Saddam is ‘distraught’, he’s ‘playing dominoes’

According to Iyad Allawi, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Saddam Hussein is ‘‘distraught and depressed’’ and begging for mercy...

According to Iyad Allawi, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Saddam Hussein is ‘‘distraught and depressed’’ and begging for mercy. According to others, Saddam Hussein spends his days playing dominoes with former cronies.

According to just about everybody, Saddam Hussein is surprised to be alive, having naturally assumed that his first courtroom appearance last July was a prelude to execution. But if his real state of mind is unknown, so, too, is Saddam Hussein’s ultimate fate.

Indeed, thanks to the fighting in Baghdad, the insurgents in Fallujah and the mudslinging at home, the original source of instability in Iraq has been almost forgotten. While he sits in prison eating army rations, technical hurdles have indefinitely derailed ambitious plans to bring Saddam and his former associates to trial.

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According to those who have worked with them, the Iraqi judges investigating the multiple charges against Saddam are unaccustomed to the rigorous requirements of evidence and proof, unaccustomed to international human rights law and unaccustomed even to working eight-hour days.

Political infighting isn’t helping either. Clearly there are some in the new Iraqi leadership who would prefer not to hold a trial at all, or at least not one involving lawyers, presentation of evidence and national debate. While visiting the US last month, Allawi several times stated his preference for a fast trial and execution, possibly this month.

It’s not hard to guess why: A short trial would let a lot of senior Baathists off the hook, consolidate former opponents of Saddam behind Allawi, and would dispense with the whole thorny problem of ‘‘guilt’’ altogether. Although it seems the American government has so far persuaded him not to go that route, Allawi has embroiled the ongoing investigations. —LAT-WP