Editorial Bear

Court drops charges against Saddam
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq -

Saddam Hussein's trial for the killing of 180,000 Kurds in the 1980s resumed Monday with the late dictator's seat empty, nine days after he went to the gallows. The court's first order of business was to drop all charges against Saddam. Full story here.

Okay, take a deep breath. It's not what you think.

Saddam was charged with crimes that took him to the gallows - but those weren't the only crimes he commited. But why continue to prove his guilt for further crimes when Saddam's already dead and buried?

So the rest of the charges will be dropped. It doesn't mean he's innocent of them.

My annoyance with this story is how misleading it is.

Given top billing on the BBC and Yahoo Europe, a day after Blair apparently complained about the manner of Saddam's death, it suggests that the charges which led to Saddam's execution were dropped. If nobody bothered to read beyond the headline, they'd understandably be lead to believe that dropping these charges resulted in the execution of an 'innocent' man.

For some reason, the European media has fallen in line behind the dead dictator. Sure, I disagree with the death penalty and have problems with the legitimacy of his trial - but Saddam was a monster and deserved to die. I will not waste any effort trying to vilify the son of a bitch.

Miscarriages of justice occur far too often. Let's save the energy to help the innocent and the alive, not the guilty and dead.