US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT4532

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 004532 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, MOPS, PINS, IZ, KU 
SUBJECT: KUWAITIS HOPEFUL FOR DEATH PENALTY AS SADDAM'S 
TRIAL BEGINS; ITG HAS LIST OF GOK CHARGES 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary.  Kuwaiti newspapers, television and radio 
stations gave front-page, first-item coverage to the start of 
Saddam Hussein's trial in Iraq.  Kuwaitis interviewed called 
for the death penalty and said that Saddam and his cohorts 
had "too much" to answer for during the 1990-1991 Iraqi 
invasion of Kuwait.  Government and private individuals 
expressed satisfaction that the trial phase was finally 
underway and that Kuwaiti charges against Saddam could soon 
be read aloud in court.  The GOK passed a charge sheet to the 
Iraqis in May 2005 detailing acts committed by Saddam, eight 
of his top aides, and 293 lesser officials.  The indictments 
focus on "crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the use of 
force to invade Kuwait."  Also included are the abduction of 
605 people, considered to be the POW/MIAs, and the torture, 
and in some cases rape, of 5,733 people of various 
nationalities.  Several Kuwaitis interviewed stated that 
death was too small a punishment for Saddam and that a more 
severe type of punishment should be administered.  End 
summary. 
 
Saddam's Face in Every Paper 
---------------------------- 
 
2.  (SBU) October 20 newspapers were plastered with the image 
of Saddam Hussein, sitting in the docks, as his trial opened 
in Iraq.  Accompanying the photos were multiple articles, 
each one going over a different part of the trial: the 
charges requested by the GOK, the biographies of his seven 
co-defendants, the transcript of the trial itself.  Local 
newspapers laid out the trial procedures while accompanying 
editorials overwhelmingly voiced satisfaction that Saddam 
would finally have to face charges for crimes against Kuwait. 
 Although Arabs interviewed outside Kuwait stated that the 
U.S. involvement in the trial made it difficult to be 
considered 'fair', the Kuwaiti standpoint was clearly 
enunciated by locals who said they had been waiting "fifteen 
years for this day to come."  One 35 year-old man remarked 
"if there was a bigger penalty than death, I would have 
called for it." 
 
Crimes Against Humanity and Others 
---------------------------------- 
 
3.  (SBU) Although the trial opened with the charges relating 
to the murder of 143 villagers from Dujail, local press 
accounts spoke about the charges that the GOK asked to be 
raised against Saddam and those in his regime.  For the GOK, 
first on the indictment sheet are crimes against humanity, 
including the torture of 5,733 people within Kuwait during 
the occupation.  The GOK has kept photographic evidence of 
the torture and murder which occurred during the occupation 
and has first-hand written accounts of the rapes perpetrated 
by Iraqi forces.  Under war crimes is the disappearance of 
605 people of nine differing nationalities, their subsequent 
murders, and Saddam's failure to respond to calls for 
repatriating their remains.  (Note: 250 sets of remains have 
been identified as being from the group of POW/MIAs. 
Forensic evidence indicates that many of the individuals 
being shot, execution style, in the back of the head.  End 
note.)  The invasion itself is also included and many in 
Kuwait feel that the charges will be more than sufficient to 
apply the death penalty. 
 
4.  (SBU) The indictment list, or charge sheet, was drawn up 
by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Legal Division over the 
past year.  The charges themselves were kept close-hold and 
the Legal Division sent a delegation to Amman to personally 
deliver the indictment list and reference information to the 
Iraqi Embassy in May.  Local press reports have spoken of the 
charge sheet in generalities but have not published a 
complete list of all the charges. 
 
Death Not "Enough" 
------------------ 
 
5.  (SBU) Local media interviewed a number of Kuwaitis for 
reaction to the trial.  Kuwaitis overwhelmingly supported the 
death penalty although some interviewed said that death 
"wasn't enough" of a punishment and that Saddam should be 
made to suffer for the rest of his life.  One member of 
Parliament (MP) Ahmed Al-Mulaifi said that the trial should 
"send a message to tyrants all over the world" while Kuwait 
University professors weighed in with opinions that the trial 
should focus on Saddam's crimes against Shiites, Kurds, as 
well as Sunnis, and that the indictments should include both 
local and international crimes. 
 
 
KUWAIT 00004532  002 OF 002 
 
 
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LEBARON