So, I was awakened to the news that the U. S. Army has captured Saddam Hussein alive. First thing I thought was, that’s great for Iraq. The second thing I thought was, big problem for the Americans. Two main points here:
- Now Hussein can no longer be blamed for the Iraqi resistance, which will doubtless continue unabated. You may have noticed the way the administration and its allies in the media have dubbed the Iraqi resistance to the U. S. occupation “Ba’athists,” as if Saddam had been directing the attacks on U. S. troops from that little hole in the ground. Now, people are going to realize this war isn’t over by a longshot.
- What are they going to do with him? The U. S. is the one Western country which refuses to join in the emerging international court system, including war crimes tribunals which we have systematically exempted ourselves from for the past fifty years. So if Saddam is to get his day in court, it would most likely be in the United States… except that there’s no way the Pentagon would allow the prisoner to testify, because Saddam will probably start talking about all sorts of things like the tacit support the U.S. gave his chemical weapons program during the Iran-Iraq war, or how Donald Rumsfeld just happened to be in the Presidential Palace the day the news broke about the oft-discussed gassing of the Kurds. Can the Pentagon afford a public trial? I don’t think so.
My prediction is that Saddam will either die in custody or have a secret trial in a puppet Iraqi court, and neither one is going to do much for our image.
