Thursday, Dec. 18, 2003 | 8:28 a.m.
SIX DAYS AGO this column wrote in support of the proposed Iraqi tribunal to prosecute war criminals. It was only 24 hours later that Saddam Hussein, a prime candidate to face the tribunal, was taken into custody. The tribunal should be made up of Iraqis and the trial should be broadcast live on every television network possible and especially on al-Jazeera, the Arab station that is viewed by people in the Middle East.
Several months may be needed to spell out the long list of crimes committed by Saddam and his henchmen. Testimony must come from the Kurds and Shiites of Iraq; survivors of Saddam's brutal invasion of Kuwait; Iranian survivors of his war against them; and the Israelis who fell victim to his scud missiles he fired at them in 1991. The list could go on for several pages and time for their presentation should be adequate so the whole world can see the heartbreak and devastation he has brought upon the people in that part of the globe.
Just walking through one of Saddam's jails in Northern Iraq ran a chill up my back. Most chilling were the places where fingernails had clawed into the stone and the marks were outlined by the blood of the tortured victims. A 70-year-old Kurdish woman told me of Saddam's police torturing and killing her husband. She said, "They tied his feet and dragged him up and down the stone steps until his brains came out." That was in 1992 and several helicopter loads of documents verifying the brutality of Saddam's forces were brought out of that country. Like the Nazis, the Iraqi government kept excellent records that can be used in war crime trials.
Also to face justice along with Saddam are dozens of the military and political people who carried out his orders. As was pointed out last week, a Baghdad judge and transitional Governing Council member, Dara Nor al-Dim, believes that the tribunal must reach down and make those executioners face justice. So it should be a long and open process upon which a new Iraq can be built while sending a strong message to nearby kings and dictators.
Saddam hadn't received his first haircut and shave this week before we heard voices calling for a United Nations tribunal, like the one sitting in The Hague, to try him. These cries should be disregarded for several practical reasons. The trials should be held in Iraq and the judges should be from the population that suffered the most from the crimes. Also, the tribunal should not be denied the power to use death as the ultimate sentence if it is deserved. A U.N.-sponsored tribunal will not allow for the death penalty. If Kofi Annan and his colleagues in the U.N. want to provide defense lawyers for the accused, let them do so. The accused should have the best defense available for the world to see during the trials. This would be justice in action and not politics.
Professor Ruth Wedgwood of Johns Hopkins and a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations believes the Iraqis have qualified people to conduct war crime trials. In The New York Times she wrote, "Many were trained in Europe and North America before Saddam took power or later as exiles. All will have the benefit of international advice. The negotiating history of the Geneva Conventions notes that war crimes trials may not be practical, either for the prosecution or defense, while a conflict is active and ongoing. The Iraqi Special Tribunal may defer the conduct of trials until the security situation is further stabilized on the ground. But the process of taking testimony and framing potential charges can begin, as a necessary part of Iraq's self-examination, exposing the human cost of Baathist rule."
The Iraqis should hold the trials in Iraq and they should be open and televised. The accused should have expert counsel and the judges should have the power to use the death sentence when they believe it is appropriate. Let the world, especially those who have promoted Saddam as an Arab hero, see exactly the pain he has caused his own people. If they still want to follow him, then also show them the cell or gallows that greets him after the trial.
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