"The perception that this is a US-backed court, a product of a US-led occupation, is only one of the challenges Iraq's Special Tribunal faces. Saddam's lawyer has already set one of his first actions will be to seek an adjournment to allow the defence to bring its preparation up to a standard closer to that of the American-assisted prosecution."
ABC Lateline, October 19
Perceptions do matter and the "trial" of Saddam will proceed as predictably as the US-occupation forces dictate. A monster like Saddam should certainly face justice, but the US has no desire to understand the true relationship between Saddam and various Western governments over the years.
Why? As Robert Fisk explained in August 2004:
"Because if Saddam does a Milosevic, he'll want to talk about the real intelligence and military connections of his regime - which were primarily with the United States."
ABC Lateline, October 19
Perceptions do matter and the "trial" of Saddam will proceed as predictably as the US-occupation forces dictate. A monster like Saddam should certainly face justice, but the US has no desire to understand the true relationship between Saddam and various Western governments over the years.
Why? As Robert Fisk explained in August 2004:
"Because if Saddam does a Milosevic, he'll want to talk about the real intelligence and military connections of his regime - which were primarily with the United States."
6 Comments:
An June 13th 2004 article from http://www.sundayherald.com/42647 Sunday hearald Online.
"UNDER the successive presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George Bush, the USA sold nuclear, chemical and biological weapons technology to Saddam Hussein.
In the early 1990s, UN inspectors told the US Senate committee on banking, housing and urban affairs – which oversees American export policy – that they had “identified many US-manufactured items exported pursuant of licences issued by the US department of commerce that were used to further Iraq’s chemical and nuclear weapons development and missile delivery system development programmes”.
In 1992, the committee began investigating “US chemical and biological warfare-related dual-use exports to Iraq”. It found that 17 individual shipments totalling some 80 batches of biomaterial were sent to Iraq during the Reagan years.
These included two batches of anthrax and two batches of botulism being sent to the Iraqi ministry of higher education on May 2, 1986; one batch each of salmonella and E.Coli sent to the Iraqi state company for drug industries on August 31, 1987.
Other shipments from the US went to the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission on July 11, 1988; the department of biology at the University of Basra in November 1989; the department of microbiology at Baghdad University in June 1985; the ministry of health in April 1985 and Officers’ City military complex in Baghdad in March and April 1986.
As well as anthrax and botulism, the USA also sent West Nile fever, brucella melitensis, which damages major organs, and clostridium perfringens, which causes gas gangrene. The shipments even went on after Saddam ordered the gassing of the Kurdish town of Halabja, in which some 5000 people died, in March 1988.
The chairman of the Senate committee, Don Riegle, said: “The executive branch of our government approved 771 different export licences for sale of dual-use technology to Iraq. I think it’s a devastating record.”
Other items which were sent by the US to Iraq included chemical warfare agent precursors, chemical warfare agent production facility plans and technical drawings, chemical warfare filling equipment, biological warfare-related materials, missile fabrication equipment and missile system guidance equipment."
SO when does daddy Bush and Rummy get halled into the Iraqi court? I'd just love to see them in the Dock with Saddam. The Bush crime family has a long list of arming tyrants and then profiting off the Death and Destruction. They are indeed, the Most Successful Fascists of all time.
Peace. your fellow Human
Oh, on a side note,Daddy Bush's cocaine middle man Noriega, had a small rent-a-truck full of documents to be used in his defense. The trial was by and large secret, and he was not allowed to use even one document that he had for his own defense. Saddam's trial if televised in full, will not avail the U.S. the chance to cover that up. In addition if Saddam's defense has incriminating documents and they are suppressed you can bet your knickers that you'll see them on the web.
Peace. Your fellow Human
Well since you actually asked questions, and in furtherance of educating you on reality I will answer you. "But wait, how can all this be?" Sometimes realty bites. "I thought Saddam had no WMDs?" Yes at one time he did. He obviously got rid of them. I think he sold a lot of them in the mid 90's. Other "WMD" (a propaganda term, Nuclear, Biological and Chemical or NBC is the proper term) he again obviously destroyed because, since you have not heard, American and International inspectors could not find any. For, by the mid 90's it was no longer politically or militarily advantageous to possess them.
For your last question - your reading comprehensive skills are not well developed. So I’ll try to draw you a FLOW CHART
BUSH FAMILY WEOPONS MATERIAL + TYRANTS = $$$ + WAR + TYRANTS = $$$$$$ - NEXT VERSE SAME AS THE FIRST.
Now I admit I don’t know much about Aussie Law, so your justification to let mass murderers off free if they help in the efforts to bring their cohorts to justice may be excused. Good thing Adolf Eichmann was not tried per your Judicial expertise. His prosecutor would have been Albert Speer.
No, no need to thank me, it has been my pleasure.
Human
An enlightening post. The US gets a finger in every pie.
You're right about "NBC". I always it remember as a "safely" military concept until mass marketed by US politicians as WMD.
It seems only "bad" developing countries have WMD - the heavy stockers in the West (and Israel) merely have "munitions".
About Saddam - he was obviously kept alive so he could be the villain in an extended show trial. Main objectives to convince Iraqi Sunni's that he and other Baathists are not worth fighting the coalition for. More importantly the US wants to vindicate its invasion of Iraq by demonstrating that he's not nice - as if we didn't know.
Better that the US should have knocked him off quickly (they were prepared to nail him with a specifically tasked B1 bomber during the invasion). Of course worse dictators like Suharto were neveer brought to trial, being anti-communist (they were "A OK").
Can anyone think of other deserving (but untouched) dictators?
Gigolo Pete - Thanks for the kudos.BTW - You cracked me up with that, “Yes I'd just like to stand up and say that I'm not an individual" comment. :)
Shabadoo - Your comebacks are getting weaker and weaker. Your attempts to put words into my mouth are futile, futile I say - "you're essentially pissed off that there's not enough chance that he'll get off." I'm starting to believe that the Aussie school system has sunk as low as America's. Maybe comprehension skills are no longer taught?
With your comments on my suggestion to Addam_O I can see that you also have difficulty with an example of gentlemanly discourse when you see it. I'll give you another -
Addam_O said, "If you have a high speed link, there are more than a few audio recordings of Chomsky you can find on the web. Just to a search with Google on "noam chomsky interview"
This will certainly give you a good way of accessing his message."
This was friendly suggestion, even though I know how to search on google I did not take it personal and assume that he was "whining" about my internet capabilities. I responded with this, "addamo-01 - thanks for the suggestion. I will." Your homework for today is to look up "comprehension", "gentlemanly" "discourse" in a dictionary. Write a fictional (your strong point) story using each word. Extra points for a happy ending.
Only those who help Iraq evade its responsibilities to 500,000 children will have to pay.
The french, the russians, and possibly Kofi.
The US is rather blameless. It gave Saddam weapons to kill Iranis. Anything else was on it's own.
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