Saddam: Beast to finally pay for crimes.
November 7, 2006 -- WITH its guilty verdict and death sentence for the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi Special Tribunal has set a crucial legal precedent.
The implications go far beyond Iraq. No absolute power, no manipulation of the law or the judiciary, will exempt a ruler from the responsibility of safeguarding the life and dignity of the innocent.
The Dujail case may seem an odd choice for a first judicial condemnation of the Saddam regime. The number of victims - 148 - pales in comparison with the daily casualty count suffered by Iraq under Saddam. But the crimes themselves - Saddam's now been found guilty of authorizing, without due process, the execution of 148 Iraqi citizens - are all too typical of the regime.
Against the background of the inability of both Iraqi and American authorities to stop the bloodletting, the five-judge Special Tribunal has affirmed the principle that officials in government are accountable for every life.
As dictator, Saddam Hussein enjoyed absolute power over state and society, reserving to himself and to his "Revolutionary Command Council" all legislative, executive and judiciary authority and further endowing himself with absolute immunity in the exercise of these powers. It is in this context that Saddam and his defense team sought to dismiss the competence of the Special Tribunal, denouncing its application of a hybrid set of legal principles in the trial of the dictator and his associates.
By carrying the proceedings to their conclusion, the Special Tribunal has affirmed the supremacy of international norms in human rights over schemes to bypass and/or subvert them by a government in power.
At the trial's onset, outsiders saw five possible lines of defense for Saddam: 1) Question the legitimacy, competence and jurisdiction of the court. 2) Contest the fairness of the procedures. 3) Challenge the prosecution's facts and the charges. 4) Dispute Saddam's responsibility in the killings. And, if forced to concede the rest, 5) Argue that his actions were justified by law and/or national interest.
The defense team failed in all counts: The documentary and testimonial evidence presented, including Saddam's signed confirmation of the execution order, left the basic facts beyond dispute. The blatant nature of the brutal repression denied Saddam's team any effective use of arguments of "national interest"
The trial was marred with serious flaws, including procedural irregularities and political intervention. And the defense team was given inadequate protection; three defense lawyers were assassinated. These flaws need to be addressed and redressed in the coming trials slated for Saddam and his associates.
But the flaws did not affect the merits of the case. And the Special Tribunal is performing in the midst of a conflict and against the backdrop of more than three decades of subversion of the judiciary. It is to the credit of the court's officers that they succeeded in carrying through this difficult trial.
Unlike his Romanian counterpart Nikolai Ceausescu and the many opponents and challengers caught by the Ba'athist regime, Saddam was not subjected to the swift "justice" of a revolutionary court. Instead, he was offered the opportunity to face his accusers and face up to his alleged crimes.
This is an opportunity for Iraqi society to develop a renewed respect for the rule of law after more than a generation of witnessing its being ignored by Saddam and his regime. It is also an opportunity for Iraqi society to explore the depth of its tragedy, as well as individual and collective responsibility in it.
Some in Iraq and beyond may consider the death penalty a well-deserved punishment for the brutal crimes endured by Iraqis under the Saddam regime. Others may argue that a break with the oppressive past might require a moratorium on capital punishment. And, of course, Iraqi society will also have to tackle the verdict's spillover into sectarian strife.
But the bottom line remains: What the Special Tribunal has accomplished in holding the dictator and his regime responsible - in the midst of the daily horrors plaguing Iraq - is no minor success for Iraq and the world.
Hassan Mneimneh is the Washington, D.C., director of the Iraq Memory Foundation, an institution dedicated to reflection on Iraq's totalitarian past. He is a member of Benador Associates.
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