Will Rummy Rat on Saddam?
By Steve Weissman
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Thursday 08 July 2004
Satirically challenged readers will find the following report hard to believe. It is. Only a fully independent, self-governing Iraq would - or could - give Mr. Rumsfeld his day in court.
Iraqi prosecutors yesterday indicted U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for conspiring with the deposed tyrant Saddam Hussein. The secret indictment charges Mr. Rumsfeld with helping Saddam acquire chemical and biological weapons, which the Iraqi dictator used against Iranian troops and Kurdish civilians in the 1980s.
According to official sources in Baghdad, the prosecutors plan to serve the indictment on Mr. Rumsfeld either in Washington or on his next visit to Iraq. They have scheduled his trial for October, hoping to force him to reveal new evidence they can use against Saddam.
"We believe that Mr. Rumsfeld can tell us exactly how Reagan and the first President Bush gave Saddam cluster bombs, sample strains of anthrax, botulism, and bubonic plague, and the materials he needed to make sarin gas, ricin, and other nerve agents," explained Salem Chalabi, head of the War Crimes tribunal that will try the deposed tyrant and his collaborators. "He can give us the names of the companies and government agencies that supplied the ingredients for these Weapons of Mass Destruction."
"Mr. Rumsfeld can also tell us how far the Americans went in providing satellite photos of the Iranian troop movements, which Saddam used to pin-point his chemical attacks."
Acting as President Reagan’s personal envoy, Mr. Rumsfeld made two trips to Iraq in an effort to strengthen Saddam in his long, drawn out war against the Islamic Revolutionaries in Iran. Washington feared that Iran’s "human wave attacks" might defeat Iraq, and - as Rumsfeld told his hosts in Baghdad – his government would view that as 'a major strategic defeat’ for the United States.
Rumsfeld and the other Reaganites knew at the time that Saddam was a psychopathic sadist, who brutalized his people, that he harbored Palestinian terrorists in Baghdad, and that he was still trying to build nuclear weapons after Israel bombed his Osirak nuclear reactor. They also knew that he used mustard gas and other illegal chemical weapons "almost daily" against the Iranians.
But no matter. Washington had carefully removed Iraq from the State Department’s list of terrorist-supporting nations, permitting President Reagan to sign National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 114 of 26 November 1983 - "U.S. Policy toward the Iran-Iraq War." Untroubled by human rights, terrorists, or chemical weapons, NSDD 114 clearly posed American priorities: to protect oil supplies, local allies, and the ability to project military force in the Persian Gulf. To those ends, the president authorized "whatever was necessary and legal" to stop Iran from winning the war.
The following month, Rumsfeld met personally with Saddam, who was armed with a big smile and a pistol on his hip. Rumsfeld offered Saddam the resumption of full diplomatic relations, which the dictator gratefully accepted.
According to official U.S. documents, Rumsfeld’s embrace brought Saddam increased satellite intelligence on Iranian troop movements, generous American and international loans, and a supply of tanks, helicopters, and munitions, including the makings of more advanced chemical and biological weapons. Washington also provided Saddam’s Interior Ministry with a computerized database and video surveillance cameras, and in time, American commandos were attacking Iranian patrol boats and blowing up Iranian oil platforms.
"We have seen all the documents on the Internet," said Salem Chalabi, who serves as the tribunal’s chief prosecutor and picks the judges. "But we want Rumsfeld to give us names and details. He was not just an envoy. He was a major player, a key proponent of embracing Saddam."
"Hell, he even assured Tariq Aziz that Washington publicly condemned Iraq’s use of chemical weapons strictly for show."
Tariq Aziz was Saddam’s foreign minister at the time, and now faces prosecution by the tribunal. Mr. Chalabi hopes that he will testify against Mr. Rumsfeld.
Rumsfeld’s indictment marks a major change for the War Crimes Tribunal. With a staff of 50 lawyers, prosecutors and investigators sent by Washington, prosecutor Chalabi had systematically shied away from any crimes related to the Iran-Iraq War, which was by far Saddam’s most murderous endeavor. Now, with Iraq sovereign and self-governing, the focus has shifted to include the long war and Washington’s role in it.
Iranian officials had earlier announced that they wanted the tribunal to consider Saddam’s use of chemical weapons and other war crimes against their soldiers, but the Rumsfeld indictment is the first move in meeting Iran’s demands. Others are expected to follow.
One of many expatriate Iraqis now holding office in Baghdad, Salem Chalabi is the nephew of former Pentagon favorite Ahmed Chalabi, whom Washington now accuses of working for Iran. Neither the Americans nor Iraqis have brought any formal charges against the elder Chalabi.
Nor has Washington officially reacted to the Rumsfeld indictment, though sources close to the Pentagon chief dismiss it as "politically motivated."
"This is precisely why we refuse to allow foreign courts to judge American soldiers or officials," said a colonel in charge of military tribunals for enemy non-combatants. "Foreign tribunals have no judicial independence. Too often, they’re nothing but kangaroo courts."
How, then, would Saddam get a fair trial?
"That’s completely different," said the colonel in a telephone interview. "Everyone knows he’s guilty."
"Besides," he added, "they’ve got us to help them."
Would U.S. forces continue to help censor Saddam’s trial, or Secretary Rumsfeld’s?
The phone went dead. |
