Blimey. A sensible comment about Iraq in the Guardian:

Am I the only one who screams at broadcasts of the Saddam Hussein trial, "Why can't you get him to SHUT UP?" I am sick to death of deposed pond scum being allowed to mouth off in the dock to their hearts' content. So far Saddam's trial is repeating the travesty of Slobodan Milosevic's in The Hague. In bog-standard criminal trials, the defendant is never allowed to pipe up with whatever pompous tirade he cares to air. So why has the judge in Baghdad sat still while Saddam foments about the indignity of walking a flight of stairs because the lift is broken? Why let him declaim - with no basis in theology - that his being forced to carry a Koran in manacled hands is a sacrilege? Why is he allowed to go on about the evil American occupiers, to constantly issue orders to the judge himself, or to boom at a state witness, "Don't interrupt me, boy!" To chant "Long live Iraq!" and "Long live the Arab nation!" as if still leading one of his own self- aggrandising rallies?

As Iraq's vice-president Ghazi al-Yawer has despaired, "I don't know who is the genius who is producing this farce. It's a comedy show." Well, I'm not laughing.