Hussein on Trial

New York Times:

Saddam Hussein defiantly faced a panel of Iraqi judges today in a heavily guarded courthouse in central Baghdad, as he was asked to answer charges for a 1982 massacre and begin the long process of public reckoning for the decades of brutal repression that he brought to Iraq. A live-television feed that began around 12:45 p.m. showed a silver-haired judge in black robes reading aloud the names of Mr. Hussein and seven other defendants. The judge sat upright in a black leather chair with a white marble wall in the background. The area where the defendants sat, most of them wearing light-blue or white robes, was surrounded by barriers of white metal bars.

I'm usually all for innocent until proven guilty, but Saddam is already 'proven' guilty and the trial is a mere formality. As an aside, am I the only one who sees a resemblance here? Saddam Hussein Paul Krugman