A long-awaited day has come: Saddam Hussein and some of his worst cronies are expected to be put on trial by Iraq for a generation of brutal crimes against Iraqis and others.
Iraq's interim government assumed legal custody of former president Saddam Hussein and 11 of his top aides on Wednesday, beginning a protracted legal process to hold them accountable for rampant human rights abuses during the nearly 24 years Hussein was in power.In the presence of an Iraqi judge at a detention facility, Hussein and the others were informed of their rights and told that they were now in the custody of the new government of Iraq.
The other Iraqis formally handed over included Ali Hassan Majeed, also known as Chemical Ali, who reportedly gave the orders to use chemical weapons against Kurdish separatists in the late 1980s. Hussein's two half-brothers, Barzan Ibrahim Hassan and Watban Ibrahim Hassan, and Hussein's personal secretary, Abid Hamid Mahmud were also to be transferred to Iraqi authority. All were on the U.S. military's list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis and have been in captivity for at least six months.
Folks in the street seem to be pretty happy about it.
Everyone's hand shoots up in Majid's Barbershop when asked if Saddam Hussein should be convicted of crimes against humanity.All 10 men in the Baghdad shop - three barbers, those getting a trim, and a bunch of friends and neighbors - are united in their pleasure that the case against Mr. Hussein is finally getting under way.
"This man is one of history's great war criminals,'' says Nihad Malika, shaving the head of a 6-year-old boy. "This is a great day for us, though his sentence won't come soon enough."
In a nation facing ethnic and religious fissures, a rampant insurgency, and dissatisfaction over the pace of reconstruction, Hussein's fate is one of the few issues Iraqis agree upon. Some remain loyal to Hussein's regime in the Sunni communities he favored. But most of the country still views his reign with loathing and horror. As such, his trial is likely to bolster the new interim Iraqi government as the most popular public act since the US drove him from power last year.
Always interesting (but eccentric) Israeli site DEBKA says Prime Minister Allawi has more than justice on his mind.
From the moment he assumed office, he became a prime target for assassins. His murder would provide a short cut for the Iraqi Baath and al Qaeda seeking to topple the Iraqi administration provisionally installed to assume sovereignty and shepherd Iraq to a democratic election. Allawi realized he needed some urgent life insurance, an ace in the hole for his survival.What he has done therefore is to gain control of Saddam and his top 11 regime officials as hostages to guarantee his life. The insurgents will be given to understand that violence against the prime minister will be met with the fast trial and execution of a member of Saddam’s “dirty dozen.” It will therefore be in Saddam’s vital interest to keep his successor in good health.
As long as the insurgents attack American, British and Iraqi troops, the deposed dictator and his men will languish in prison without trial. This will give the new Iraqi regime a breathing space of “several months” to get to grips with the mighty task of bringing security to the country in time for elections, without looking over his shoulder all the time for an assassin.
Seems implausible, but who knows what's going on in the hall of mirrors known as Baghdad?
Posted by Alan at June 30, 2004 05:24 PM