The man\u2019s a bona fide survivor, isn\u2019t he? Hundreds of thousands of his victims inside and outside Iraq are dead. His sons are dead. Thousands of people mired in the mess he left have recently died. But Saddam Hussein lives on. He\u2019s harder to kill than a cockroach in the deepest crevice, more difficult to eliminate than metastasizing cancer. It\u2019s even tougher to kill this guy than it was to terminate Hitler. The Fuehrer, at least, was willing to kill himself. Saddam Hussein will never do that. He\u2019s going to try to carry on forever, denouncing his enemies as dogs and curs, and doubtless planning long diatribes he\u2019s unlikely to be permitted to deliver. He\u2019ll have opportunities to speak in the courtroom, of course, but the rules have changed and he\u2019ll eventually have to accept he really is the former President of Iraq. <\/p>\n
\tFor the time being, he is also a man who\u2019s had to appear in court without the internationally-mandated right to have an attorney by his side. Furthermore, no Iraqi reporters were allowed to attend, and initial video footage was released without sound to the media. Later, the tapes were censored and re-released. Can you imagine an occupying power denying American reporters access to a trial here of a former leader of this country? It\u2019s outrageous. The Bush administration must make sure that Saddam\u2019s new legal team \u2013 see the column of July ninth below \u2013 has full access to its client and can represent him in court. Without those fundamental rights, Arabs and others will see this trial as a sham and another insult ground into their faces by the world\u2019s solitary and ever-righteous superpower.<\/p>\n
\tThe United States is entirely correct, however, in dictating that this trial will not be televised either live or on a delayed basis. Doing so would give the charismatic Saddam a chance to rhetorically attack the invaders of his country, and his passion would resonate with a significant segment of the population. Even without much footage from the courtroom, Saddam\u2019s perceived bravery and willingness to fight the occupiers might still win some support. How much support? And how would that empathy manifest? That depends on the economic and social progress in Iraq. If people have security and sustenance, then not more than ten percent would passionately support Saddam, and their passion would usually be expressed in nonviolent ways. But if the United States and the new Iraqi government cannot enhance peace and prosperity, a large segment of Iraqis will distort the prism of recent history and view Saddam as a strong and effective leader who spat at the infidels. Remember the early years of the new democratic Russia. As poverty and crime increased, many older people yearned for the days of Stalin, of certitude wrought by repression, and Stalin had already been dead forty years.<\/p>\n
\tSaddam yet lives. Let his existence motivate those who want to embrace democracy and forever bury the brutality and incompetence of the past. That will require realistic thinking and truthful statements. In other words, the Bush administration is going to have to stop the irritating mantra: \u201cIt\u2019s only Al-Quaeda and other foreign elements perpetrating violence in Iraq.\u201d That\u2019s garbage. On July ninth, the Associated Press released an article quoting United States military officials who insist the insurgency is comprised of far more than five thousand men. Hell, the U.S. killed four thousand in April, and still has more enemies now than then. The officials logically explained that the insurgents are led by Iraqi Sunnis outraged at losing their power and privileges when Saddam scurried into a hole. There are dozens of regional cells, many led by tribal sheiks, that can summon \u201cpart-time fighters to boost forces as high as twenty thousand.\u201d The cells are well-designed to raise hell. According to military analysts cited by the AP, one Baghdad cell is comprised of two leaders, one assassin, and two groups of bomb makers.<\/p>\n
\tIt\u2019s difficult to tabulate all the times in recent months that unnamed U.S. officials have said the insurgents have so much support \u201cthey cannot be militarily defeated.\u201d That opinion was again reported on July ninth. Does the Bush administration read these reports? We must presume that George W. Bush does not because he doesn\u2019t like to read or study or be contradicted or have his rigid doctrines in any way challenged. His world, like that of the hapless Dick Cheney, is eternally simple: the bad guy is only who we say he is and he is not from Iraq, not now that Saddam\u2019s in custody. But as the death toll of American soldiers soars, maybe someone else in the administration will read the report to Bush. Regardless, he is soon going to have to admit the truth. Many Iraqis are unhappy about the occupation. And since they can\u2019t be militarily defeated and repressed in perpetuity, the solution will have to come through diplomacy. Relationships between Iraqi democrats and insurgents must be established. Shared objectives, such as having decent jobs and enough to eat, must be emphasized. If insurgents can be convinced that a peaceful and prosperous Iraq is being built, then most of them will throw away their rifles and bombs and pick up hammers and computer chips.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The man\u2019s a bona fide survivor, isn\u2019t he? Hundreds of thousands of his victims inside and outside Iraq are dead. His sons are dead. Thousands of people mired in the mess he left have recently died. But Saddam Hussein lives on. He\u2019s harder to kill than a cockroach in the deepest crevice, more difficult to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,3,39],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n