The pitfalls of trying Hussein

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1231/dailyUpdate.html?s=entt

Hussein on trial could make the US, Britain, France, Germany and Russia regret their past associations with his regime

<snip>As for the US, official documents recently obtained and published by The National Security Archive, show that the Reagan administration had extensive knowledge by early 1983 of Iraq's "almost daily" use of chemical weapons against Iran, yet chose to do little in response. In fact, current Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (who was then a Reagan presidential envoy) met with Hussein in December, 1983 where he conveyed the US's "close support" of Iraq. He did not mention the use of chemical weapons during this meeting. (The US finally condemned the use of these weapons several months later. But at the same time, Washington said it was still interested in a "closer dialogue" with Iraq.)

Actual rather than rhetorical opposition to such use was evidently not perceived to serve US interests; instead, the Reagan administration did not deviate from its determination that Iraq was to serve as the instrument to prevent an Iranian victory. Chemical warfare was viewed as a potentially embarrassing public relations problem that complicated efforts to provide assistance. The Iraqi government's repressive internal policies, though well known to the US government at the time, did not figure at all in the presidential directives that established US policy toward the Iran-Iraq war. The US was concerned with its ability to project military force in the Middle East, and to keep the oil flowing.

Sify News of India notes that Mr. Rumsfeld "shrugged off" the news reports of his meetings with the Iraqi dictator in the 80s. Not everyone, however, accepted his quick dismissal. "Saddam Hussein had chemical weapons in the 1980s, and it didn't make any difference to US policy," Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, was quoted as saying in The New York Times. "Shaking hands with dictators today can turn them into Saddam Husseins tomorrow," he said.

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[La_Serpiente]

1. I'm looking forward to the trial

I want the defense attorney to expose to the world the West's enabling of Sadaam.

[MercutioATC]

2. It's good to see that I'm not the only one who's thought of this...

exactly what are we going to do with him now that we've got him? Do we REALLY want to air all of our dirty laundry in international court? Just watch...the "capture" was a big deal, but the rest will be really quiet...

[markus]

3. Saddam will be tried in secret

Hell, they wouldn't even let Clark testify again Milosovich except behind closed doors for reason of National Security. Do you really think that Sadddam will be given an open trial, given that he could implicate the BFEE and any other number of western leaders for their roles in most of his crimes during the Iran-Iraq war?