The Hindu Business Line : Saddam's nemesis

FOR at least the whole of this week, there is going to be no escape from the barrage of commentaries over the printed and electronic media on the capture of Saddam Hussein. I too find myself in the grip of the temptation to have my say! It is certainly a memorable event in more senses than one.

Here was a person who had been given a tremendous build-up in Western countries, as someone who strode upon the world's stage as a grisly apparition of gargantuan proportions whose removal from the scene was essential for the peace and security of all other nations.

Especially for the US and the UK, he was the one unshakable fixation in their minds and their success in bringing Iraq to heel was not complete without their capturing him dead or alive. One can be sure that in the 10 months since the fall of Iraq, the full rigour and might of all their forces were applied literally to leave no stone unturned to get him.

Saddam, perhaps, is the first head of state to fall into the hands of victors in war after Napoleon Bonaparte. The cruelties inflicted on the latter when he was held prisoner in St.Helena can offer no consolation to poor Saddam. The US, for all its claims to be a land of liberal values, has a vindictive, or even sadistic, streak.

This was evident in the way it savaged the Japanese-Americans in the wake of Pearl Harbour and is now ill-treating the detenus in Guantanamo Bay. It has once again gone overboard venting its spleen by forcing Saddam to indignities such as standing up and sitting down at the command of his guard. Such a humiliation is not inflicted on even errant schoolboys these days.

Finally, with Saddam safely in their custody, the energies of the two main powers in the coalition can be directed at similarly unearthing Osama bin Laden whose capture is, if anything, more pivotal in rooting out the prime inspiration and instigation for catastrophic global terrorism.

Since these exploits are crucial for advancing the electoral prospects of the US President, Mr George Bush, for a second term, efforts to get hold of bin Laden must be going on at a white hot pace in all continents. My guess is it will not be long before that chase also comes to a triumphant end. Here, I can give Mr Bush a tip: Focus laser-like your hunt in the lanes and bylanes and madarsas of Pakistan, particularly its tribal areas.

The one redeeming feature is the declaration by the US that Saddam has been given all the privileges of a prisoner-of-war and his trial will be fair and open, as per procedures acceptable to the international community. It must be held in Iraq and under UN auspices, if it is to command any credibility.

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