The Hindu Business Line : The quagmire worsens in Iraq

Saddam Hussein is dead, but the al-Maliki Government in Iraq and its masters in Washington D.C. have ensured that his ghost will haunt the country, if not the West. The unseemly hurry with which the Shiite Iraqi government rushed through the hanging of Saddam Hussein, the choice of the day being Bakri Id, when Muslims sacrifice goats, the shocking video clip that shows his persecutors taunting a man about to be hanged, and above all, the steadfast, calm and even slightly scornful manner in which Saddam took the insults moments before his end, have made a hero of a tyrant.

In hanging Hussein after a dubious trial, during which the judges were often changed (at the instructions of the Bush regime) and the defendant's lawyers were murdered, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mr Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has ensured that Saddam Hussein will not be forgotten.

Act of desperation

The execution was seen by the world as a desperate act that reveals the sense of insecurity of the dispensation in Baghdad.

The US President, Mr George W. Bush's so-called war against terror will now flounder and the standoff between the Islamic world and the West, particularly, the US, can get worse.

Though no attempt was made by the Americans to hand over the trial proceedings to an international court, and the `guilty' verdict was expected, not only in this case (the murder of 148 Shiites for the attack on his motorcade in 1982) but several others, it was hardly necessary to execute him, and that too in such a desperate hurry. He could easily have been locked away; surely the al-Maliki government realises that Saddam Hussein forgotten in an obscure jail cell would have been less potent than the dead man who may well acquire the status of a martyr.

But, obviously, the desire for revenge by a Shiite government, not to mention the personal anger and animosity Mr Bush felt against Saddam Hussein for reasons dating back to his father's regime vis-à-vis the 1991 Gulf War and the Senior Bush's inability to dethrone the Iraqi ruler then, were so great that nothing short of killing a defeated man would do.

And one cannot forget the total disconnect between the justification and the trumped up reasons for the attack on Iraq in 2003 by the US-led forces and the reality that emerged after Saddam's fall — that that were indeed no weapons of mass destruction.

What can explain Mr Bush's hatred, even petulance, more than the fact that Saddam Hussein's revolver unearthed in the dirt-hole from which he was captured, is now in the possession of the American President? Apparently, Mr Bush loves to show it off to special visitors to the White House. One may wonder why the revolver of a tyrant-cum-dictator, who had committed so many "sins against humanity", should so fascinate the most powerful man in the world.

But the egos of powerful mortals and their compulsions in the world of geopolitics are but a side-story in the traumatic saga of Iraq, where hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, and continue to die every day. And all this because the Bush-Blair duo got their facts wrong on Iraq pursuing a nuclear and chemical weapons programme. Which brave soul is going to ask for their trial before a court of justice for this mass murder of innocent civilians? For the devastation of a sovereign nation where, undoubtedly, a tyrant held sway, but where the conditions of living and people's security were far better than what they now are.

If their assault on Iraq is not a crime against humanity, surely the words need to be redefined. And what great improvement has Iraq's puppet government brought about in the lives of the Iraqi people through the route of `democracy'? And why is democracy not that important when the tyrants are your friends, as Saddam Hussein once was to the Americans, who encouraged him to attack Iran.

These are the anguished questions from a country where misery and violence rule, where the once rich and proud are grateful for two decent meals and a daily escape from the violence and carnage that rocks their country today.

World reaction

This event can bring the Islamic world together to speak with one voice so that western nations and foreign interests do not plunder their world.But that is unlikely to happen. Libya's Muammar Gadhafi was the only Muslim leader to do more than pay lip service to Saddam Hussein's execution; he cancelled all Eid celebrations and declared a three-day mourning in his country. Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai indulged in mere tokenism when he questioned the timing of the execution but said that it was the Iraq government's decision. Pakistan made some noises but made it clear it had no sympathy for Saddam (remember, he had refused to toe Pakistan's line on Kashmir and had supported India on the issue).

European countries merely used the event to reiterate their opposition to death penalty.

Along expected lines Iran and Kuwait hailed al-Maliki's great act, and the general reaction in the Arab world was mixed, but even in countries such as Pakistan and Syria, civil society was outraged by the act, particularly its timing. A Syrian civilian, quoted in an agency report, made this political statement: "It's a big humiliation to Arab leaders because the US wants to send them a message. If they don't obey the US they will have the same ending. This is the decision of the occupying forces and the illegal government." The irony of being in power is that it doesn't permit you to say bluntly what an aam admi can!

It was left to India and Russia to criticise the execution but Moscow was more forthright in predicting that violence will only escalate in Iraq, while New Delhi indulged in some wishful thinking, saying: "We hope that this unfortunate event will not affect the process of reconciliation, restoration of peace and normalcy in Iraq".

We already live in a divided and hate-filled world. The hanging of Saddam Hussein on the eve of New Year has made that world more dangerous, and injected more poison of hatred in the minds and hearts of people.

(Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in)