Iraq Media Developments

The question Al-Qasim poses to viewers for voting via the Internet and telephone is: "Do you support having Saddam Husayn tried by the new Iraqi Government?" Al-Qasim reports that the majority of votes so far oppose a trial of Saddam Husayn. Hamdan is an advocate of this view because he believes Saddam did a great deal of good for his country and Al-Qasim begins with him. Hamdan claims that Saddam and the Iraqi people were tried and sentenced by the mere decision of the coalition to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Husayn. He says this is a dangerous precedent and states: "What sort of international legitimacy is this that legitimizes an illegal aggression?"

Abd-al-Samad argues that there is no parallel to Saddam Husayn as a dictator in the region or anywhere else in the world. He says: "Saddam Husayn must be tried as a politician. The nationalist, racist, and sectarian way of thinking must be tried." All those who collaborated with Saddam and covered up for him must be tried for their policies and ideals. He expresses gratitude that Saddam did not die in battle, because had he died, "he would have been transformed into an Arab hero and Islamic icon." He explains that the Iraqi people stood against Saddam Husayn many times in the past, but did not succeed in toppling him.

Hamdan lists all Saddam Husayn's achievements since he came to power, such as nationalizing the oil industry of Iraq in 1972. He provides statistics on the improved per capita income in the country after the nationalization of oil. He also lists the developments and progress in the country's infrastructure, such as in agriculture, road and dam construction, education, nuclear reactor construction, and others. Al-Qasim poses a question to Abd-al-Samad asking why those who advocate a trial of Saddam Husayn ignore all the achievements he realized for his country, such as educating his people, improving their standard of living, and others. Abd-al-Samad argues: "The real value of life lies in the human being. Material things can be improved, developed, elevated, or delayed." If everything is done for the sake of the human being, then that is fine, he continues; but if the human being is transformed into an oppressed and persecuted person inside his own country, then ma terial progress means nothing. He reviews the bloody background of Saddam Husayn ever since his youth, including having killed his own sons-in-law. Al-Qasim again updates the viewers votes saying 74.1 per cent of voters are opposed to the trial while 25.9 per cent are for the trial.

Going back to Hamdan, Al-Qasim asks him what use Saddam's achievements were when the legacy he left behind was his "bestiality." Hamdan argues that most cases of transformation in history from a weaker and lesser state to a more developed and stronger position have taken place at the hands of either central governments or dictators, such as Cromwell in Britain, Napoleon in France, Bismarck in Germany, and elsewhere. Hamdan expresses the view that "Iraq is being taken to account, tried, and monitored in a way completely different from the methods Israel or the United States are using against any other Arab country."

Al-Qasim asks Abd-al-Samad what he has to say to voting viewers, the majority of whom are opposed to a trial of Saddam Husayn. Al-Qasim notes that 90 per cent of e-mails the programme is receiving come from Iraq. Abd-al-Samad explains that Saddam's regime used media and the propaganda machine very well to further its own interests and viewpoints. Slogans were used to manipulate the minds of the Arab people. He argues that the reason why 90 per cent of e-mails from Iraq vote against trying Saddam Husayn is because those Iraqis who have computers and access to e-mail are former regime supporters and members who have the money to afford computers and Internet access in Iraq now. He also points out that Saddam is the one who served the interests of Israel by attacking his neighbours and using oppression against his own people.

Al-Qasim turns to Hamdan asking him whether he believes the reports about the torture of the Iraqi people and the mass-graves or whether these are lies. Hamdan says: "To begin with, let us admit that the Iraqi regime since 1968 has been a central regime revolving around one person, a regime with an agenda, like any other regime in the world." On the issue of mass-graves and Saddam's victims, he focuses on the Halabjah events, where Iraq's Kurds were gassed by Saddam Husayn. He cites international writers and journalists who reported at that time that on 15 March 1988 the Peshmerga of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan facilitated passage for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard into Halabjah from Iran. He argues that the Iraqi Army responded to this incident. He also notes that the gassing of the Kurds remained covered up by the media until 1990. He also maintains that the Iraqis only used mustard gas against the Kurds, while the chemical weapons that were used on the Kur ds came from the Iranians.

Abd-al-Samad vehemently rejects these arguments saying there are Iraqi governmental documents sanctioning the use of chemical weapons and recordings of conversations by Iraqi government officials ordering the use of such weapons against the Kurds. A caller from Egypt defends Saddam Husayn saying he was a distinguished Arab leader who did not betray the Arab nation by allowing an Israeli embassy to open in Baghdad. He highlights the services Saddam's Iraq offered other Arabs, such as free education, support during wars, and others. A caller from the Netherlands argues that Saddam's trial is a trial of the failures of all Arab leaders.

Zayid al-Radaydah, one of Saddam Husayn's team of lawyers, phones in from Jordan to say that the US media machine wants to cover up the crime of invading and occupying Iraq. He notes that the objective behind the Saddam trial is to divert attention from the dilemmas the United States is suffering in Iraq. He presents the legal case behind trying Saddam Husayn saying that domestic Iraqi law provides legal immunity to the president. He also elaborates that after Iraq was occupied, Saddam, as the legitimate president of Iraq, declared resistance against the occupation. He never signed a capitulation document, he points out. Further, he explains that the president of the court trying Saddam Husayn, Salim Chalabi, is not a legitimate president of a court because according to Iraqi law, a judge cannot be a dual national and Chalabi holds US nationality also. He also claims that he has a Jewish lawyer partner who has an office in Tel Aviv. Another caller argues that Saddam is a tra itor since he collaborated with the Americans and fragmented the region in the interest of Israel and the United States.

A shouting match ensues between the two guests in the studio. Hamdan says reports about Saddam hiding in a hole may very well be fabricated since that piece of information comes from one source only. Abd-al-Samad shouts back that the mass-graves and gassing operations are all true. They cannot have been fabricated because there are witnesses. Hamdan says Saddam is a brave man, not a coward who runs away from a battle.

The last question Al-Qasim asks is why isn't Saddam Husayn going to be tried by an international court like Serbia's Milosevic is. Abd-al-Samad answers: "Clearly because the crimes of the executioner Milosevic were committed against other peoples, such as Bosnia and Croatia, while Saddam Husayn's crimes were committed against the Iraqi people." Hamdan's response to the same question is that "because those who are trying him are Israel and the United States."