Saddam’s trial will thus demonstrate the limits of the law in jumpstarting regime transition. An intractable dilemma of transitional justice is that societies ravaged by brutal human rights legacies often appeal to the law to shore up the legitimacy of the successor regime, only to see these salutary aims subverted by the challenges and compromises that are inherent to the transition itself.
对萨达姆的审判也因此会反映出急于实施政权交替在法律方面的局限。过渡期司法的一个难以应对的困境在于：被残暴的人权遗策蹂躏过的社会通常要求法律支持继任者政权的合法性，但却往往发现这些健康的目标被过渡期本身所特有的挑战和妥协颠覆了。