Trial of the Century? Not for Iraqis

[callady]

Trial of the century? Not for Iraqis

Rory Carroll in Baghdad
Tuesday October 18, 2005
The Guardian


The stage is set, the actors are ready, but the audience is distracted. Saddam Hussein's trial starts tomorrow, trailing words such as momentous and historic, a courtroom drama with a gallows in the wings. The former president is expected to play his part, defiant and confident even if denied a tie lest he make a premature noose. The prosecution and defence have studied transcripts from Nuremberg and The Hague and rehearsed their lines. Five judges will determine the final act.

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"People here don't think it will be a fair trial. But they will do nothing because they don't care about him," said Fawzi Mohammad, 48, a cement plant manager in Falluja, a city of ruins and a symbol of resistance to the Americans. "Saddam now is the past for us. He is like an old currency, worthless.

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If the televised proceedings inflame Arab Sunni passions it will not be out of concern for Saddam but what his presence in the dock represents: victory for Shias and Kurds. "Some sides will use the trial as an excuse to play certain sects against each other," said Falluja's mayor, Sheikh Dhari Abdu Hadi. Translation: he will be lynched by our enemies.

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Many Sunnis suspect that Saddam is facing a kangaroo court which is another front in the campaign against their sect. Sunnis who live near Dujail have no love for the former president yet they have started killing and terrorising the village's Shias in revenge for the trial. For these crimes at least Saddam, jailed deep inside the fortified green zone and under 24-hour surveillance, has an alibi.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1594786,00.html