Saddam captured

A fair and open trial in which all the facts of Saddam's brutal rule are brought to light would go a long way to restoring some of this lost credibility. The charges against Saddam and the catalogue of his crimes should be presented in public and he must be given every opportunity to defend himself. Even the worst regimes of the last century were permitted a fair trial at Nuremberg, and Saddam is no less deserving of this right, even though it was one he denied so many of his fellow countrymen and women.

Nothing would be more harmful to US interests and indeed to the security of the world than for him to be taken in chains to the US for some kind of show-trial or kangaroo court. The credibility of the US government has been almost fatally compromised by images of detainees in chains in Guantanamo Bay being denied even the most basic of human rights. The US must not make the same mistake with Saddam.

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The latest indications are that Saddam will be tried as a war criminal under the Geneva Convention. Whether this means that he will escape justice for crimes that do not fall under the ambit of war crimes is unclear. We sincerely hope this is not the case as the bulk of his crimes were committed in Iraq and for the most part it was Iraqis themselves who suffered the worst at his hands. An Iraqi court or some kind of ad-hoc tribunal convened in Iraq where he would be forced to answer for all the crimes of his regime would therefore be the suitable forum to bring him to book.