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Persian Journal
Up to the minute Iran news from around the world, including within Iran
Saddam's Trial of Convenience
Sep 11, 2005
Amir Nasseri - Persian Journal
Saddam Hussein's day of reckoning is fast approaching. He is to stand trial for his brutal suppression of the Shiites in the South, and maybe of the Kurds in the North.
There is no question that he must answer for his war crimes against his people. He should be held accountable for every life he took; each life was equally important. It is therefore perplexing that there is no mention so far of his crimes against the Iranian people. His unilateral invasion and instigation of the Iran-Iraq war resulted in the death of over a million innocent lives. He repeatedly used chemical weapons against the Iranian military. Therefore, although he committed gruesome crimes against the Iraqi Shiites and Kurds, from a numerical perspective, they pale in comparison to what he did to the Iranians.
So why are his war crimes against Iran swept under the rug? Could it be because Saddam did not act entirely alone in these particular crimes? Could it be that the European nations and the US were the ones who provided him with the chemical weapons knowing full well that he would use them against Iran? Could it be that the US was covertly supplying Saddam military intelligence and guidance during his 8 year slaughter of Iranians as a means of Iranian containment? Could it be that a trial of Saddam for such crimes would indirectly also be a trial of the West's policies and involvement in these crimes?
Indeed, justice and accountability are only pursued by the powerful only selectively, and when politically convenient. When there is a chance that a just pursuit can potentially reflect back and implicate them, that particular justice suddenly loses its appeal and is quickly abandoned.
Of course we can again thank the ever beneficent mullah regime for having inflamed the West to the point of them adopting a policy which had no regard for Iranians, so long as Iran's government was contained. Nevertheless, there is no excuse for such Western policies which had no regard for human lives.
What is even more shocking is the brotherly hand that the Iranian government is now extending to their Moslem neighbors in Iraq. The same people who were gassing Iranians and bombarding Iranian cities just 17 years ago are now our brothers? Granted, peace and good relations are always welcome, and every nation must heal its wounds and let go of any grudges in order to prosper. However, at least wait till the blood of the fallen has dried, and the maimed veterans have grown a little older. How quickly policies and chants change, when it becomes politically convenient to utilize an old enemy like Iraq as a thorn in the side of an eternal enemy like the US.
Unfortunately, we live in a world dominated and driven by political agendas, and not the pursuit of justice or the elimination of human suffering.
Persian Journal
Up to the minute Iran news from around the world, including within Iran
Saddam's Trial of Convenience
Sep 11, 2005
Amir Nasseri - Persian Journal
Saddam Hussein's day of reckoning is fast approaching. He is to stand trial for his brutal suppression of the Shiites in the South, and maybe of the Kurds in the North.
There is no question that he must answer for his war crimes against his people. He should be held accountable for every life he took; each life was equally important. It is therefore perplexing that there is no mention so far of his crimes against the Iranian people. His unilateral invasion and instigation of the Iran-Iraq war resulted in the death of over a million innocent lives. He repeatedly used chemical weapons against the Iranian military. Therefore, although he committed gruesome crimes against the Iraqi Shiites and Kurds, from a numerical perspective, they pale in comparison to what he did to the Iranians.
So why are his war crimes against Iran swept under the rug? Could it be because Saddam did not act entirely alone in these particular crimes? Could it be that the European nations and the US were the ones who provided him with the chemical weapons knowing full well that he would use them against Iran? Could it be that the US was covertly supplying Saddam military intelligence and guidance during his 8 year slaughter of Iranians as a means of Iranian containment? Could it be that a trial of Saddam for such crimes would indirectly also be a trial of the West's policies and involvement in these crimes?
Indeed, justice and accountability are only pursued by the powerful only selectively, and when politically convenient. When there is a chance that a just pursuit can potentially reflect back and implicate them, that particular justice suddenly loses its appeal and is quickly abandoned.
Of course we can again thank the ever beneficent mullah regime for having inflamed the West to the point of them adopting a policy which had no regard for Iranians, so long as Iran's government was contained. Nevertheless, there is no excuse for such Western policies which had no regard for human lives.
What is even more shocking is the brotherly hand that the Iranian government is now extending to their Moslem neighbors in Iraq. The same people who were gassing Iranians and bombarding Iranian cities just 17 years ago are now our brothers? Granted, peace and good relations are always welcome, and every nation must heal its wounds and let go of any grudges in order to prosper. However, at least wait till the blood of the fallen has dried, and the maimed veterans have grown a little older. How quickly policies and chants change, when it becomes politically convenient to utilize an old enemy like Iraq as a thorn in the side of an eternal enemy like the US.
Unfortunately, we live in a world dominated and driven by political agendas, and not the pursuit of justice or the elimination of human suffering.
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