US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD4337

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 004337 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, NEA/PPD, NEA/PPA, NEA/AGS, INR/IZ, INR/P 
 
E.0. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC, KMDR, KPAO, IZ, Media, Saddam Hussein 
SUBJECT: DAILY IRAQI WEBSITE MONITORING - October 20, 2005 
 
SUMMARY: Discussions of Saddam's trial and its significance 
for Iraqis and all Arabs were the major editorial themes of 
Iraqi, Arabic language websites on October 20, 2005. END 
SUMMARY. 
 
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 
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A.   "The Trial" (Iraq 4 All News, 10/20) 
B. "Saddam's Trial Should Not Be Personal" (Kitabat, 10/20) 
C. "Saddam in the Prosecution's Cage" (Sawt Al-Iraq, 10/20) 
 
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SELECTED COMMENTARIES 
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A. "The Trial" 
(Editorial by Abdul Wahab Baderkhan - Iraq 4 All News - 
http://iraq4all.org/viewnews.php?id=10385 ) 
 
"Finally.the trial. Finally Iraqis have the chance to see 
their dictator in a cage after seeing him brag and boast for 
thirty years, then disappear after the fall of Baghdad, only 
to reemerge from a hole and open his mouth for a medical 
exam. After that he was seen in investigations, and finally 
in court. 
 
"This is the first Arab president to stand trial in front of 
his people, answering a long list of charges that do not 
actually cover all his crimes. He was deposed by the 
occupation and stands trial today thanks to the 
occupation-without which he would have been killed long ago. 
This is the first Arab president to stand trial not only for 
his crimes, but also for miscalculating foreign policy 
issues. 
 
"Victims all over Iraq have the right to consider this trial 
as the start of their legal condolence after all the 
suffering caused by the previous regime's power and 
indifference. This suffering had wiped out the word 
`justice' from their world; for a long time [Iraqis] felt 
they were chosen to suffer every injustice in the world, 
both from their ruler and from U.N. sanctions. Perhaps this 
trial could be seen as an attempt to set justice back on 
track. 
 
"Whatever this court does, it can never do Saddam and his 
colleagues more injustice than what was inflicted on [the 
Iraqi] people. As for restoring respect for justice, that 
remains to be seen. It seems that Iraqis currently in power 
have set unrealistically high standards; unfortunately, we 
witnessed yesterday a contradiction between the court's 
vision of the accused and his crime. The criminal was 
considered normal, but the crime was a `state crime.' 
 
"There has been an overwhelming desire for unprofessional 
conduct to undermine the accused, and this might be the 
reason behind beginning with the Dujail case-and maybe end 
with it, since the crimes were strictly related to the 
aggressive bloody psychology of the defendant and not 
related to any political objective. In all other cases, 
including the gassing at Halabja, the invasion of Kuwait, 
and the suppression of the 1991 uprising, it is impossible 
to avoid politics. No one can talk of mood-related crimes, 
and this raises the question: How long can these trials 
continue without showing the fingerprints of U.S. politics?" 
 
B. "Saddam's Trial Should Not Be Personal" 
(Editorial by Mahdi Qasim - Kitabat - "Writings" - 
http://www.kitabat.com/mahdi_294.htm ) 
 
"The tyrant, Saddam Hussein, symbolizes an Arab trend of 
savageness and barbarianism that dominated the previous era. 
It is not surprising that this tyrant is still popular among 
Arab nations and is idolized in some areas, despite the 
countless number of terrible crimes and atrocities [he 
committed] that human consciousness cannot even begin to 
imagine. 
 
"Saddam represented the most extreme pattern of violence and 
brutality. He spread death and destruction not only in Iraq, 
but also in neighboring countries through his many Ba'athist 
wars; despite all of this, they still glorify him and 
justify his horrific wars as defending Islam and 
Arabs-failing to mention that he was the main reason for 
U.S. troop presence in the Gulf previously, and in Iraq 
currently, and was a loyal servant to U.S. interests in the 
Middle East for a while. 
 
"If Saddam was more brutal than other Arab leaders, it does 
not preclude the fact that they are no different from him in 
their mentalities of suppressive dictatorship. Many of these 
rulers have died or stepped out of the spotlight without 
being tried for their crimes and destructive roles that led 
to the decline of the Arab nation. Saddam's trial should be 
a trial for all Arab regimes and dictatorships in the past, 
present, and future. When Saddam is tried and 
convicted.based on significant evidence, the barbaric type 
of thinking that sees humans as nothing more than cheap 
sacrifices should also be convicted. 
 
"Saddam might be sentenced to death or life imprisonment, 
but sooner or later he will be wiped out from the Arab 
memory; however, the barbarian mentality he represents will 
continue to live on in the millions of Arabs who support 
him. This mentality should be eradicated by exposing his 
crimes and the nature of his empty personality. 
 
"Let Arabs discover that their historic leader and the 
symbol of their Arab nation is nothing more than a thug. He 
might have been a hero in ruining a country like Iraq-a 
country with deep roots in civilization-that continues to 
suffer the effects of barbaric policies to this day." 
 
C. "Saddam in the Prosecution's Cage" 
(Editorial by Dr. Ahmed Abdul Allah - Sawt Al-Iraq - "Voice 
of Iraq" - http://www.sotaliraq.com/articles- 
iraq/nieuws.php?id=17725 ) 
 
"Innocent Iraqis who were victims of Saddam's bloody rule 
were pleased on October 19, 2005. Saddam tried hard to act 
and pretend to be a strong man, but his gaze and garbled 
words showed he was in low spirits and psychologically 
beaten. 
 
"Saddam led the orchestra that sat with him and announced he 
was innocent of the Dujail charge! This is shocking for 
Iraqis because they know what he did in Dujail: starting 
with mass killings, destruction of the property of the 
people of Dujail, displacing families and establishing a 
court of `revolution' to issue death sentences within 
several hours and execute the sentences within two days. 
That is a tragedy that reminds me of Dante's hell! 
 
"Saddam Hussein and Taha Yassin Ramadhan may still be living 
under their illusions as they struggle to act strong and 
attract national sympathy. We also might smile mockingly as 
we hear Saddam's objection to the court's legitimacy. This 
court was formed according to a law legislated by the 
elected National Assembly. He violated Iraqi law for decades 
as he ruled with iron and fire. He killed hundreds of 
thousands, disabled hundreds of thousands, and caused many 
others to go missing or to become displaced as they fled 
Iraq as far as they could to escape his tyranny. 
 
"We do not know if people sympathetic to Saddam's rule have 
awoken from the shock of seeing their former commander 
sitting in a cage. This should show the deceived Arabs the 
truth; they should now believe what millions of Iraqis have 
been saying-that Saddam's era is gone forever. 
 
"Let this first session be a beginning of trials for anyone 
who harmed and committed unjust acts against our people. We 
hope every Iraqi becomes convinced that the new Iraq is 
standing on the right path and is moving toward democracy 
and freedom-that is, if it is God's will." 
 
SATTERFIELD