It was difficult to understand why the Bush regime dragged out its show-trial of Saddam Hussein so long. It was an embarrassing spectacle to people who care about America and its values. It also provided an example of how dysfunctional the Bush Regime's colonial governance of Iraq has been.

Now we know the reason for this delay. The Bush regime scheduled the verdict and sentencing for the weekend before the midterm elections. People who are informed about Iraq will not have their opinions influenced much by this game-playing. However, Karl Rove is trying to pick up small percentages of voters in crucial states, not all of whom will pay much attention to the news or to politics.

I was just watching MSNBC and saw how Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough were trying to spin this like crazy, suggesting that people should all vote Republican just because of verdicts hitting at just the right time, in a joke of a trial. The corporate media are relentless in their pursuit of a rightist, pro-GOP agenda. We will have to see if this spin makes any difference.

Saddam Hussein is hardly a sympathetic figure. Yet, the Bush regime tried him on a relatively small massacre, leaving out his more enormous crimes. They have cut him a break in terms of his legacy in Iraq by not trying Hussein for his larger crimes against humanity.

Why? It is simple. Saddam Hussein got his chemical and biological weapons from the Reagan administration. Guess who were the two Reagan administration officials most famously involved.

That's right. They are Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.

The crimes that Hussein was not charged with are as fascinating as the timing of the verdict in this Stalinesque show-trial.

Site with Famous Photo of Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein