCOTT HORTON: Well, I think the Americans decided that. And in fact, I can tell you from my own experiences dealing with Iraqi courts, the calendar of the court was fixed directly by the Americans. One Iraqi judge I discussed this with told me that, “Look, we are autonomous and independent in many regards, and the calendar is not one of them. The calendar is fixed by when the Americans want us to convene the court and when they produce the witnesses so that we can interrogate them and conduct hearings.”
Well, hopefully we can expect the voters to be smarter than the Republicans give them credit for being.
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