Why isn’t Saddam Hussein in Guantanamo Bay?

[Alcibiades]

In light of Bush’s effort to use the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 to blur the line between the ongoing occupation of Iraq and the Global War on Terror, I think that this is a simple question to pose to any who support his position. If Iraq is the central front in the Global War on Terror, why is it that Saddam Hussein is not in Guantanamo Bay, and why is he being tried by the Iraqi government and not by an American military tribunal? There can be only one answer, which is that Saddam Hussein is being tried on charges completely unrelated to the Global War on Terror. Hussein’s crimes, and those of his regime, were many, but they are not related to the Global War on Terror.

Of course, the real reason why Hussein is being tried in Iraq on very carefully selected charges is because almost all of his crimes against humanity, most especially the Iran-Iraq war, were aided and abetted by Republican administrations, including some of the folks in this administration. This is more than most people, and certainly all Republican zombies, are capable of processing. The truth will out. In the meantime, given that this administration has spend so much time establishing the “fact” that the best (indeed, the only) legal process for terror suspects is through military tribunals, we should make every effort to reveal the obvious, which is so obvious even a Republican zombie can understand. If Saddam Hussein is a terrorist, then he should be held at Guantanamo and tried by a military tribunal. The fact that he is not in Guantanamo and is being tried by the Iraqis is clear evidence that the Bush administration does not believe there is any link between Hussein and the Global War on Terror.

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Because the neocons want to create an illusion

The neocons want to create the illusion that the Iraqis are trying him. It helps with further their illusion that Iraq is a sovereign state.

[Alcibiades]

2. Good point

and one of several good (for them) reasons why they would want him to be tried in Iraq and not held at Guantanamo Bay. Still, too complicated to explain to zombies, and it doesn't sound like something they already believe, which is why I suggest that we point out that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, and, if the Bush administration really thought he did, he would be at Guantanamo Bay, not in Iraq.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. Besides, what if one of the other branches of government

actually got some balls and decided that the prisoners must be either 1) prisoners of war, and subject to international oversight or 2) international criminals who should be tried by the world court at The Hague? Either way, if Saddam was there he could reveal a lot that this government doesn't want talked about. By keeping it a strictly Iraqi thing (with US oversight, of course) they keep their secrets.

[RethugAssKicker]

4. becuase we don't want him to eat any Cuban Mangoes ?

[mmonk]

5. Show trial instead of torture or detainment.