Posted on 10/14/2005 9:05:39 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US officials might see the trial of Saddam Hussein, which opens on Wednesday, as helping to justify an increasingly unpopular Iraq war, but it could end up as a double-edged sword for them, analysts said.
They said the Americans could use Saddam's trial for crimes against humanity in a 1982 massacre of Shiites as a reminder of the cruel and ruthless regime they toppled in April 2003.
They said the high-profile quest for justice could also provide a welcome counterpoint to the daily grind of violence and political turmoil that has plagued post-Saddam Iraq.
But experts also said the proceedings could turn on the United States if they were seen in the Muslim world as another example of American humiliation heaped upon a once-proud Arab leader.
Officials also braced for the possibility that Saddam's defense strategy may include highlighting past US support for the dictator whom Washington later demonized and chased from power.
Jane Arraf, of the Council of Foreign Relations think tank, predicted that the administration of President George W. Bush "will do everything they can to capitalise" on the long-awaited trial.
"When you think of it, here they are putting on trial somebody that they believe has committed some of the worst crimes in history," said Arraf, former Baghdad bureau chief for CNN.
The case was coming up at a time when Iraqi insurgents were becoming steadily emboldened, US domestic support for the war was plunging and polls showed a majority of Americans feeling the invasion was a mistake.
In one sense the timing could be fortuitous for US officials, who were left with Saddam's oppression of his people as the main justification for the invasion after his suspected weapons of mass destruction were never found.
Analysts said the trial might take pressure off an administration struggling to defend the continued presence of 140,000 US troops in Iraq and a death toll pushing 2,000 to an American public clearly growing impatient.
"Anytime they can point to something concrete, something that's happening, it helps them refute all the allegations, all the daily news that comes in on the ongoing violence and the more-structural problems," Arraf said.
Administration officials have not lost a chance to excoriate Saddam in the runup to the trial.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice blasted him two weeks ago as a "monster" who tortured opponents, made them witness the rape of their wives and daughters and filled his pockets while children starved to death.
But Thomas Carothers, of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, said the trial was unlikely to have much impact on the Iraqi public which has already made up its mind about Saddam one way or another.
"I don't think the trial of Saddam Hussein will convince some Iraqis that he was a bad person if they don't already believe so and I don't think it will convince them the US did a good thing invading their country if they don't already think so," Carothers said.
"The trial of Slobodan Milosevic has not helped the anti-Milosevic forces or the international community's reputation in Serbia," he said.
Arraf said highly publicized proceedings against the former Iraqi strongman could trigger a backlash in the Arab world.
"Even though a lot of Iraqis hate him, they also hate the way this has turned out," she said. "They feel they have been humiliated by the (US) occupation and Saddam is the symbol of that humiliation."
Some US officials have speculated the trial could dredge up some embarrassing history for the United States which wooed Saddam in the 1980s as an ally against Iran before turning on him when he invaded Kuwait in 1990.
They wonder what could come out if Saddam was allowed to speak freely or call witnesses such as US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was sent as a US envoy to Baghdad 22 years ago.
"Of course, there would be concern if bad things were aired," a senior State Department official said this week. "But at the same time, that's not going to stop the Iraqi process from moving forward."
"When you think of it, here they are putting on trial somebody that they believe has committed some of the worst crimes in history," said Arraf, former Baghdad bureau chief for CNN.
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Idiot.
"I don't think the trial of Saddam Hussein will convince some Iraqis that he was a bad person if they don't already believe so and I don't think it will convince them the US did a good thing invading their country if they don't already think so," Carothers said.
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SideNote - re: Carnegie Endowment for Peace
Guess who is on the Board of Trustees.
Jamie Gorelick, Partner, Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr
The entire Muslim World hates America IN ANY CASE.
Fry 'em quick.
Is anything ever a single edged sword?
Yeah, Saddam's rapid trial, conviction and execution.
This is no double-edged sword for the US. It will be welcomed by all Iraqis except for some die-hard Baathists. This is just Agence France Presse trying to make it a double-edged sword.
It's a win for the new Iraq and for the US. Period.
Try him, then release him to the Kurds.
I can't wait to see how the MSM misquotes, misinterprets, quotes without context, and outright makes stuff up about the trial.
BING! BING !BING !
We have a winner!!
Sourcing like this should be manditory in the MSM....don't laugh, I know it'll never happen.
Saddam will lie and acuse us of every heinous crime he's charged with.
And, mark my words, the MSM will hang on his every word as if he's the second coming of Christ.
"Before we're through with them the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell".
And a few months later they had their own waterloo out in the seas near Midway Island....4 carriers down and not a pot to piss in...oh yeah!
LOL! Haven't these experts been shamed into silence by having their predictions proven wrong time and again regarding Iraq?
" seen in the Muslim world as another example of American humiliation heaped upon a once-proud Arab leader."
Like I really give 2 flying craps what THEY think .
.Hang em high and show the world the US is NOT to be messed with
Yes. He should never have been taken alive. We'll likely regret it tho' who knows what the court will do.
I totally disagree.
I think the trial will resound throughout the world of Islam, and make them all face up to the horrors being done in the name of the Death Cult.
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