December 14, 2003 - "Ladies and Gentlemen, we got him!" There was a justified note of triumph in Paul Bremer's voice as he announced the capture of Saddam Hussein in what the military called a "spider hole" near his hometown, Tikrit. The President was more sober as he announced the capture, "The capture of Saddam Hussein does not mean the end of violence in Iraq . We still face terrorists who would rather go on killing the innocent than accept the rise of liberty in the heart of the Middle East ." Sure enough 17 were killed and 31 wounded as a suicide bomber struck at an Iraqi police station and an American soldier died trying to disarm another one or the homemade land mines that have claimed so many. But, despite the continuing violence, Saddam Hussein in American custody and that is a stellar accomplishment.

The arrest and detention of Saddam Hussein is both an opportunity and a challenge. How America seizes that opportunity and meets that challenge may well determine whether liberty does indeed rise in the Middle East under American sponsorship. Turning Saddam over to the new Iraqi War Crimes Tribunal has a certain appeal. It was the Iraqi people who suffered the most from the crimes that have been laid at his door and giving them the chance to impose rough justice on the ex-strongman rings a note of symmetry.

But revenge is not justice. Will the Iraqi people accept that retribution meted out by an American appointed court rubberstamped by an American appointed Iraqi Governing council as justice? Will they see it as just one more example of American occupiers wielding military power through a puppet regime?

There is an old maxim among lawyers that holds that not only must justice be done, justice must be seen to have been done. The public must perceive that justice has come to the offender in a transparent and believable process. In the case of Saddam Hussein the public that must perceive justice is wider than the Iraqi people; it is wider than the American people. Justice, not vengeance, must be perceived in Kuwait and Iran ; its message must be heard in Pyongyang and in Beijing . Whatever is done with the tyrant will have an impact in the streets of Cairo and of Damascus and will reverberate through the Capitols of the world and it must be seen to be a disposition under the law of nations.

America has acted as the policeman, making the arrest and forcing Saddam to face justice. Let him be brought before the United Nations Security Council; indicted for his crimes there; tried by the one tribunal that represents the whole of the community of nations taking its procedural model from the Nuremberg trails; and punished as the rule of law demands by the international community acting together. Let Justice be seen to have been done.