(2006-11-06) — Just hours before voters go to the polls to annoint Rep. Nancy Pelosi as the new House Majority Leader, the California Democrat said the conviction and death sentence for former dictator Saddam Hussein by the Iraqi High Tribunal “happened in spite of, not because of, foreign policy decisions by U.S. President George W. Bush.”

“It was just a matter of time until the law caught up with Saddam,” said Rep. Pelosi. “If it hadn’t been for Bush’s illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, it would have happened in some other way, and probably sooner. For example, Saddam might have been impeached by the Iraqi legislature, or voted out of office, or even brought up on charges at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.”

Rep. Pelosi said her party plans a “full-court press” in the next 24 hours to demonstrate how common it is for brutal dictators to be arrested, brought to trial by their own countrymen and convicted after a lengthy legal process.

“We’ve got researchers pulling together that list right now,” she said, adding that “no names come to mind at the moment, but if George Bush was involved at all, then it must be exceedlingly simple and common.”