WHEN Saddam Hussein stood for re-election in 2002, he received 100 percent of the vote. More remarkably, the electoral authorities managed to complete the count the same day. Such was the vanity of the dictator that he could not tolerate the idea that anyone in the country might not approve of his bloody rule.
Yesterday, while Saddam sat defiantly in a Baghdad courtroom, the results of a very different Iraqi vote, the referendum on the new constitution, were still being tabulated with serious allegations of fraud being investigated. The idea of a free vote, let alone a result which could be held up by vote-rigging checks, is clearly entirely alien to the ousted dictator. Indeed he probably thinks the authorities mad to be making difficulties for themselves when clearly they want a “Yes” vote and by the look of it, by fair means or foul, it has been achieved.
Saddam’s way of rule was very different. Those who were with him were relatively safe. Those who were against him were dead. There was no middle ground and no compromise. His Baathist regime ruled by fear. The favored elite, not least the people around his hometown of Tikrit were the main beneficiaries, but no one, not even friends and close relatives, was safe from the violent results of the dictator’s suspicions. The contempt with which Saddam treated the Iraqi court yesterday reflected the disdain he demonstrated in his glory days for all Iraqis, every one of whom was within his control.
After his initial insolent treatment of the judges, his plea of “not guilty” was actually, whether he realized it or not, a belated recognition of the court’s authority. He has thus taken the first step to be examined in detail about the crimes that have been laid at his door. The prosecution in this and future trials will try to show that Saddam himself gave specific instructions for the murder of Iraqis who were suspected of opposing him. As a fallback, they will try to prove that even though, like Hitler and the Nazi death camps, Saddam may have left no clear paper trail, he deliberately created the brutal climate in which subordinates knew that they could massacre suspected opponents with his absolute approval.
It is the same merciless climate of violence that now disfigures post-Saddam Iraq as Al-Qaeda terrorists work with die-hard Baathists to try and destroy the political pluralism that US military intervention has brought about. The doubts about last week’s referendum result may be embarrassing to Washington, which initially hailed the outcome, but the plain fact is that the vote took place and the results are quietly being assessed for malpractice. At one point yesterday, Saddam asked angrily “What does this court want?” The question demonstrated his inability to understand that the calm and measured proceedings of the trial reflect the quest of all Iraqis to live their lives in peace and justice without fear and violence. For every community it is a major challenge to work with each other through negotiation and compromise but all but the blind know it is the only way forward.
