| Created as the consequence of a war of aggression against Iraq in 2003, the Iraqi High Tribunal (I.H.T. - formerly called the Iraqi Special Tribunal) is the focus of this thesis. By the time Saddam Hussein was purportedly captured on 13 December 20031, it was decided that he would be tried in a domestic court in Iraq. While there were other options to planning a tribunal in which to try Saddam Hussein and his aides, such as an international court, an internationalized tribunal, and a domestic court with significant international involvement, the U.S. administration and Coalition Provisional Authority (C.P.A.) preferred to establish a domestic Iraqi tribunal with no international interference, heavily influenced by only American experts and exiled Iraqis.;Although the Iraqi Special Tribunal (I.S.T.) of December 2003 was an American creation, it had Iraqi players, and there was also strong and genuine Iraqi appetite for accountability of the crimes of the former regime. For primarily the latter reason, Iraqis cheered on the Dujail Trial.;The current thesis briefly discusses the history of written, criminal Iraqi law leading up to the current post-war Iraqi legal system and the most recent trials against the former Ba'athist regime. It also examines the discourse around the establishment and procedures of the Iraqi Special Tribunal. While it has been argued that the Tribunal is a product of an imperialistic war of aggression, a disastrous attempt by the Bush administration to legalize the occupation, it has also been argued that the I.S.T./I.H.T. is a product of Iraqi appetite for justice, irrelevant of the war of aggression. I find it necessary to examine both sides of the debate regarding the Tribunal. I also intend to discuss in this thesis the relationship between the Dujail Trial and the state of affairs and security in Iraq.;This thesis discusses both sides of the debate pertaining to the Iraqi Special Tribunal's establishment. The Tribunal, as a special court created by the U.S. and U.K., is part of a long history of imperialist intervention in Iraq. However, because of the choices made and the way the Tribunal developed, it was more of an object of Iraqi popular sentiment and an Iraqi call for justice.;1The video of Saddam Hussein's capture indicates fruitful palm trees in the background, raising questions with regards to the date of his capture, as no palm tree could possibly bear fruit at that time of the year. The common assumption is that Saddam's capture took place in August, when palm trees do bear fruit, and was later announced in December, perfectly timed for the upcoming U.S. presidential elections. Arabic News channels throughout the Middle East, and particularly Abu Dhabi TV, had made note of this observation the day the video was released (13 December 2003). However, the topic was never revisited on Arabic news channels, hence provoking popular belief that this reflected government censorship of the media, as regularly experienced in the Middle East. In addition, when asked about this observation by the author of this thesis during a lecture at Trent University, "Three Projects and a Few Funerals" on 29 January 2004, Dr. Gwynne Dyer supported the suggestion made above, that Saddam Hussein was probably captured in August, and the announcement was made close to election time in the U.S. |
