Saddam was tried and convicted for an isolated small crime among many. It was a crime almost defensible. He was traveling through a town, just like our occupation foreign soldiers do, when an attack was made upon him. Were it our forces, they would have called in an airstrike killing hundreds maybe thousands, including women and children. He also ordered a strike killing hundreds and, unlike our strikes, actually ending the attacks.

But what is important here, is that the assassination attempt was instigated by the Dawa tribe of the Iraqi Shiites. Saddam's retaliation was against a village of Dawas. More than two decades later, and before the US got involved in supplying deadly WMDs to Iraq for use against Iran and the Kurds, Saddam was tried for that act of retaliation against the Dawas, a more personal attack then say, calling in an airstrike, yet equally as deadly.

He was convicted along with two of his officers and sentenced to death in a trial of questionable legality.

He was ordered to death and killed, on a holy day, under the most inhumane of situations at the order of Prime Minister Maliki.

A leader of the Dawas.

Get it?

Any student of Iraqi or most Arab history knows the importance of revenge killings. They have little knowledge or regard for an Occidental concept of justice. If a tribal member is killed without justice, his death must be avenged. While we in America may think he faced justice, the Iraqis think otherwise. To them, he was killed by the Dawas in an act of revenge for his murder of members of Dawas. That is how justice works. And to to Saddam's tribe and followers the Dawas acted illegally and their murder of Saddam must be avenged even if it costs the lives of all members of Saddam's tribe. That is honor, that is justice that is an act that cannot be satisfied by anything other than sacrifice. It is also a state that is obvious to anyone who is responsible for understanding Iraq. You can get a good example from Prince of the Marshes, Fiasco, Imperial Life in the Emerald Palace, the writings of T.H. Lawrence or anyone with any understanding of Iraqi life.

Bush can say whatever he wants, but it is criminal not to accept that the Iraqis see this as nothing more than the Dawas taking revenge against Saddam and thus inviting revenge by Saddam's tribe. The Kurds, the Sunni tribes who also lost members to Saddam, and the other Shia tribes did not get satisfaction and have no interest in supporting the act of one party against another.

The end result is that they will less have any respect for a government run by a Dawaist who so obviously has no concern for the interests and the justice of their tribes.

Welcome to the dissolution of the Iraqi government and civil war.

Whatever he "qualifications" may be - gushing letters of praise, fluffing pillows, reading bedtime lawstories - I have to think that Once the writing was on the wall and the Dems were going to be sworn in to take both House and Senate, Bush needs a heavy hitter with serious experience in quashing subpoenas and citing executive privilege. Could be John Yoo, possibly a duckhunting buddy of Scalia, but definitely someone with the nads to know what to shred and when.