Comments on: The Hussein Verdict: Justice Or Show Trial?

By: peter

peter — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 22:17:05 +0000

You’re confusing Felix Cavallieri (of Rascals fame) with Felix Pappalardi (of Mountain fame) –

On a similar note: my wife works for a guy whose cellphone number is 867-5309 — apparently he gets calls in the middle of the night from drunks calling his number –

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 21:43:54 +0000

Aaron, spot on

By: Dmac

Dmac — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 21:05:54 +0000

“…ex-wife of Felix Pappalardi (of Mountain fame)…”

Huh – I thought he was the lead singer of The Young Rascals (later named The Rascals). Must’ve gotten him confused with someone else.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 18:07:12 +0000

When it comes to high profile crimes against humanity trials — Saddam, Rwanda, Millosevic, Eichmann, Nuremberg — there is no possible way that the jury can be unbiased, whether its a jury comprised of the former victims, as with Saddam and Eichmann, or an international tribunal. After all, if an international body is trying a leader, then an international bodt has most likely approved military action to remove the leader (almost as rigorous as, if not more than, a trial). Thus, everyone involved in the trial probably already has their mind made up.

But if a “fair” trial is impossible because everyone has witnessed the evidence directly, then there doesn’t really need to be a trial at all, much less a “fair” one.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 17:34:48 +0000

But you left out the bad news…she’s returning as a columnist, and handing over the reins to one of her flunkies. D’oh!…

By: peter

peter — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:58:06 +0000

Gail Collins will relinquish her position on 1/1/07 —

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003252624

In googling Gail Collins, I learned that the ex-wife of Felix Pappalardi (of Mountain fame) was also name Gail Collins — apparently she shot him to death when she found out he was having an affair with a 27 year old — must be a different Gail Collins. Or so one would hope.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:16:58 +0000

But peter, you say Collins is relinquishing the job? Oh, happy day, indeed! Do you know that for a fact or are you just teasing?…

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:05:49 +0000

The difference is in the conclusion drawn with the same data. Collins:

President Bush overreached in calling the trial “a milestone in the Iraqi people’s efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law.”

…vs. the reporting:

….even critics of the trial said the five Iraqi judges who heard the case had made a reasonable effort to conduct a fair trial in the face of sustained pressure from Iraqi political leaders for a swift death sentence. American lawyers pointed to substantial evidence offered by the prosecution implicating Mr. Hussein in the crimes against humanity with which he had been charged.

“Did this meet the standards of international justice?” asked Jonathan Drimmer, who teaches war crimes law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington. “The answer is no. But to look at the ultimate verdict, it certainly is consistent with the evidence presented.”

One suspects that, even with the flaws, Collins agrees with the professor that justice was ultimately served. However, she can’t quite bring herself to say anything that might give credit to the evil Bush regime…

By: peter

peter — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:01:00 +0000

Doubtless you will be a happy man on January 1 when Gail Collins relinquishes her job to someone else.

However, I’m confused (or, as I’ve learned to tell my wife: I’m conflicted — somehow being conflicted sounds better to the other gender than being confused): there doesn’t seem to be a lot of daylight between the editorial and the new story. Both admit that the process was less than perfect, but the result was what it should be. Am I missing something?

By: T.W.L.

T.W.L. — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 15:57:44 +0000

Justice or Show Trial?

Well, both.