Looming Saddam Verdict: Repercussions in Iraq and US?

Many predict an upswing of violence in the next few days following the announcement of the trial verdict for Saddam Hussein's crimes against humanity. An article by MSNBC stated that violent acts had already begun, with the discovery of "the bodies of 87 torture victims throughout the capital" in a 36-hour time frame. An additional 16 Iraqis have died across the nation today. In anticipation of continued violence as repercussions of the verdict, curfews are in place in cities across Iraq, among them Baghdad, Mosul, Salah Addin, Diyala and Anbar and all troops are on duty without leave for the first few days, if not longer.

Ibon Villelabeitia and Ahmed Rasheed talked to Iraqis for their article "Judgment day looms for Saddam" on swissinfo.com. Sunni Iraqis from Hussein's birthplace in the Salahaddin province are sympathetic to Hussein and call the legal proceedings a "farce," while Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam's chief lawyer, claims that the verdict had been delayed from its original date in October to coincide with U.S. midterm elections (Villelabeitia and Rasheed). This statement is fairly controversial, although I am sure that several Democrats here in the States are of the same opinion. Amid reports that Bush and his cronies control oil prices and are lowering them to entice voters before the elections, is it so far-fetched that they orchestrated a delay of the verdict for the same reason? And when the (presumed) guilty verdict arrives, will it actually help the Republicans at all? The trial (the first of several) has taken a year, with the guilty verdict a foregone conclusion in the minds of most Americans. Could this verdict actually help out the Republican incumbents? Hypothetically subscribing to this theory, I would be inclined to say no; that Americans are more concerned with the way the war has been mismanaged than by one verdict that is practically guaranteed and has been for some time. That doesn't mean that Bush is not hoping that it will, or even that he orchestrated the delay. He could just be one lucky guy.