Saddam, a Criminal For All Seasons

Reports indicate that almost 30 tons of documents have been prepared by foreign and Iraqi jurists as evidence against Saddam.

The most significant charges that Saddam faces so far are that he was responsible for the massacre of Shia during the 1991 Sha’ban Intifada, the campaign against the Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s, extensive use of chemical weapons against the Iraqi and Iranian nations, the invasion of Kuwait and Iran, the order to establish chemical weapons production facilities in Iraq, violation of the former Iraqi constitution, and assassinations of Iraqi clerics.

Saddam’s trial, although under control, will document various aspects of modern world history.

The first part of the trial is related to Iraq’s internal affairs.

Saddam gained power in 1968 through a coup in violation of the Iraqi constitution.

During this period he established the Revolutionary Command Council, to which he appointed his close allies. Members of the council received their orders to suppress the Iraqi nation directly from Saddam.

During his 35-year rule, the former dictator murdered over 1.5 million Iraqis and displaced another 3 million people.

The people of the region also suffered greatly at the hands of the despot. In 1980, Saddam tore apart the valid 1975 Algiers Treaty, which he had signed himself, before television cameras and issued the order to attack the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In the brutal war against Iran, Saddam inflicted about one trillion dollars of economic damage on the Islamic Republic. The United Nations later declared that Saddam was the aggressor in the war.

During the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, many Arab regimes supported Saddam with hundreds of billions of dollars of financial and logistical assistance. In addition, it is most likely that certain Arab regimes played a significant role in encouraging Saddam to attack Iran.

The United States and other Western countries also facilitated Saddam’s chemical weapons program by providing advanced technology and chemicals to the Baath regime. 

Despite the fact that the U.S. will probably attempt to control Saddam’s trial in order to prevent revelations about its cooperation with Saddam during the war with Iran, Iran should still petition the tribunal to allow an Iranian legal supervisory board to participate in the trial, since this is an obvious right of the Islamic Republic.

The utmost damage was inflicted on the Islamic Republic of Iran by the toppled dictator. Therefore, Iran must also file charges against Saddam.

Iraq’s extensive use of chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers and civilians, the destruction of Iranian villages and towns, the occupation of more than 10,000 square kilometers of Iranian territory at the beginning of the war, and the theft of tens of billions of dollars of products from the warehouses of Iran’s customs houses are some points that Iran could list in its indictment of Saddam.

Therefore, the Islamic Republic should actively stand up for its rights and make efforts to gain a formal presence in the trial of Saddam in order to prove that the former dictator committed numerous crimes against the Iranian nation.

Saddam’s trial is not just the trial of an individual but also the trial of corrupt Arab regimes, the United States, and the West.

HL/HG

End

MNA