Saddam’s trial: Whose justice?

Aman Kafa

 What was demonstrated by the trial of Saddam Hussein in the presence of some reporters on October 19, 2005, was neither an act of justice nor did it bear any signs of power and victory of the people of Iraq against the tyranny of Saddam Hussein. Saddam’s trial was merely another episode of the Iraq war – a scene where effectively the same players, though made up differently and in different costumes, re-played the same script in a rather “civilised” setting. But the court scene was still as sickening as the previous ones.

 Humanity witnessed the Iraq war in horror. A war that destroyed the foundations of the country and created and empowered the Islamists as well as the nationalist and tribal “leaders”, all under the “secure” shelter provided by an occupying military force. A war that under the pretext of eliminating weapons of mass-destruction, ruined the lives of millions of people merely to promote the supremacy of the United States. A war that included economic embargo, bombings, state terrorism of US and the West on one hand and suicide bombings and terrorism of the Islamic bandits on the other - a  commotion in which the people of Iraq did not have any interest whatsoever.

 What was most manifest in the staging of the court scene was not so much the trial itself, but the desperation of the US and the West in dealing with Iraq. After all, the crimes of George Bush, Toy Blair and co. were no less severe than those of Saddam Hussein.

 The logic behind the court scene was a response to the needs of the US and the West in justifying the Iraq war itself. The whole media was brought in once again to remind all the millions who had protested against the war internationally, of the horrors that took place during the rule of Saddam in Iraq. Pictures and images of prisons, torture chambers, … during Saddam’s rule in Iraq were broadcast to justify the Iraq war, and to replace those images of mistreatment, abuse and torture of Iraqis by the occupation forces.

 The court itself was also a means to giving legitimacy to the Iraqi “government”– a matter that the Islamic Republic of Iran totally adheres to as well. The Islamic Republic of Iran produced dossiers of evidence against Saddam and handed them to the court.

 The trial, however, was not finished and the hearing has been set for a later date, towards the end of November, and undoubtedly the war propaganda machine will also continue until then. The only thing that can undermine the pre-determined outcome of such a scenario is the active support for the people in Iraq and their demands for determining their own future freely – a matter that is only possible to achieve upon immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces, and an end to the interference of the Islamic currents and bandits from people’s lives in Iraq. Free and liberated people of Iraq should be the ones that try Saddam for his crime against humanity.