Newsletter No. 476
News-Analysis
January 3, 2007

 

Our first newsletter of the year will look at two Iraq-related stories:

JAPANESE REACTIONS TO THE EXECUTION OF SADDAM HUSAIN

There has been a rather low-key response to the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Husain. In fact, even the United States produced much better and more nuanced accounts of the Iraqi leader’s final act.

As for the main political leaders, their statements were short and non-committal. Said Prime Minister Abe, “Japan hopes Iraq will turn into a stable country and will continue supporting the country together with the international community.” Added Foreign Minister Aso: “Japan hopes the Iraqi government will overcome such tough issues as national reconciliation and improvement in public order to become a stable state. Japan, in coordination with the international community, will continue assisting the Iraqi government's efforts” -- pretty anodyne stuff.

However, a MOFA spokesman went a little further: “This is a decision made by Iraq's new government on the rule of law. We respect it.” Rule of law? Really?

Even the conservative Yomiuri Shinbun (!) ventured to assert that, “We believe the execution was carried out too hastily and was politically motivated.” Their full editorial is provided below.

But the Japan Times really takes the cake on this one. Their editorial makes little mention of his trial, but contains a much stronger than usual denunciation of the former Iraqi president: “Hussein's rule was built upon deceit -- the gap between his rhetoric of resistance and his pitiful surrender was one example of the awful truth. While he cloaked his rule in a veneer of nationalism and pan-Arabism, Hussein ruled by sheer brute force. He tolerated no dissent and rewarded loyalty rather than ability. The resulting fear ensured that he would come to a bad end.”

The Japan Times and other commentators are surely correct to note the sheer brutality of the Husain regime. It was a bloody-minded government that used torture and execution and even poison gas against its real and perceived internal enemies. One can thus make a strong case that Husain met a fitting end after all of the killing and torturing that he and his regime carried out.

However, mention of his “pitiful surrender” is going too far. Say what you want about Saddam Husain, but one thing he never lacked was courage. He hung on tightly to his Arab nationalist beliefs long after most other Arab dictators had turned hypocrite and cut their deals with Washington. More notably, when he was imprisoned and then put into the hands of his enemies for execution, he conducted himself with remarkable dignity and fortitude.

How many of us would have broken down under all of that pressure and pleaded for mercy? Husain never did -- even under penalty of his life. We may fairly call him brutal and thuggish -- but a coward he was surely not.

But not only does the Japan Times stoop to imply that Husain was a coward, they also provide this amusing account of his rise to power: “Hussein was a mid-level army officer when he seized power with several other Ba'ath party members in 1968. Eleven years later, after working behind the scenes to purge any suspected opposition to the regime, Hussein seized the presidency when it became clear that he was next to be eliminated.”

What kind of idiocy is this? How can the editors of the Japan Times pontificate on Saddam Husain when they are clearly ignorant even about the basic facts of his career?

First of all, Saddam Husain was never a military officer of any kind -- he was a civilian activist and street tough. This, in fact, was a major political issue during the Iran-Iraq War. Also, the president of Iraq from 1968 to 1979 was Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr al-Tikriti, Saddam’s kinsman and ally. There is no evidence that al-Bakr was planning to eliminate Husain. In fact, when young Husain and his allies pushed al-Bakr aside in 1979, they simply put him into an honorable and peaceful retirement. It was the first time since the Iraqi Revolution of 1958 that an ex-president was treated well and given state honors (and only the second time that an ex-president had left the office alive!) However, al-Bakr died in 1982 under contested circumstances.

At any rate, there is a considerable amount of evidence that suggests that Husain and the Bath Party rose to power in the 1960s with the aid of the CIA. After the Iraqi Revolution of 1958, the strongest political party in Iraq was the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP), which was supported by most intellectuals, and had a substantial mass following as well. It is alleged that the CIA covertly supported the Arab nationalist Bathists in order to chip away at ICP power. This led to the bloody 1963 coup in which much of the ICP was physically eliminated by Bathists and the Iraqi military. Some accounts have it that the CIA aided this coup.

