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Sunday, September 09, 2012

But Is He Guilty?

The issue of Iraq's vice president seems to focus exclusively on the effect of the conviction on sectarian divisions:

Iraq's fugitive Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi was sentenced to death for murder on Sunday in a ruling likely to further stoke sectarian tensions just hours after a wave of bombings killed 58 people across the country.

Hashemi was tried in absentia, so won't face the death penalty.

But it does not seem unreasonable that Hashemi was either guilty of supporting Sunni Arab death squads or of allowing his staff to support them.

If so, the conviction isn't stoking sectarian divisions. It was Hashemi who was guilty of that problem.

It isn't even unreasonable to assume that Iraq's process was deeply flawed and Hashemi is guilty.

I wonder what we know about the case? Is Hashemi guilty?