Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

The Saddam trial

When I saw the headline `Saddam Hussein sentenced to death' in The Hindu on November 6, I thought I should perhaps write a brief note about the injustice in the whole affair. Then I read the editorial "A travesty of justice." It was a bold and brilliant piece of writing. I shall continue to read The Hindu by subscribing to it while in Chennai and online when I go to Vancouver, Canada, during summer.

P.K. Sundara Rajan,
Chennai

The manner in which Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death shows that the U.S. was both prosecutor and judge. I am reminded of Bernard Shaw's play The Man of Destiny, in which Napoleon says: "an Englishman is never in the wrong. He does everything on principle. He fights you on patriotic principles; he enslaves you on imperialistic principles; he robs you on business principles; he supports his king on loyal principles and cuts off his head on Republican principles." The Americans seem to have imbibed the "principles."

K.S.S. Sarma,
Kurnool, A.P.

It is a pity that the whole world is witness to George Bush and Tony Blair perpetrating one of the worst crimes against humanity. What Saddam Hussein did to the people of Iraq is minuscule compared to the atrocities committed by the Bush-Blair combine.

Shabana Navas,
Kollam, Kerala

The verdict produced by a trial, less than fair, could not have been otherwise. The U.S. ensured that the judgment was what it was. It had to justify its flawed decision to invade Iraq on a flimsy pretext.

D.B.N. Murthy,
Bangalore

America invaded Iraq on the basis of blatant lies. When there was no legality in removing Saddam Hussein from power, how can the so-called court set up with the blessing of an occupation power sentence him to death?

Abdullah Khan,
Hyderabad

The trial was a farce, the outcome of which was decided even before the court was constituted.

Many factors undermine its credibility, main among them the facts that the chief judge, Rauf Rashid Abdel Rahman, is a Kurd who belongs to Halabja — where Saddam's forces allegedly used chemical weapons against the inhabitants — and three defence lawyers were assassinated during the trial. Saddam Hussein deserves to be punished if he is responsible for the killing of 148 people in Dujail. But the punishment should be handed down after a fair trial.

D.K. Pathak,
Buland Shahr, U.P.

I don't want to defend Saddam Hussein. To kill 148 people in the name of retaliation is unpardonable. But why was the killing of thousands of people by the U.S. dismissed as collateral damage?

Mazhar Wahab,
New Delhi

While the death penalty may be justifiable because Saddam Hussein has acknowledged that he signed the death warrants of the men in Dujail, we must also spare a thought for the countless innocents who have lost their lives in the meaningless "Operation Iraqi Freedom."

Who will bring to justice those whose acts have led to thousands of innocent civilian deaths in Palestine, Afghanistan, and Iraq? Who will be held accountable for the Qana massacre? It is time the world opened its eyes to the other criminals in our midst.

Abdul Rahman Noor,
Chennai

Justice should not only be done, it should also be seen to have been done. While Saddam Hussein has no doubt committed unpardonable crimes against humanity, he has won more sympathisers thanks to the farcical trial and the verdict.

K.J. Joseph,
Chennai

The unfair trial and verdict will only make Saddam a martyr, camouflaging his wrongdoings.

D.V.G. Sankara Rao,
Vizianagaram, A.P.

As in the case of every brutal dictator, Saddam Hussein is at the receiving end now. How can we forget the attack on Kuwait that killed thousands of people and forced thousands to flee the country? How can he complain about injustice when he was a law unto himself, torturing and eliminating his opponents at will? The sentence awarded to the former President is based on the available evidence against him.

P.N.P. Nambisan,
Thrissur, Kerala

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