[Peace-discuss] A.N.S.W.E.R. statement on recent developments in Iraq

[C. G. Estabrook]

[A companion piece to the ANSWER statement, which seems to me largely
correct, is the following from a correspondent in Iraq for the British
paper The Independent.  Note particularly the interesting point that "The
quality of news [Iraqis] listen to is probably higher than that viewed or
heard by most people in Europe or the US." --CGE]


The Capture of Saddam

By PATRICK COCKBURN

For Saddam Hussein his capture is the moment of supreme humiliation. He
has always portrayed himself as the Arab hero who would fight to the last
bullet and die surrounded by the bodies of his enemies. Instead he has
fallen alive into the hands of US troops after successfully evading them
for over half a year.

Saddam will wonder who finally betrayed him in exchange for $25 million.
It may be that there was no betrayer and US soldiers were simply following
up leads. But, going by the paranoid way his mind worked during his long
years in power, Saddam will be thinking about the identity of the traitor
who led his enemies to his last hiding place.

The former Iraqi leader had put great efforts into avoiding the American
dragnet. He cut himself off from his senior lieutenants at the time of the
fall of Baghdad in April. Just as US troops were entering the city he told
his two sons Uday and Qusay, later killed in a gun battle, that it would
be safer for him to go on the run by himself.

He probably envisaged blowing himself up with a grenade at the last moment
or being shot dead by US troops in a final struggle. Instead, unlike Uday
and Qusay who died with guns in their hands, he will be presented by
Washington as a symbol of its military victory in Iraq and a sign that
America is winning the war despite its mounting casualties.

In the months since he fled his capital Saddam has been preoccupied with
avoiding capture. He has not had time for much else. Hoshyar Zebari, the
Foreign Minister of the interim Iraqi government, told me several weeks
ago: "Saddam is very isolated. That is the only way he can avoid being
captured. He is not able to organise the resistance. He dare not
communicate with other people because he is frightened they will betray
him."