The Hussein Trial Dictionary

Kangaroo court. noun. The tribunal is formed under occupation and without the benefit of a "fully constitutional government." The judge is a neighbor of the alleged victims. The defense team is replaced on a whim by the judge with potted plants who make no objections during key testimony. Members of the defense team are frequently assassinated. Even if we'll never really know what happened, we can all feel happy that the man we most associated with these crimes was condemned by a kangaroo court.

Mistrial. noun. Order by the presiding judge at a judicial proceeding that the proceeding cases and be voided for incurable errors. I wonder how many defense lawyers would have to be assassinated in a U.S. court proceeding before the judge would declare a mistrial?

Hobbesian. adjective, from Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), political philosopher who outlined the need for a powerful sovereign to overcome the natural state of war of all against all. The imposition in Iraq of a weak and ineffective central government that cannot control rampant internecine violence seems almost like a demonstration of a Hobbesian argument for the restoration of Hussein.