Humiliation at the end of a rope

Ghada Karmi writes in The Guardian: " ... Saddam was held in US custody right up to the end and handed over to the Iraqis only for the distasteful deed, his body whisked away immediately afterwards by a US helicopter for a hasty burial. Yet this was billed as an independent decision of a 'sovereign state', as if any such thing were possible under occupation. The fact that this was the act of an Iraqi Government dominated by Saddam's Shiite enemies made the final outcome a foregone conclusion. Yet the Arab states stood by, swallowing their humiliation in silence and letting US/Iraqi 'justice' take its course, hoping no one would notice how some of them had supported Saddam's war on Iran in the '80s, fought to a large extent on their behalf.

"But the West should also be ashamed of what was a clear miscarriage of justice, carried out in the face of its strident demands of the Arabs for democracy and the rule of law. The trial judgement was not finished when sentence was pronounced. Saddam's defence lawyers were given less than two weeks to file their appeals against a 300-page court decision. Important evidence was not disclosed to them during the trial, and Saddam was prevented from questioning witnesses testifying against him. Several of his lawyers were threatened or actually assassinated, and the trial was subjected to continuous political interference.

"Any pretence that this was an exercise of due process is farcical. Of course, Saddam himself was a brutal tyrant, but the kangaroo court that tried him lacked any serious legal credibility. Yet no Western leader (or Arab one, for that matter) was prepared to say so, or exert any pressure to have the defendant tried by an international court ..."

Tagged: iraq