The silly Thomas Oliphant is still trying to un-fight the Iraq invasion. Now he's trying to compare the Milosevic and Saddam trials. Guess which one he thinks lacks legitimacy?

The war in the Balkans was legitimate without a UN mandate because...Russia would have blocked it, but the war on Iraq was illegitimate without a UN mandate because...France (and Russia) would have blocked it?

Oliphant is quite put out by Milosevic's ethnic cleansing massacres - to the point of willingness to circumvent the UN, but he's perfectly willing to have watched UN inspections in perpetuity and left Saddam in place to bring death on a scale Milosevic could only aspire to - Shia, Kurd, Iranian, Marsh Arab...or just anyone that crossed Saddam.

Apparently, trials at The Hague are more legitimate than trials by Sovereign States because...no real reason. Well, perhaps not all Sovereigns, just one's guys like OIiphant can scoff at - which he does.

Legitimacy is a matter of transparency, not a matter of what room the trial is held in, or whether the trim is oak or pine. The world needs to see what Saddam has done, and will need to see him handled in a manner consistent with legal norms - not specific courtroom rules, but the world must get a sense that there is some sort of quest for the truth happening. I somehow have a feeling that the world will get a better sense that justice is happening in an Iraqi courtroom, rather than a courtroom a continent away. By the way, here's another thing that justice tends to require, or at least the perception that justice is being done: timeliness. How long has Milosevic been on trial, now?

Oliphant is proselytizing for the cult of "International Community." Milosevic's trial is necessary, though it take forever and make a mockery of international justice, because the strengthening of the international order is all-important. The trial is a means to this end, even if it's only a learning experience for the judges and lawyers. Justice being done to the individual named "Milsosevic" or on behalf of the people of the Balkans is a distant second - an afterthought. It's all just practice for a different purpose.

Oliphant is put-out because Saddam won't be available for this experiment. Have no doubt, a Saddam trial happening in Iraq and being performed by Iraqis will have as its central object the individual named Saddam Hussein and his crimes. That is nothing but a good thing. It is the definition (if there is such a thing) of justice.

Here's the Oliphant piece. Read it, or don't bother. It really doesn't matter:

Boston.com: Issues of legitimacy on Saddam