The power of justice to heal a wounded psyche

As human events large and small play across the world stage, Tiny performs a triumphant rendition of her signature Daphne-metamorphosing-into-a-laurel-tree tableau in the side yard, her silky fur taking on the essence of the light-dappled, peach-tinged, exfoliating gray bark of Acer saccharinum (Silver Maple).

Our normblog profile -- previewed here -- is up at Norm Geras's, and we're delighted to find ourselves sandwiched between two very different and superb posts -- one humorous, the other not so humorous -- that together give a capsule of the pleasure and edification awaiting visitors to the renowned British Marx scholar's blog (see excerpts below).  In email correspondence Norm had asked us to point out any possible minor errors once the profile was published.  There were none, of course.  Instead, there were two Brit-vs-Yank stylistic differences.  One was the familiar "ou" vs "o" as in "labour" vs "labor." The other, perhaps a bit more obscure, had to do with whether or not to add a hyphen -- "labour-intensively" vs "labor intensively" in a two-word adverbial modifier following rather than preceding a modified clause. As Norm noted, "The hyphen is debatable," and as we replied,

I like it just the way you presented it, a nice example of British-American agreement to disagree. Besides, anything that's debatable is grist for the blogger's mill. To hyphenate, or not to hyphenate:  It's practically Shakespearean.

Saddam Hussein pleaded innocent to charges of murder and torture as his long-awaited trial began Wednesday with the one-time dictator arguing about the legitimacy of the court and scuffling with guards. (AP Photo/Bob Strong, Pool)

"New top-of-the-range Mothercare playpen: also has capacity for up to three genocidal tyrants," goes one of the winning captions -- for the above photo of Saddam facing his accusers -- in Norm Geras's first caption competition, the humorous post we referenced above.

The other normblog post referenced above -- "From Nuremberg to Baghdad" -- uses the words of a select group of authors representing relevant historical and contemporary perspectives to make the point that it was the right thing to do to have Saddam tried by Iraqis in Iraq rather than some lofty international tribune. "If you take it abroad, the Iraqis would never believe it," wrote Nuremberg observer and author of Albert Speer: His Battle with the Truth, Gitta Sereny inThe Guardian. From Ann Applebaum in the Washington Post:

Yet Nuremberg was, in retrospect, a huge success, and as the trial of Saddam Hussein begins today in Baghdad, it is worth remembering why. If it achieved nothing else, Nuremberg laid out for the German people, and for the world, the true nature of the Nazi system. Auschwitz survivors and SS officers presented testimony. Senior Nazis were subjected to cross-examination. The prosecutors produced documents, newsreels of liberated concentration camps and films of atrocities made by the Nazis themselves. There were hangings at the end, as well as acquittals. But it mattered more that the story of the Third Reich had been told, memorably and eloquently.

We had had a gut feeling about the rightness of it all the other morning as we awoke to the live (actually delayed by 20 minutes) broadcast of opening proceedings of Saddam's trial, a feeling confirmed by Mohammed's on-the-scene blog report posted at the always illuminating Iraq the Model from his Baghdad living room:

As the prosecution went deeper into details and facts, the way we viewed the trial began to change, and those among us who were demanding a bullet in Saddam’s head now seemed pleased with the proceedings “I don’t think I want to see that bullet now, I want to see justice take place as it should be”. We were watching an example of justice in the new Iraq, a place where no one should be denied his rights, not even Saddam.

Speaking of the power of justice to heal a wounded psyche, our psychologically astute friend neo-neocon has two must-read posts along these lines that we'd been meaning to blog about -- "The justice of a trial" and "A new press hero:  Saddam, defendant." Be sure to click over and read the whole things.

Update:  Another must-read post to soothe the savage breast:  Friday Ark #57 at Modulator.

Update II:  Hi, Beth. Your blog's new look is wicked cool.

Comments

[Teresa]

WooHoo! Wonderful interview Sissy.

And much as I'm sure Saddam should not be gracing the earth with his presence anymore - I am happy that they are doing things legally... he gets his day in court. That is probably the most important thing the Middle East can see right now.

[goomp]

What impressed me most about Nuremberg was that judges who ruled against the former Government constitution in favor of Nazi desires met conviction and hanging. This should be a warning to our judges who overrule the intent of our founding documents.