Saddam, Hero of the Left?

You have to scroll down in Wretchard's latest post to get to the truly scary stuff: Namely that Europeans are refusing to investigate mass grave sites because they don't want to turn up evidence that can be used against Saddam Hussein.

Couple this news with an earlier Wretchard post about Paris Match correspondents who were essentially embedded with Iraqi terrorists and went on a mission to report on the terrorists' attempt to shoot down a civilian cargo plane.

And add to this mix the fact that Clive Stafford-Smith, a British "human rights lawyer," is helping Saddam's legal defense. Then finally, figure in that, as Charles Johnson reported, Stafford-Smith is a beneficiary of the George Soros Foundation.

Now, let me just ask: How long is it before Saddam Hussein becomes not an embarrassing, unspoken ally of the left, but an actual hero to them?

It will happen in Europe first, obviously. I suspect that in the run-up to his trial, he will be transformed from monster to victim in the mind of the left. Then, as the trial unfolds and Iraq's mass graves are placed in context next to the abominations of America's Abu Ghraib, he'll mutate from victim to folk hero. Not the sort of fellow you'd invite to dinner, mind you, but an okay sort. Certainly good enough for those people. Before the trial's conclusion, Saddam might be the next Che Guevara.

The real question is: Will this view then infect the American left, too?