Well, there’s at least one item of good news from Iraq: Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death. Not that the court that tried him can be taken that seriously, or that the offenses he was tried for are particularly important compared the full extent of his crimes, and it is a shame that we won’t have a long look at the document trail of, say, the Western and Arab countries that collaborated with him or armed his regime throughout his reign.
And perhaps there is something to learn from Iraq after all: they will be dispensing of his person by good old fashioned hanging, in my opinion a much more humane way to kill people than the electric chair or gas chamber.
Saddam’s death sentence predictably produced a lot of emotional responses from those who were affected by his actions, which makes sense. But everyone else seems to have convieniently misplaced the definition of ‘justice’.
The Iraqi Shias are happy, as are the Kuwaitis and the US reckons its a ‘milestone’ for Iraq, but then this is the country responsible responsible for Gitmo. But Im surprised by those who have not spoken up — so far at least — about the trial’s clear faults (outside the defence team). Saddam gets the noose for the killing of 148 people? What about the gassing of Kurds, the treatment of Iranian prisoners of war, the killings of average iraqis.. whatever happened to those “state-paid professional rapists” that the British held up as “further evidence for why “saddam must go”. Isnt part of the purpose of a trial to lay out what actually happened and bring some closure to the victims and their relatives?
Instead.. Saddam gets death for an incident that that doesnt seem all that bad compared to the Middle East’s deplorable standards–I’m sure the Egyptians, Syrians and Algerians are responsible for the deaths of many more than 148 of their citizens.
Was anyone else struck by the absurdity of the British government – who don’t think the death sentence is a great idea if you happen to be a british mass murderer — welcoming the sentence?
It looks like the extra effusive outpourings from the UK and US might have something to do with their relief at managing to get rid of saddam once and for all without having to answer questions about their dealings with him.
bzapt… now we’ll probably never even have a shot at finding out the truth at what really happened in Iraq between the 1970s and 2003. For historical value at least they need to have properly trained historians spend time with Saddam and get as much as they can out of him before they kill him. Considering his ego, I’m sure he’d collaborate.
There are a lot of people who wouldn’t want to see that happen. The executives of companies that sold weapons to Iraq in the 1980s, who may have political positions now. Oil company types. French right-wing politicians and intellectuals who were in Saddam’s pay and once called him (this is the actual title of a book) “The Arab Charles de Gaulle”. All this, as well as a full documentation of the massacres and security infrastructure of the kind mentioned in Kanan Makiya’s books, needs to be carried out.
Wathani – Tony Blair is trying to dodge the question of the Saddam death sentence even as he insists he doesn’t support the death penalty for anybody. He’s taking the line that this is “iraqi justice” and an “iraqi decision” (and the timing has absolutely nothing to do with US midterm elections, oh nooooo)
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1940854,00.html
The Saddam trial process doesn’t seem to have learned much from the now-vast truth and reconciliation literature. It’s leaned too far toward vengeance and has been too thin on promoting acknowledgement of atrocities and fact-finding.
Apparently, if you think the timing could be linked to the elections, then youre “smoking rope”, according to the White House spokesman.
I didnt even know rope could be smoked. I think the journalists at the WH missed an important lead by not asking Tony Snow, what it is exactly the adminstration gets up to behind closed doors.
Smoking rope…lessee, maybe he meant “hemp”?
What the administration gets up to behind closed doors – well, if we take Pastor Ted at his word that the only difference between him and Bush is that he drives a Chevy while Bush drives a Ford pick-up, ahem….draw your own conclusions.
For what it’s worth, this whole process isn’t over. It automatically goes to the appeal, which can be scheduled and delayed at the court’s (i.e. government’s) whim, and I’m pretty sure they won’t complete the appeal on this one until the ongoing trial for the 1988 Anfal campaign which killed over 100,000 Kurds, is completed. That’s a very important one for the Kurdish partners in the Iraqi government.
The process in Iraq is to try cases by event (i.e. Dujail, Anfal, etc..) rather than by individual. So Saddam is not tried for all of his crimes at one, rather he is tried with the other perpetrators for each event.
Now the trial scheduled after that would be the one the Shiites are more interested in, the savage put down of the 1991 uprising, and I visited mass graves in the south being examined by forensic experts to use as evidence in that upcoming trial.
About 180,000 Shiites were killed in that one. Much more than Dujail. The only reason Dujail was tried first is because it was a comparatively simple case and the first one for which the evidence was completed and assembled.
In fact, the Iraqi High Tribunal has about six trials planned for Saddam: Dujail, Anfal, Shiite Uprising, Halabja, Rape of Kuwait, and some sort general attack on the judicial system and rape camps and what not. Not sure, but there could be others.
These trials will continue, because in each one, Saddam is only one of many defendants. Even after he’s killed, the cases will continue with the remaining members of the regime.
I think the original notion was to keep delaying the appeals process to keep saddam alive for as many of these trials as possible, but now, judging by comments from the government, they’re in a rush to execute him.
I wouldn’t completely dismiss the worth of the Dujail trial. It is “only” 148 people, but there were also thousands of others who were carted off to jail and had their property destroyed. It was a good illustration of how the justice system and due process worked in Saddam’s Iraq.