Saddam Hussein’s murder-and-torture trial has been a rocky and
winding road so far. The trial has already resulted in death
threats, murdered witnesses, and fleeing lawyers. The open-and-shut
trial some Americans envisioned has not materialized, dispelling
the illusion that a trial would promptly solve the Saddam
problem.
Last February I had the chance to speak with a visiting Iraqi
student who predicted this very mess. We spoke at Harvard National
Model United Nations. Qusay Hussein, a graduate student in Iraq who
shares no familial relation to Saddam Hussein, first expressed to
me his honest perception of the U.S. involvement in Iraq. When we
came to the topic of Saddam, his account went like this: Saddam
always wanted to be feared, as fear was an effective instrument of
maintaining power; he sought WMDs and was going to get them at any
cost; he enjoyed giving others the impression that he had such
weapons so he could preserve and augment a powerful global
reputation.
Qusay emphasized to me that he, and the majority of Iraqis, were
happy to see Saddam out of power and that the Iraqis want the U.S.
to stabilize the nation before leaving. But then he gravely warned
that as long as Saddam lives, he will be a fatal threat to the
nation. The United States is well intentioned in offering Saddam a
fair trial, he said, but as long as the U.S. lets him open his
mouth, it is risking disaster.
“What did this mean?” I asked him. Saddam’s exceptional
oratorical skills significantly bolstered his rise to power, Qusay
explained, and a televised trial will give him the exact
opportunity he needs to galvanize the people again. In the past, he
has shown a masterful ability to rile the people up, not through
intelligent talk per se, but through motivational rhetoric. He may
not convince them all, said Qusay, but if he can convince enough
people to form a band of fellow scaremongers, he will have
succeeded.
It seems my Iraqi friend was right. Saddam has already convinced
some followers to terrorize those involved in the trial. And in his
parrying with the judge in the trial he has displayed his signature
wiles: “They are in our country. You are an Iraqi, you are
sovereign and they are foreigners, invaders, and occupiers.”
In our conversation Qusay also suggested that the U.S.’s fair
treatment of prisoners — far gentler than Middle Eastern standards
— has slowed its campaign to rip up terrorist threats in Iraq. He
has a point. After all, just two weeks ago we learned a man by the
name of Safaa Mohammed Ali, one of the suicide bombers who blasted
the Amman hotels in Jordan, was once detained by U.S. forces in
Iraq, but soon released due to a lack of “compelling evidence” that
would fairly justify further detainment.
