SADDAM’S HANGING QUESTION

Saddam Hussein’s sentence of death by hanging was handed down on Nov. 5, and President Bush hailed the trial as “a major achievement for Iraq’s young democracy as and its constitutional government.” Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki predicted the hanging would take place by the end of the year. Many disagree. They not only ask why the rush. They think hanging him would be a mistake. Their objections are worth considering.

Recently, U.N. human rights experts called on Iraq’s government not to carry out the death sentence passed on Mr. Hussein, saying his trial had been seriously flawed. Specifically, the U.N. working group on arbitrary detention said the former Iraqi leader wasn’t given enough time to prepare for trial, he was unfairly restricted in his access to lawyers and his ability to call his own witnesses, and the tribunal itself lacked impartiality.

As columnist Gwynne Dyer recently wrote in a column in this newspaper headlined “Witnessing the lynching of Saddam Hussein,” the replacement of judges who wanted to respect the rights of the defendants and the murder of several defense attorneys made a fair trial nearly impossible.

The first judge resigned after government complaints that he let Mr. Hussein speak too often in his own defense. The second judge, also removed, was found to have been a member of the Baath Party.

One of Mr. Hussein’s defense attorneys was seized by men claiming to be from the Shiite Interior Ministry and was found dead in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City. Another was shot. A third fled the country. And the chief defense attorney was abducted by men in police uniforms and his body was found in Sadr City with both arms broken and eight bullet wounds.

Mr. Hussein, whose crimes are clear, surely would have been convicted by a properly constituted international court, where he would have been tried by due process of law.

There are further reasons to hesitate. For instance, hanging Saddam Hussein would make him a martyr in the eyes of the Iraqi Sunnis, the faction whose reconciliation is most critical if the country is ever to achieve peace and stability. Additionally, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain joined several other European leaders in opposing the death penalty for Mr. Hussein, although Mr. Blair later stressed his opposition to capital punishment and said he did not intend to protest the Hussein sentence.

On balance, the United States would probably be wise to press for lifetime imprisonment for Mr. Hussein instead of hanging.