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the "trial" was as shabby an affair as i have ever seen. the verdict was such that the americans might as well have shot hussein when they found him and declared it an accident. it was a political ritual handled with a degree of incompetence that really boggles the mind. and i can say this without having any sympathy for saddam hussein. the trial was a joke. a complete, end-to-end joke. it was not about hussein's human rights or legal rights--it was about the verdict, and the verdict is about the elections in the united states and that's all there is to it.
and if you look at the reactions to it, there is a truly bizarre split between the american responses and those of the rest of the planet.
the coverage in the states has been as spotty and shabby as the trial has been--maybe folk use the many cop shows on tv that function to make you wonder why there is any need for legal defense given the Rightness of the Intuitions of Authority to fill in the blanks (you know, to make up a trial)
anyway, in the states, you get this vague cheering.
on the rest of the planet, you get: this trial is a farce.
go figure.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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