Saddam’s guilty verdict 4 days early, but why?

Just before the 'not really' verdict was announced, Saddam said to "pardon and do not take revenge on the invading nations and their people." (MSNBC)

Then, the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal announced yesterday that Saddam Hussein has been found guilty and is sentenced to death. But it didn’t release the official verdict. NBC News has the story:

"The full verdict, a document of several hundred pages, explaining how and why today’s judgment was reached was not released. U.S. officials said it should be ready by Thursday. So why issue the verdict today? U.S. court advisors told reporters today it was delayed mainly for technical reasons."

"Technical reasons?" Oh! You mean "just days before the mid-term election"! Of course, because the Bush administration wants to be hailed as a hero, now we understand!

The court was created by the administration-controlled Coalition Provisional Authority and the administration still exercises considerable control over the court. The New York Times reports, "American influence…has been undeniably pervasive, with about 90 percent of the $145 million in annual costs for the court and associated investigations paid for by the United States Justice Department, and lawyers sent by Washington acting as advisers.”

Talking Points Memo via ThinkProgress

Also see Saddam verdict date "rigged" for Bush