Coming Trial of S.H.

[Ocean Breeze]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The expected announcement of a trial date for Saddam Hussein stirs mixed emotions in Iraqis. Some hope he is executed. Others want him back.

But all sides have one dire prediction -- violence ravaging their country can only get worse when he takes the stand.

"There is no way they can try Saddam. It is too dangerous because they will have to close every street to prevent violence," said soft drink vendor Abed Jassim, 54.

"If they do try him, they will have to get Iraqi leaders out of the country for their own safety. The killing will escalate."

Chief investigating judge Raed Jouhi said on Sunday a date for the trial would be set within days after a special tribunal laid the first formal charges against Saddam.

Officials hope Saddam's trial will erase painful memories of alleged killing, torture and mass graves and help defuse an insurgency led by his former agents.

Iraqis overwhelmed by daily suicide bombings, kidnappings, criminal gangs and lack of basic services say the trial will not improve life one way or the other.

Sitting in his beaten up car in a long petrol queue, Ayad Ahmed keeps his AK-47 assault rifle near his seat as he braves temperatures of 55-degrees Celsius (131 degrees fahrenheit).

As a driver for a ministry official, he feels especially vulnerable to insurgents, and the simple task of filling up his car is risky in the new Iraq, which the United States promised would be a land of stability after it toppled Saddam.

"What will Saddam's trial change? The bloodshed will only get worse. I just think about surviving," he said, sliding his finger across his throat as if he were being beheaded.

VIOLENCE KEEPS RAGING

U.S. and Iraqi officials hoped the capture of Saddam in December 2003 would demoralise the insurgency.
But the violence keeps getting worse, leading some Iraqis to long for the stable police state of the past. On Saturday a suicide bomb killed at least 98 people in a town south of Baghdad.

Iraqis say they are still living in fear of Saddam's old Mukhabarat secret police, who are likely to be angered when he is under pressure in court.

Some Iraqis say Saddam, who is in U.S. custody in Baghdad, is the only one who can restore order in a country plagued by sectarian tensions, bombings and rampant crime.

"Bring Saddam back. He would surely end the violence. When he was president we had security," said Kawaakib Botrous, a 40-year-old supermarket cashier.

"Why don't they put the new government on trial? They have done nothing to stop the daily massacres."

Even Iraqis who support Saddam said they would support a court's decision and seemed eager to end what is likely to be tense times.

"I love Saddam but I will support a just court so we can get on with our lives," said Issam Abdel Razzak, manager of a mobile telephone shop. "But I fear that the killings and bombings will not end for a long time no matter what."

Some are likely to remain bitter about the past as their new leaders struggle to deliver a brighter future.

"Bring me Saddam. I would like to kill him in so many ways but I think strangling him myself would be the best," said veiled policewoman Mona Wali, 31, shaking her hands in anger.

"We have to show him how it feels."

 

[no1important]

As bad as Saddam is/was he does deserve a fair trial and I would feel better if he was at the Hague being tried there like Milosevic was.

I have trouble believing he will get a fair shake in Iraq, especially if the US is involved.

Plus the US will probably censor the media so some of the stuff that would embarass "W" and the USG are not revealed to the general public.

 

[PoisonPete2]

Iraq is an occupied country with no real order or jurisprudence. I agree that La Hague would be the appropriate venue for a trial but that just ain't going to happen. as 'no1important' suggests, there is much that the U.S. would not want made public about their relationship with Saddam. They managed to silence Noriega in a Florida prison. The U.S. only had to kill 5,000 citizens to arrest Bush senior's bagman. The trial is bound to spike the killing in this poor wreck of a country, and it will do nothing to bring its people together.

 

[Ocean Breeze]

Re: RE: Coming Trial of S.H.

Iraq is an occupied country with no real order or jurisprudence. I agree that La Hague would be the appropriate venue for a trial but that just ain't going to happen. as 'no1important' suggests, there is much that the U.S. would not want made public about their relationship with Saddam. They managed to silence Noriega in a Florida prison. The U.S. only had to kill 5,000 citizens to arrest Bush senior's bagman. The trial is bound to spike the killing in this poor wreck of a country, and it will do nothing to bring its people together.

certainly agree with this. Don't think this will be a "fair " trial as such. Hague would be much better......but the US would be shown more expicitly for its involvement and "deals" with SH.....and the US will not allow this. Hopefully more info will come out via media sources outside the US. Wouldn't count on the US media for any substansive info .......that isn't US slanted./favored.

 

[Reverend Blair]

Damn, I saw the initials SH and was hoping that Harper got busted doing meth amphetamine with an underaged male prostitute.

The real irony about Hussein's upcoming trial is that as guilty as he is, the whole thing is looking like a kangaroo court designed to convict him with a minimum of evidence coming to light. It's a bad joke.

If they put him on trial...a real trial with evidence and paperwork describing the crimes he committed...there will be far too many powerful people facing legal and political problems.

 

[moghrabi]

If he doesn't die of an unexpected heart attack first.

 

[PoisonPete2]

Re: RE: Coming Trial of S.H.

If he doesn't die of an unexpected heart attack first.

Hmm. Perhaps Prussic Acid. It would solve a few problems for a few interest groups if a trial could be avoided. The only positive to trial is that some think it would lend some credence to the Occupier's puppet government. But the impression I get is that the Iraqis would rather have SH than American occupation.

 

[moghrabi]

I think if they have to choose all over again, ten you'd prefer having SH in office. He was a tyrant, but at least Iraq was peaceful and secure to all.