Byron Dorgan: “first, I compliment Senator Specter from Pennsylvania, since he is the original author of this resolution on an…”

“first, I compliment Senator Specter from Pennsylvania, since he is the original author of this resolution on an international criminal tribunal for Iraq. I very much appreciate his leadership, and I know the Senate appreciates that leadership as well. This is the right subject. It is something the Senate needs to be discussing. I hope very much that tomorrow, when we vote on this resolution, the Senate will overwhelmingly approve it. Recently, in the country of Iraq, a state-controlled newspaper proposed that Saddam Hussein be given the Nobel Peace Prize. I doubt whether many Americans would believe that Saddam Hussein would qualify for the Nobel Peace Prize. The only ceremony I believe Saddam Hussein ought to attend in the near future is a war crimes trial. And I expect, in the future, if there were a war crimes trial to be held--and I hope this legislation will be the catalyst to make that happen--I expect in the future no one will again suggest a Nobel Peace Prize for a convicted war criminal. Why do we say there should be an international tribunal to try Saddam Hussein and other leaders of Iraq for war crimes? First of all, there is precedent for it, as Senator Specter indicated. In Nuremberg, at the end of World War II, over 200 Nazi leaders were tried between 1945 and 1949. Thirty-seven of them were sentenced to death, 23 to life in prison, and 101 to shorter prison terms. There is an international tribunal for Rwanda at work right now.…”