Over at
Command Post, I posted The Quotable Saddam.
* When he was charged with ordering the killing of Kurds in the poison gas attack at Halabja in 1988: "Yes, I heard about that."
* On the Kuwaitis: "They were trying to turn Iraqi women into prostitutes for just $10. How could you defend those dogs?"
* On his appearance in court: "This is all theater, the real criminal is Bush."
* Justifying the invasion of Kuwait: "It was for the Iraqi people."
So Saddam did his perp walk today and I have to say, it's a proud day for me both as an American and as a citizen of this planet. No matter how much some people want to dismiss this is mere theater (Saddam included) and no matter how many people are carping about how we ended up with Saddam in custody, it will not take away from this one important fact: Saddam is going to face justice.
Imagine that. This "illegal" war, this war that was "all about oil," this war that never should have happened according to some, has resulted in a terrible, terrible tyrant being taken out of commission and brought before the very people whom he tormented with fear for many years.
Is that not worth celebrating? I would hope that for this historic moment, people could put aside the ideals they have about this war and why and how it was started and be thankful for all Iraqis and for the rest of the world that Saddam Hussein can never kill again.
bq. "
With all the mass graves we have seen in Iraq, I think Saddam deserves capital punishment," said Sawsam Jamal, a Kurdish woman from Kirkuk, a region where the deposed leader reportedly authorized the gassing of thousands and the murder of thousands more. "Saddam should be wiped out as soon as possible so that the Iraqi people can awaken from this nightmare."
Of course, there are many in the Sunni Triangle area who still support the deposed dictator:
bq. "We had a better life during Saddam era," said Faleh, who works at the Ramadi Education Directorate. "We want a fair trial where Saddam can speak and defend himself against the fabricated charges filed against him. Saddam used to punish only the bad people who used to destabilize the country."
Of course he had a better life under Saddam. Those who walked the walk with Saddam's henchmen often had good lives. And if this quoted man believes that all the women raped and children killed and men decapitated by the Saddam regime were destabilizing the country, then peace isn't exatly his cup of tea.
There are going to be many, like Faleh, who want Saddam brought back to power. He will always have his followers because there will always be people who believe that absolute power and might, made evident through the systematic abuses wrought upon those who stray the wrong way, are the only way to keep those below you in line. As long as they have their cash flow and their lives and the lives of their families are secure, the torture and abuse of others doesn't matter.
These are the people who now call themselves insurgents. They parade the streets of the Sunni Triangle with rocket launchers. They keep women and children in "safe houses" so that when a safe house is raided or bombed, the US can look like child killers.
So I take what a man like Faleh says and discard into the propaganda pile, where the words of all those who fell under the hypnotic glare of Saddam's dirty money and false sense of security lay.
I won't say it doesn't worry me that a not insiginifcant amount of Saddam supporters still exist in Iraq. But I do believe that as the ranks of insurgents dwindle, the Saddam believers will become less and less visible.
Today is indeed an historic day. In keeping with my theme from yesterday - build on hope - I have to say that Saddam facing trial in his own country gives me great hope not just for Iraq, but for the world.
Do not be so quick to dismiss the significance of this event. Even a symbolic gesture, such as seeing Saddam in handcuffs, must be a wonderful sight to those who lived under his thumb for so long. It gives hope, and hope is the best of all foundations.
Update: From Robert Stewart's
Saddam and Justice in today's Washington Times.
bq. Asked whether he believed Saddam deserved the death penalty, Iraq's Interim President Ghazi al-Yawer said in a recent interview: "We are people of an Iraq that used to be when the trial starts, there's already a precooked or prepared sentence in the pocket of the judge. We don't want that to happen. We are different." Mr. al-Yawer's words signal optimism for an independent judiciary, one that will compile and weigh the facts rather than determine his fate before holding a fair trial.
Read the rest, as the say.
