Bush's Nation Busting

The saga of Saddam Hussein's end -- his capture, trial and execution -- is a sad metaphor for America's occupation of Iraq. What might have gone right went so wrong. It is worth remembering that Hussein was not your run-of-the-mill dictator. He created one of the most brutal, corrupt and violent regimes in modern history, something akin to Stalin's Soviet Union, Mao's China or Kim Jong Il's North Korea. Whatever the strategic wisdom for the United States, deposing him began as something unquestionably good for Iraq.

But soon the Bush administration dismissed the idea of trying Hussein under international law, or in a court with any broader legitimacy. This is the administration, after all, that could see little advantage in a United Nations mandate for its own invasion and occupation. It put Hussein's fate in the hands of the new Iraqi government, dominated by Shiite and Kurdish politicians who had been victims of his reign. As a result, Hussein's trial, which should have been the judgment of civilized society against a tyrant, is now seen by Iraq's Sunnis and much of the Arab world as a farce, reflecting only the victors' vengeance.

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