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The Iraq High Tribunal was set up amidst an increasingly unsafe environment as a domestic tribunal, with little international input beyond that of the United States.  The Tribunal struggled throughout the Dujail proceeding to ensure a fair and transparent trial that established an independent due process of law, restored a functioning, legitimate judiciary, and prosecuted those who bear the greatest responsibility for the crimes committed under the Ba'ath regime.  The execution of Saddam Hussein was the culmination of a chaotic trial marred by major procedural flaws.  This paper examines the consequences of the decision to make the IHT a domestic-a decision which fundamentally affected its effectiveness.    It analyzes the Tribunal's ultimate success / failure in achieving not only a fair procedure, but also transitional justice in its broader sense- justice fostering social reconciliation, allowing the society to face the past and simultaneously distance itself from it.  However, the difficulties of conducting a fair trial in a domestic tribunal experienced in Iraq may be a warning beyond the Iraqi context:  Iraq's experience of transitional justice shows the dangers entailed in keeping a trial local in a country where the political and social environment is not conducive to impartial, independent fair trial proceedings.