During your December 16 broadcast, in response to a caller's comments suggesting an international tribunal for Saddam Hussein rather than having the deposed dictator tried in his own country by his fellow Iraqis, you referred to the  "failed" Nuremberg Trials, describing them as "an absolute joke, an absolute travesty."

While we take no issue with your expressed preference for Saddam to be tried in Iraq, and we recognize significant differences between the situation in Germany of 1945 and that of Iraq today, we object strongly to your unjustified and offensive statement.

The fact is that the Nuremberg Tribunal was established by governments against which the Hitler regime waged a world-wide war costing the lives of millions of their soldiers and civilians. Moreover, the Nuremberg proceedings presented the first and most important venue for exposing and documenting the true nature and extent of the Holocaust, establishing a precedent for the prosecution of the horrendous crimes of the Nazi regime, defining the then-newly recognized crime of genocide, and recognizing the need to condemn crimes committed against humanity.

Like the fight against terrorism, the Nuremberg Trials were a serious contribution to the defense of civilization itself. Their meaning and value deserve better than to be trivialized by your dismissive comments.