Madam, - The death of the despicable former Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, will hardly upset many people (aside, of course from his Sunni supporters). However, the manner in which it was carried out gave the world yet another chance to witness the routine and breathtaking hypocrisy to which we have become accustomed, especially from the current US administration.
The crime for which Saddam was ostensibly executed for was a massacre of his countrymen in 1982, when he held the reins of power. At precisely the same time the CIA was financing and chemically arming him, in his war against hostile Iran, all the time turning a blind eye to atrocities like this and the subsequent mustard gassing of Iranians and 5,000 Kurds at Halabja in 1988. In fact, it was only later, when he invaded Kuwait without sanction from his American masters in Washington, thereby causing concern to their oil sheik pals in Saudi Arabia, that the American administration of George Bush Snr took action.
Saddam's death came effectively as the result of a decision by one leader with blood on his hands to eliminate another for political expediency. Can it be coincidence that the death penalty was passed two days before the US mid-term elections in November at a time when Bush's popularity in the opinion polls was looking decidedly shaky? Saddam had been incarcerated for two-and-a-half years before charges were levelled against him and the Iraqi Higher Criminal Court miraculously came into existence the same week he was captured. His trial was not so much an Iraqi legal procedure as a White House-co-ordinated process from the word go, as it was funded by a $138 million Congress grant and implemented by a team of staff operating from the US embassy in Baghdad.
If this had been a transparent war crimes trial operating under the auspices of the international community, Saddam would have been tried in The Hague in a similar fashion to Serbian butcher Slobodan Milosovic. Of course, Washington merely followed through on its long-standing habit of ignoring the precepts and procedures of international law, having previously ignored the likes of the International Criminal Court, judgments of the International Court of Justice and indeed the Geneva Conventions.
In the interests of perspective, it is worth stating that Saddam Hussein's track record of butchery in Iraq pales in comparison with the US death toll in the same jurisdiction. Consider that from the end of the first Gulf War in 1991 to 2003, and the start of the current disastrous imperial adventure, over 1 million Iraqis, including over 500,000 children, perished as a result of UN sanctions. Since the 2003 invasion an estimated 655,000 Iraqis have died. A sickening total of almost 1.75 million deaths as a result of 15 years of US-led intervention. - Yours, etc,
DAVID MARLBOROUGH, Kenilworth Park, Dublin 6W.
Madam, - The disgracefully undignified public hanging of Saddam Hussein is an offensive misdeed that will have worldwide repercussions. The powers-that-be in Iraq have made a martyr of a man who committed hideous crimes, a man who has become a symbol of untold hatred and division. This can only serve to pollute angry minds determined to divide rather than bring together in friendship and respect people of different philosophies and aspirations.
Surely justice is better served by making people atone for their crimes by a life of service to others rather than allowing their evil to inspire further bloodshed and slaughter. - Yours, etc,
PENELOPE CARROLL, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Is there nobody in the Department of Foreign Affairs who can whisper a few words of common sense to Minister Dermot Ahern following his latest gaffe? We accept that, for commercial reasons, Ireland cannot afford to upset George Bush or Tony Blair in public, but surely there must be a less embarrassing way of commenting on Saddam Hussein's execution than by saying Ireland must respect the right of the Iraqi authorities to hang him? The horrific behaviour of the lynch mob who carried out the killing should have deterred any intelligent and savvy politician from showing any kind of approval.
Saddam Hussein was the constitutionally recognised president of Iraq, and deserved a fair trial like any other human being. - Yours, etc,
DONAGH RYAN, Parkway, London NW1.
A Chara, - Your Editorial of January 2nd on Saddam Hussein's execution laments the fact that he was not handed over to the International Criminal Court for trial. I was under the impression the the jurisdiction of the ICC was limited to cases where national courts were unwilling to undertake prosecutions.
Also, the ICC can only prosecute crimes committed after January 1st, 2002. - Yours, etc,
LEO TALBOT, Moy Glas Way, Lucan, Co Dublin.