Iraqi travails

Saddam and his victims recount their suffering

The fourth session of the trial of Saddam Hussein and seven of his associates began in Baghdad yesterday. Previously, meetings of the special tribunal were held on October 19, November 29 and December 5-7. Yesterday the judges heard five new witnesses from the village of Dujeil. They told terrible stories about how they were tortured with electric shockers and their arms and legs were broken with rifle butts. Meanwhile, the main defendant was making notes in a notebook. After the shelling of his convoy in Dujaili in 1982, Iraqi security forces killed 148 villagers. Now Saddam may pay for that massacre with his life.

When judge Rizgar Amin refused Saddam's request to pause for prayer, the ex-president of Iraq turned towards Mecca and sat like that for about ten minutes, not paying attention to anyone. After that, he stated that there was no living space left on him after the torture that the Americans subjected him to in prison. “There are marks from the beating on every part of my body,” Saddam complained. His half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti performed almost a duet with the ex-president. He complained about the “mental and physical torment” he experienced in prison and insisted that he be shown the orders for the execution of the villagers of Dujeyli. Of course, with his, Barzan’s, signature.

During a previous court hearing in early December, Saddam wished Judge Amin "to go to hell" for an "unjust trial." The 68-year-old ex-president's defense continues to assume that their client is immune from prosecution because he has the immunity of the current head of state. Lawyers also argue that the prosecution's witnesses are actually false witnesses, since they were given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the investigation materials in advance and prepare stories on the subject of the atrocities of the previous regime. The prosecution considers all this an attempt to delay the process, which still “cannot last forever.”

Following the recent kidnapping of the eight-year-old son of one of the court's guards, a thinned team of lawyers led by Khalil al-Dulaimi again demanded that she be kept safe. After the first hearing, unknown persons killed two of the defendants' lawyers. In the absence of security guarantees, one of the defense attorneys, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, decided to abstain from his duties. Another lawyer, former Qatari Justice Minister Najib al-Nuaimi, said he was met by an aggressive crowd upon arrival in Baghdad.

Shortly before the start of the current session of the tribunal in Iraq, elections to the permanent parliament of Iraq were held. On December 15, up to 78% of voters showed up at polling stations. However, the elections did not bring the long-awaited reconciliation between the Shiite majority and the Sunni minority, which still recalls with nostalgia their privileged life under Saddam's rule. Against this backdrop, the trial of the ousted dictator has the potential to split rather than unite conflict-ridden Iraqi society.

The Iraqi Accord Front (IAC) bloc of Sunni parties announced yesterday that it rejects the preliminary results of voting in Baghdad and the southern Shiite provinces. With 59% of the vote in the capital and with almost 80% of the vote in the south, the United Iraqi Alliance won in these areas. He represents the Shiite majority, which makes up over 60% of Iraq's population. The IFS, which received 19% of the votes in Baghdad, demands that the Iraqi Central Election Commission “take measures up to and including re-elections.” And he threatened to refuse to participate in the government otherwise. Sheikh Majid al-Gawd, one of the prominent Sunni rebel commanders, explained his dissatisfaction with the announced election results in the south by saying that they would allow “the hand of neighboring Shiite Iran to extend even further into Iraq.” The sheikh promised to arrange a “bloodbath for Iranian agents in Iraq.”

It is significant that the CEC did not rule out the possibility of re-elections if the complaints “turn out to be justified.” US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said in Washington yesterday that "the Sunnis must become part of the government of Iraq." Hadley even admitted that there was "a need for some amendments" to be made to the Iraqi constitution so that it would become a "national compact between all communities." Let us recall that in a referendum on October 15, Sunnis, who make up about 20% of the population, tried in vain to defeat the constitution, since it contains provisions on the federalization of the previously unitary Iraq that were unacceptable to their leaders.

Alexander SAMOKHOTKIN