Comments
Saddam, the butcher of Baghdad had his day in court. Something millions of Iragis never had. He sure was a pitiful site, not the towering tyrant.
Posted by: cathy | July 1, 2004 09:48 AM
No wonder why the Kuwaitis rejected his "apology" back in December 2002.
Posted by: Laurence Simon | July 1, 2004 09:51 AM
It's nice that Saddam is in court
BUT we should have found another way to depose Saddam.
BUT No American should have died for this, Iraqi citizens should have done it themselves.
BUT it shouldn't be in Iraqi puppet courts, it should be at the Hague.
BUT The war on Iraq was illegal, so Saddam is still the legitimate head of a sovereign nation.
BUT Bushitler should be on trial.
/off leftist butmonkeys*
*coined by Laura Ingraham
Posted by: Darleen | July 1, 2004 09:53 AM
"When the Kurds were gassed, I was fishing"
Posted by: Ken Summers | July 1, 2004 10:32 AM
I think the connection of Faleh to the insurgents is a, dare I say, "tortured" stretch of logic. Just because he wants his leader to have a fair trial doesn't mean he's a supporter. It simply means he's a supporter of fair trials.
The first half of Faleh's statement seems only reasonable to me... that the accused be able to defend himself, or try. If he's guilty, it will be more than apparent via the prosecuter.
Before anyone asks me if those killed by Sadamm had fair trials, I already know the answer and so do you. It doesn't make Faleh an "insurgent" to have a little cognitive disodence. Tons of people in America have it too...
Posted by: rawb | July 1, 2004 10:33 AM
A couple days ago, when the radio news reported that Saddam and others were being turned over to Iraqi authorities, they said one of the first things they asked was whether they would get lawyers. (Of course, they will. Although I'm not sure who would defend Saddam)
And I thought, I wonder if any of the people Saddam tried and put to death got lawyers?
The sheer fact that they are asking for lawyers shows me how much things have changed there. (Although I suppose you could make the argument that Saddam is such a megalomaniac that he would EXPECT a lawyer for himself, even if the "little people" didn't get one).
Posted by: ricki | July 1, 2004 11:59 AM
Ricki - Ramsey Clarke already said he wants to defend Hussein.
Well at least the Dems found the keynote speaker for their convention. Maybe Saddam has a shot at Kerry's VP slot?
Posted by: hen | July 1, 2004 12:16 PM
Fuck Ramsey Clarke. Sammy should get an Iraqi lawyer, preferably one who has spent time in one of his prisons.
Posted by: Ken Summers | July 1, 2004 12:22 PM
"But I do believe that as the ranks of insurgents dwindle, the Saddam believers will become less and less visible."
After Watergate, it was REALLY hard to find anyone who would admit to voting for Nixon.
People's minds are extremely adaptable.
Posted by: Steve in Houston | July 1, 2004 12:42 PM
Steve, I confess
I voted for Nixon in 1972. I was 18, it was my first vote and McGovern was a boob.
Sometimes the choice is not between good and bad, but bad and worse.
Posted by: Darleen | July 1, 2004 04:06 PM
I do hope Justice visits him and kicks him in the teeth.
However, I'm laying 5 to 1 that Martha Stewart is knitting dining hall tray cozies before Saddam takes flight from a third story tier.
Posted by: Gern | July 1, 2004 04:50 PM
Meanwhile, in the news that isn't getting splashed over American TV sets...
Netanyahu says Iraq-Israel oil line will open in near future
Posted by: Phoenician in a time of Romans | July 1, 2004 06:27 PM
Oil to Israel from Iraq. I wonder how many times that pipeline will be blown up... That is a shocker...but maybe.
Posted by: Cathy | July 1, 2004 10:13 PM
$10 for a Kuwaiti whore? If I recall, after Gulf War I, a barell of oil was less than that. Imagine that, we could trade services with a Kuwaiti pimp for, well, just a barrel of oil...
Posted by: Gilly | July 2, 2004 01:12 AM