A rchive Date
[ 17-12-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Iraq ]
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[http://www.canoe.com/Columnists/stanway.html
Saddam more useful alive than dead
By PAUL STANWAY - Edmonton Sun
December 17, 2003
Hiding in a hole in the ground, surrounded by candy wrappers and half-eaten hotdogs - the Tramp of Tikrit, as one newspaper columnist dubbed him - Saddam Hussein didn't look much like the dangerous dictator or mass murderer he surely is. He looked more like Survivor's Rupert, after a couple of weeks roughing it on the island.
Even the anti-American media brigade couldn't resist taking a few easy shots at the moth-eaten relic. But appearances are often deceptive, and by the time Saddam is brought to trial he will most likely have recovered his wits and regained his composure. Provided with a soap box, presumably he will use it.
The former Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic, a more modest psychopath than Saddam, put on quite a show during his recent trial before the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He pointed out that he had once been courted by many of the same nations - and even some of the same leaders - who were now branding him a criminal and a danger to mankind. Nobody seemed to care very much.
But Saddam is a bigger fish, from every standpoint, and he will generate massive media coverage and public interest. Partly because of the enormity of his crimes, but mostly because he was overthrown and apprehended by the U.S. and will be tried by a U.S.-sponsored court. He might not have looked like it on Sunday, but this dishevelled tramp is the political fault line between Islam and the West, and between George W. Bush's revitalized American foreign policy and those who resent and resist American influence in the world.
By the time he goes to trial, Saddam will have remembered all that and his gargantuan ego and desire to survive will encourage him to believe that the best defence is a good offence. He will rail against his captors, challenge the legality of his prosecution and try to smear anyone and everyone who has done business (openly or secretly) with his regime or cuddled up to him politically. And those are very, very long lists.
French President Jacques Chirac once called Saddam a good friend, and the Russian government was doing business with him just months before the bombs started falling on Baghdad. Saddam can also tell us who has taken his money and run interference for his dictatorship. If it suits his purposes, of course. In the past he has shown himself to be a master of the cat-and-mouse game, and adept at turning disagreements among his enemies to his own advantage.
The one leader who would appear to have little or nothing to worry about if Saddam's gums start flapping is the American president.
The former Iraqi dictator's revelations may reflect poorly on previous U.S. administrations, but in the wake of 9-11 Bush has not had the time or stomach for cozying up to outlaw regimes, particularly those that fund and support terrorism.
And despite the protestations of Saddam's apologists around the Arab world and in the western media, that would appear to include the former Iraqi despot. Lost in the acres of knee-jerk reaction to his capture was news of correspondence linking Saddam to Mohammed Atta, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
American investigators have found a memo from Saddam's security people, addressed to the boss, which confirms Atta was trained in Baghdad by Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal.
"Atta showed a firm commitment to lead the team, which will be responsible for attacking the targets that we have agreed to destroy," says the note.
The memo has already been dismissed as a fake by Saddam apologists, but American investigators can now question the man himself - and one suspects it is only a matter of time before we hear of further revelations. After all, Iraqis who know things no longer have to worry about Saddam or his henchmen making a comeback.
The U.S. would be smart to let the Iraqis try Saddam. They will be less inclined to be lenient than an international tribunal, and if he wants to deal his way out of a death sentence Washington should encourage it.
A thoroughly discredited Saddam would be of more advantage than a corpse, and his revelations could be a weapon of mass embarrassment for the hypocrites of the world.
Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@edm.sunpub.com
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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