The European Court of Human Rights has taken it upon themselves to debate whether Iraq has any sovereignty. At least, that is the implication of their agreement to deliberate whether the Coalition should allow Iraq to try former Saddam Hussein regime figures, starting with Tariq Aziz:

A lawyer for former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, in US custody in Baghdad, said the European Court of Human Rights had conditionally agreed to hear a plea over fears Aziz might be handed over to the Iraqi government.

Italian lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano said the court had first said it wanted to know to whom it was that Aziz had surrendered in April 2003, shortly after the fall of the former regime, by whom and where had he been held since then and at what date they proposed transferring custody.

Di Stefano and fellow Italian lawyer Domenico Marinelli said in a statement on Monday that the safety of their client and other detainees from the former Iraqi regime could be at risk if they were transferred to Iraqi custody.

I suppose that the Iraqi enablers of Saddam's terroristic dictatorship could find themselves "at risk". They will be at risk of being found guilty of their crimes, tried by the people against whom they committed their brutality. That process started in Europe, when the Allies tried the Germans for their crimes against humanity. One can easily argue that the Iraqis have more right to try their former oppressors than did the US, Britain, and Soviet Union to try Germans for their horrific acts.

What can this court be thinking? Does Europe really want to take the position that an elected government, representative of the Iraqis, do not have the sovereignty to try Iraqis for their crimes in Iraq? Tariq Aziz and the rest of Saddam's henchmen and toadies spent their lives propping up a bloodthirsty tyrant, and in doing so committed an almost endless series of crimes against their fellow Iraqis. Now that the tables have turned and the people have a justice system far more honest and straightforward than anything staged by these same men, the EU suddenly thinks it has the right to dictate to the Iraqis whether or not they can hold these monsters accountable for their actions.

Shame on the European Court of Human Rights and the EU for their patronizing and colonial attitudes. They have no business interfering with the efforts of the Iraqis in bringing their tormentors to justice.

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