Neoconservative Justice: Non-Threat Former Dictator Saddam gets Death Penalty

Funny... the last time I tuned into Iraq, it was in a state of chaos and anarchy, with the Iraqi capital of Baghdad divided into many mini-states, with the bubble world known as the "Green Zone" fortified from the rest of the death and destruction. A month ago or so, the death toll was found to be shockingly higher than it was estimated to be. But looking at the present, something happened that wasn't too surprising for the common viewer: Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq...was sentenced to death.

I honestly don't know what to make of it. On one side, he is finally getting punished for the crimes he committed against innocent Iraqis. On the other hand, there shouldn't have been such a big contemplation over this issue. What's worse was that the verdict was just another factor that could prove to be divisive, so says Al Jazeera.net. It should be noted that Saddam still had many (pro-Baath) supporters amongst the Iraqi populace, not that it's a good thing; I despise the Ba'ath party like no tomorrow, simply because they were the biggest factors in tainting the international Arab image. Regarding this issue, it is sad to see that Iraqis are divided over this issue.

However, this trial is the latest demonstration of the neoconservative brand of justice: only those who oppose your foreign policy aims are terrorists and dictators. Granted, Saddam was a despot and a murderer, but there are a lot of leaders who were deposed in interventionist operations during the Cold-War era; none of the leaders who were deposed were of any national threat to the United States of America, let alone an international threat to the neighboring nations. Pakistani General Pervez Musharraf, while a maintainer of order, is also a secular despot who falls under the same category as does Abu Uday (Saddam), yet he is not a dictator by American foreign policy standards. The same can be said for the Uzbek president, and other historically notorious names such as Augusto Pinochet (Chile), the Contra rebels (Nicaragua), Shah Reza Pahlevi (Iran), et al.

I can't tell you how pissed I am when I see that many war criminals are living atop the thrones of nations that could have otherwise been free nations. Then again, there are many war criminals who still walk this earth, unpunished for the crimes that they have committed. Not surprisingly, many bloggers have found the same issue that I have faced, including one J.S. Guntzel of Electronic-Iraq.net. He introduces to us a man by the name of Abu Deraa, citing a Newsweek article. This man and his death squads have

been waging a campaign of terror across the city. He is suspected of torturing and killing scores of Sunnis in a bloody wave of ethnic cleansing in neighborhoods across Baghdad. U.S. officials believe Abu Deraa is responsible for the capture of a U.S. Army translator who disappeared two weeks ago while leaving the fortified Green Zone and remains missing.

He and Zarqawi are definitely cut from the same thread: both have been leading attacks against the other sect, and neither have any moral high ground. But, as usual, the biggest crooks lie within the government. Why is that? Well, with the government, there is authority and power, and a bigger chance that you can commit a heinous crime and get away with it. Guntzel tells us to look no further than this Human Rights Watch report, which urges the Iraqi government to

move quickly to prosecute all Ministry of Interior personnel responsible for "death squad" killings in Baghdad and elsewhere, Human Rights Watch said today.

"Evidence suggests that Iraqi security forces are involved in these horrific crimes, and thus far the government has not held them accountable," said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East division. "The Iraqi government must stop giving protection to security forces responsible for abduction, torture and murder."

Every month, hundreds of people are abducted, tortured and killed by what many believe are death squads that include security forces. To terrorize the population, the killers often dump the mutilated corpses in public areas.

Human Rights Watch welcomed the recent suspension from duties of the 8th Iraqi Police Unit pending an investigation into their complicity in abductions and killings. The US military has claimed that the unit was responsible for the October 1 kidnapping of 26 Sunni food factory workers in southwest Baghdad, 10 of whom were later found dead. The news agency Inter Press Service reported that the unit used Ministry of Interior vehicles and, according to witnesses, some wore black "death squad" uniforms.

"The investigation into the 8th Iraqi Police Unit is only a first step," said Whitson. "It is vital that the government get the evidence to bring criminal prosecutions against those responsible, whatever their rank."

The Ministry of Interior is responsible for the country's security forces, some of which have close ties to the two principal Shia militias - the Mahdi Army and the Badr Forces. These security forces are believed to be responsible for numerous sectarian killings, operating in some cases as death squads in Baghdad and other provinces. It is not clear to what extent the ministry controls these security forces or whether they are under the effective control of the militias.

Human Rights Watch has examined scores of bodies at the Medico-Legal Institute in Baghdad over the past two years that appear to have been victims of execution-style killings, often preceded by torture. Police bring bodies of people killed in violent attacks to the institute in cases requiring criminal investigation. Victims' family members sometimes have evidence, such as eyewitness accounts of a victim's arrest, that Ministry of Interior security forces were involved in the killing. In addition, statements by ministry officials and information from international police advisers also point to direct participation or complicity of government security forces in these killings.

