Although Saddam Hussein was popular with some in the Arab world through the s, Arafat would be one of the few global figures to support him during the first Gulf War in Iraq invaded Iran in , leading to a conflict that lasted eight years and claimed 1. Uday was shot eight times which left him partially handicapped. Along with his brother, Qusay, he played a brutal role in the regime before being killed by U.
Marines cross the border from Kuwait into Iraq on March 21, In Saddam Hussein was the top target in a deck of playing cards given to U. Iraqis pressed multiple charges against him, while Iran wanted him for crimes allegedly committed during the Iran-Iraq War. It is likely that the adjourned separate trial on the allegations concerning the Kurds will be continued, but without the presence of Saddam Hussein as the principal defendant, it will be Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark!
As the Nuremberg trial of surviving German leaders after World War II made clear, the main achievement of such criminal prosecutions is not punishment of the now disempowered leaders, but political education by way of compiling evidence of the terrible wrongdoing of those accused and showing that the contrasting way of the victors is one of fairness and due process.
Again, we need to ask why was this truncated and dysfunctional approach used, leading to the execution of the main culprit before the worst crimes of his regime were even considered.
The only credible explanation is that such an approach conformed to the needs of the occupying power. Iraq was a strategic ally of the United States in the s, the decade in which the worst excesses of Baathist rule took place, including the persecution and execution of religious leaders. It was the United States that supplied many of the components of the chemical weapons used against the Kurds, and then relied on its diplomatic influence to shield Baghdad from censure in the aftermath of these shocking events.
And later it was the United States in that authorized the bloody crackdown of the Kurds in the North and the marsh Arabs in the South. Even aside from these considerations, it was never appropriate to rush the process. To move from prosecution to execution so quickly in a major political trial of this sort is unprecedented. When other countries come in and take [Saddam] down and then they execute him, you feel like that's it, Iraq is done.
They executed the president, he represents your country and they kind of humiliated your country. It was the same feeling [I got] when the US army came to Baghdad. There was big statue of Saddam. One of the US soldiers wiped Saddam's face with the American flag and took it down. All of us were like ' who is this person to take the statue down? This is our country, this is our own business. I know we were living under a dictator, but we didn't ask anyone to come and do this damage to our country.
First, we were afraid of only one person, [Saddam]. If you don't talk bad about him or his family, then you are safe. After that it was a complete chaos. The situation is not getting any better. I am from Mosul and you know how the situation is like. Everything is destroyed.
Zaid Ridha, Ridha lives in Diwaniyah, a predominantly Shiite city located about miles south of Baghdad. He was 13 when Saddam was executed. I remember I woke up and found my dad having the TV on the Al Arabiya channel, and there were live scenes of Saddam Hussein's execution. I said, 'What!? The day has finally come. As I remember, it was a very special day, especially for my father and my family. We suffered a lot. I don't know how to describe, but the joy was overwhelming everybody.
So everybody was in the street, and everybody was firing [gunshots in the air] in celebration. And everybody was smiling My dad said that he wanted his friends to see this day, the day they were all dreaming of, 35 years.
My father, my family felt that Saddam Hussein was not punished enough for his crimes. He has many, many terrible crimes. Not just only to Iraq, but also to our neighboring countries.
In the book we studied in primary school, the first page always had Saddam's face. Between every 10 to 15 page there was a quote by Saddam Hussein When the regime fell, I said wow, I will never have to see his face again.
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