George Bush's Iraq: "We've substituted one dictatorship for another"

The President's statement after Saddam was hanged praised the justice system in Iraq:

Today, Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial — the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime.

Fair trials were unimaginable under Saddam Hussein's tyrannical rule. It is a testament to the Iraqi people's resolve to move forward after decades of oppression that, despite his terrible crimes against his own people, Saddam Hussein received a fair trial. This would not have been possible without the Iraqi people's determination to create a society governed by the rule of law.

Wrong as usual. One more time we see that just because Bush says something doesn't make it true. In fact, if Bush says something about Iraq, the opposite is true. An official on the ground in Iraq who knows what's actually happening provides a different perspective on the country's justice system to The NY Times:

When the tribunal’s appeals bench announced that it had upheld the death sentences on Dec. 26, three weeks into the appeal, even prosecutors were stunned. Defense lawyers said Mr. Hussein was being railroaded under pressure from Mr. Maliki, who told a BBC interviewer shortly after the Dujail verdict that he expected the ousted ruler to be hanged before year’s end.

The suspicion that the judges had submitted to government pressure was shared by some Americans working with the tribunal, who had stifled their growing disillusionment with the government’s interference for months.

The appeals court’s eagerness to fast-forward Mr. Hussein to the gallows — and the scenes at the execution itself — broke the floodgates of restraint for at least one Western official who worked for the court. “I am disgusted,” he said. “We had thought the court would be a beacon of light in a very dark landscape. But the way it has come out with the hanging, we’ve substituted one dictatorship for another.”

It was Condi Rice who gave the go ahead for the execution according to the Times' sources. She overruled the concerns of the U.S. military. That's a pattern with Condi and her boss. They ignore the military's advice and cause them more problems. Now, Condi and her boss have turned Saddam in to a martyr. Heckuva job, Condi.

by Joe in DC, BlogAmerica