Reuters reported yesterday, to almost no fanfare, that the Iraqi judiciary announced that Saddam Hussein will stand trial within "weeks", after the Iraqi government urged them to expedite the process:

Iraq's toppled leader Saddam Hussein and his top aides will go on trial within weeks, Iraqi Minister of State Kasim Daoud says.

Daoud told a news conference in Kuwait City on Sunday after talks with top officials that "Saddam Hussein and his band will stand trials within a period of weeks."

Asked if the United States will play any role in the trials, he said: "We have barred the Iraqi government from playing a role, how can we allow a foreign faction to have a role in Saddam Hussein's trial? No...Saddam Hussein will be tried by the Iraqi judiciary and it will issue its just sentence against him."

I missed this report yesterday. In fact, in reviewing the news feeds and the websites of the mainstream media, it seems as though the American media yawned at the news. Desert Tusk noticed this before I did, and hypothesizes:

Saddam's trial is huge news. The fact that a former dictator is going on trial is newsworthy enough. Added to that are these facts 1) We deposed him, 2) We're in the middle of rebuilding the country he was in control of, 3)There is going to be a political impact not only in Iraq, but also in the United States. The trial, if this report is true, will take place before the presidential election. Which candidate would be helped by the reminder of what an evil guy Saddam was? The one who says the Iraq war was the right thing to do? Or the one who says, "It's the wrong war, in the wrong place at the wrong time"?

And it's for that reason the media isn't reporting it. Reminding people of Saddam only helps Bush.

So far, that's the only reasonable conclusion I can reach as well. However, if the trial starts before November 2nd, expect all who are silent now to scream at the top of their lungs about the "timing" of it in relation to the election.

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