More research needs to be done on that period, but what is incontestable is that Washington supported Saddam Husain’s Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War both politically and materially. The picture of Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Husain is now quite well known.

Photo: Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Husain in December 1983
Source: Unknown

When Baghdad started using poison gas against the Iranians and the Iraqi Kurds, the Reagan Administration knew all about it, and said nothing. Tacitly, therefore, Washington acquiesced in the Husain regime’s use of poison gas. It was only after the August 1990 invasion of Kuwait that the American political establishment suddenly “discovered” the “genocidal” nature of the Iraqi regime.

The point of this detour is only to make a simple but important point: Much of the Japanese media doesn’t know the full truth about Saddam Husain, and probably doesn’t want to know. The editors of the Japan Times, in particular, would do well to learn the basic facts before they draw such decided judgments.

Saddam Husain had his crimes to pay for -- but so do we all.

And the history being what it is, we have little ground to get too self-righteous about this man and his deeds.

TWO MORE YEARS FOR THE ASDF MISSION IN IRAQ?

The Japanese government recently extended the ASDF mission in Iraq to July 2007. The Yomiuri Shinbun has now reported that the Abe Administration may ask for a further two-year extension of the mission to July 2009. If the report is accurate, then it shows that Abe still has no intention of finding the doorway out of Iraq. But we’ll see what 2007 actually brings…

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SADDAM’S EXECUTION WON’T SOLVE IRAQ’S WOES
By the Yomiuri Shinbun
December 31, 2006

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging Saturday for crimes against humanity, just four days after the appeals court finalized the sentence handed down by the Iraqi High Tribunal.

However, we believe the execution was carried out too hastily and was political motivated. We need to assess how his execution will affect the reconstruction of Iraq, which desperately needs national reconciliation.

Saddam ruled Iraq with an iron fist for about 30 years and maintained stability in the country by oppressing the Shiites and Kurds. He had been the crowning symbol of Sunni rule of the country.

His execution might fuel the fire of sectarian conflict that has been intensifying and threatens to tear the country apart. Because of this, some observers predicted there would be room for political maneuvering about the timing of sending Saddam to the gallows. Instead, the administration of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which is dominated by Shiites, rushed the process that resulted in Saddam's execution.

A Major Gamble

Did Maliki's administration try to sate the thirst for vengeance among Shiites and Kurds in order to display its authority over the country as the security situation threatens to spiral out of control? Did the administration think the current situation is so serious that it would not be affected significantly by the fate of Saddam? Whatever the case, the execution must be viewed as a major gamble.

Maliki's most pressing priority is to bring about national reconciliation. Without this, any attempt to maintain his administration and rebuild the nation would be cut off at the knees. After Saddam's execution, a bomb planted in a minibus killed more than 35 people in a fish market in a mostly Shiite town south of Baghdad. The bomb's connection with the execution was not immediately known, but the Maliki administration must have expected that Sunnis would intensify the offensive against his fragile administration in retribution for Saddam's death.

A Chance Missed?

Saddam's trial was an excellent chance to test Iraq's fledgling democracy, but the fairness of the trial was questioned by some observers. Allegations of intervention by political leaders also tainted the trial process. Iraq's new leaders, who were chosen through democratic elections, may have squandered a prime opportunity to leave as a precedent a democratically conducted trial of a dictator who regularly flouted the rule of law. We also are concerned that Saddam's execution will make it very difficult to find out the truth about other crimes committed by his administration, such as mass killings of Kurds and the invasion of Kuwait.

Assistance for Iraq's reconstruction from the international community, especially by the United States, has taken on an even greater importance. U.S. President George W. Bush is scheduled to reveal his new Iraq policy early next year. Forthright examinations of Bush's past Iraqi policy are crucial to determine what its flaws were and why it did not pan out as planned.

The Bush administration needs to devise a flexible, effective policy to ensure its assistance to Iraq's reconstruction achieves its goals.