My God. Is HRW seriously seeking to identify Shiites from Sunnites? Screw politics, because they're all Iraqi! Anyways, the bolded parts should be of notice. The Interior Ministry's death squad was of no consequence to the Iraqi Government, as the media has, impressively, done an amazing job in Iraq to conceal this horrific fact (Max Fuller, you couldn't have said it better).

The leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was right when he said that Saddam didn't know God, and that's why he feels no remorse over his crimes. However, he also points out that the occupiers and other governments like that of Israel are worse because they themselves have committed many crimes and gotten away them. Ariel Sharon is one: responsible for the deaths of thousands and thousands of innocent Lebanese and Palestinians during the years of the Lebanese Civil War and the Second Intifada, he now lies in a coma, with no feeling whatsoever; he can't feel pain because he doesn't know it. Amir Peretz, overseer of the destruction of much of (south) Lebanon during the last summer is another such dark figure: the 1,000+ Lebanese and Palestinians dead by his hands have made the label "war criminal" his middle name. There are others like Moshe Ya'alon, the orchestrator of the First Qana Massacre (google it), and Rehavam Zeevi - wait, that guy was already capped. And who could forget Dubya Bush and Blair? And that old coot, Rumsfeld?

Speaking of ol' Rummy, let me show you a rather old pic of him with a familiar figure:



Who could miss out on Saddam Hussein? And what the hell was he doing with that despot? Well, Counterpuncher Norman Solomon already has a few tricks up his sleeve to answer that question. Citing reputable newspaper archives, he writes:

* On Dec. 20, 1983, the Washington Post reported that Rumsfeld "visited Iraq in what U.S. officials said was an attempt to bolster the already improving U.S. relations with that country."

* Two days later, the New York Times cited a "senior American official" who "said that the United States remained ready to establish full diplomatic relations with Iraq and that it was up to the Iraqis."

* On March 29, 1984, the Times reported: "American diplomats pronounce themselves satisfied with relations between Iraq and the United States and suggest that normal diplomatic ties have been restored in all but name." Washington had some goodies for Saddam's regime, the Times account noted, including "agricultural-commodity credits totaling $840 million." And while "no results of the talks have been announced" after the Rumsfeld visit to Baghdad three months earlier, "Western European diplomats assume that the United States now exchanges some intelligence on Iran with Iraq."

* A few months later, on July 17, 1984, a New York Times article with a Baghdad dateline sketchily filled in a bit more information, saying that the U.S. government "granted Iraq about $2 billion in commodity credits to buy food over the last two years." The story recalled that "Donald Rumsfeld, the former Middle East special envoy, held two private meetings with the Iraqi president here," and the dispatch mentioned in passing that "State Department human rights reports have been uniformly critical of the Iraqi President, contending that he ran a police state."

* Full diplomatic relations between Washington and Baghdad were restored 11 months after Rumsfeld's December 1983 visit with Saddam -- who went on to use poison gas later in the decade, actions which scarcely harmed relations with the Reagan administration.

* As the most senior U.S. official to visit Iraq in six years, Rumsfeld had served as Reagan's point man for warming relations with Saddam. In 1984, the administration engineered the sale to Baghdad of 45 ostensibly civilian-use Bell 214ST helicopters. Saddam's military found them quite useful for attacking Kurdish civilians with poison gas in 1988, according to U.S. intelligence sources. "In response to the gassing," journalist Jeremy Scahill has pointed out, "sweeping sanctions were unanimously passed by the U.S. Senate that would have denied Iraq access to most U.S. technology. The measure was killed by the White House."

Certainment, mon amis, did Rummy not only shake hands with a well-known murderer and ethnic "cleanser", but the American government supplied him with the tools of destruction that we come to know as biological non-conventional weaponry (FAS.org). But, oh, screw that. Those were years ago, when Saddam complied with rightwing foreign policy interests of the U.S.A.'s government. Now, here they are, dictating and occupying Iraq, while more people suffer and die, and the occupation continues.

When are the real war criminals going to the gallows? I, a pessimist at best, might say that they would never answer for their crimes... at least not in this life. For this life is nothing but "a fleeting enjoyment" for those who commit mischief and seek to sow discord amongst Muslims or anyone else for that matter. Only in the Hereafter, it seems, will these people answer to their Maker for all the heinous crimes they committed. But there is hope. These people must be exposed for the true war criminals that they are, and I mean every rightwing nutcase who turned Iraq, let alone the world, into a worse place than it is now. They must be tried and brought to justice. The world's populace must wake up and indict those who oppress others and aggress against other nations for the sake of fulfilling selfish desires. There should be peace, not war, because war is the last thing that this world needs right now.

As they say... No justice, no peace!

Salaam, from Saracen