Here Comes Da New Judge! (Saddam Trial Edition)

There's a new judge in the Saddam Hussein trial, a fellow sent in to replace the Iraqi Lance Ito, Abdullah al-Amiri, who had editorialized in court, "You were not a dictator. People around you made you (look like) a dictator."

The new judge, Mohammed al-Ureybi, immediately set a new tone by kicking Saddam, who had been acting like Charlie Manson, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and Colin Ferguson rolled into one, out of the courtroom, eliciting this taunt from the former bestselling author and writer-of-books-in-blood: "Your father was a security agent!" Which falls somewhere short of Kirk to Spock: "Your father was a computer."

The bad news in all this:

"This raises alarm bells,'' said Michael Scharf, a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law told The Washington Post. "It looks like the government is trying to meddle with the tribunal. This will erode the tribunal's independence and legitimacy further in the eyes of the international community and the Iraqi people.''

More here.