[Peace-discuss] Iraqis Want Saddam's Old US Friends on Trial

[Morton K.Brussel]

The Iraqis know the story, why Saddam is being held as a prisoner of 
war, and why he in unlikely to be put on public trial.

Published on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 by Reuters

Iraqis Want Saddam's Old US Friends on Trial

by Michael Georgy

BAGHDAD - If Iraqis ever see Saddam Hussein on trial, they want his 
former American allies shackled beside him.

"Saddam should not be the only one who is put on trial. The Americans 
backed him when he was killing Iraqis so they should be prosecuted," 
said Ali Mahdi, a builder.

"If the Americans escape justice they will face God's justice. They 
must be stoned in hell."

The United States continued to feel the backlash of its move to give 
Saddam prisoner of war status Tuesday as thousands of Iraqi protesters 
called for his execution.

Washington's move has thrown some doubt over his fate after Iraq's 
U.S.-backed Governing Council had said Saddam would be tried in a 
special tribunal by Iraqi judges.

His POW status means the former dictator, accused of sending thousands 
of Iraqis to mass graves, could have more rights than a war criminal.

In street interviews, Iraqis said Saddam must be tried by an Iraqi 
court prepared to hand down the death penalty and examine his ties to 
past U.S. governments.

The United States backed Saddam in his war with Iran in the 1980s. 
During that time, he also gassed an estimated 5,000 Kurds to death in 
the village of Halabja.

A few years later Washington began branding Saddam a tyrant and an 
enemy after his troops invaded oil-rich Kuwait in 1990.

"Saddam was a top graduate of the American school of politics," said 
Assad al-Saadi, standing with friends in the slum of Sadr city, 
formerly called Saddam City, a Shi'ite Muslim area oppressed by 
Saddam's security agents.

"My brother was an army officer who was executed. Saddam is a criminal 
and the Americans were his friends. We need justice so that we can 
forget the past."

Saddam was captured on December 13 hiding in a hole near his hometown 
of Tikrit. A month later the United States declared him a prisoner of 
war.

But his new POW status has only added to skepticism about American 
promises after toppling Saddam in April.

"The Americans and Saddam should face justice. Do you really think the 
Americans are going to put themselves on trial?" said Ali, a 
U.S.-trained policeman.

"Of course we hope the Americans and Saddam will face trial. But will 
it ever happen? I doubt it."
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