BAGHDAD - The tortoise-paced trial of Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity will be put into hyperdrive when it resumes today and, in fact, likely will be wrapped up this morning, some four months ahead of schedule, because no-nonsense Judge Joseph A. Wapner, the original jurist of television's pioneer "court show," The People's Court, has been brought to Baghdad to finish it.Wapner doesn't plan to deviate from his well-honed methods of adjudication. "We'll have eleven minutes of testimony, then a commercial break, and then I come back and give my verdict," Wapner said.
Consistent with The People's Court's pattern of assigning pithy names to the trials, according to Wapner this one will be called "The case of the out-of-control dictator."
Wapner insisted on bringing People's Court host Doug Llewelyn to Baghdad and, in keeping with the old show's format, after the verdict Llewelyn will interview the litigants as they depart the courtroom. "If Saddam loses, I'll ask him point-blank where he went wrong," said Llewelyn. "Of course, we'll only have time for a 15 second answer."
The 86-year-old Wapner hasn't lost a step since The People's Court left the air in 1993, and he means for everyone to know it. "We always did two trials each show, so after we finish with Saddam, since I'm already over here I'm going to try Osama bin Laden in absentia and get that one out of the way, too."
