by Arthur Henson
Saturday, Mar. 13, 2004 at 4:55 AM Arthur Henson
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Free Saddam Hussein!
The Bush administration is trying to rig an "Iraqi trial" of that country's legitimate head of state, President Saddam Hussein. All who want a just end to the aggression against Iraq should oppose this farce.
There were no "weapons of mass destruction" found in Iraq. The imperialists have nothing on Saddam. In point of law that's all there is to it. But we are dealing with imperialists, not the law. We must look into their schemes.
About fifty U.S. lawyers have been assembled to be part of the U.S. occupation authority. They will try to fob off a "case" against President Hussein as an Iraqi effort. This outfit will be called the Regime Crimes Adviser's Office. The real regime crimes here are exclusively those of the Bush administration.
The front man in Iraq is Salem Chalabi, nephew of Achmed Chalabi, the embezzler and con man who is a prominent member of the puppet Iraqi Governing Council. Salem Chalabi, a product of Yale and Northwestern University Law School, says he welcomes the U.S. role but "no one should misunderstand that this will be an Iraqi process with decisions by Iraqis." (New York Times, 7 March 2004, "U.S. Team Is Sent to Develop Case in Hussein Trial")
The article lets the cat out of the bag when it quotes a pro-imperialist Egyptian lawyer who says, "With no weapons of mass destruction to be found, the next best thing is to show how bad Saddam was." To hide their violation of all international law the imperialists expect to use a legal procedure! This is part of the larger scheme to set up a puppet government to assist the occupation.
These swindles will deceive no one in Iraq. The patriotic forces prove every day by their deeds that they will not tolerate miserable charades. In the United States, however, there is a vulnerability of the people's forces to these con games. There are several causes.
For one thing, imperialist ideas have wide influence in the antiwar movement. There is intense ruling class division over the occupation. A large sector of the imperialists did not want the occupation because of its risks.
Since there is an antiwar faction of the ruling class, there must necessarily be a pro-imperialist wing of the antiwar movement. The fake "antiwar" but really pro-imperialist British journalist Robert Fisk is an example. If he follows form he will promote this fraud at the top of his lungs.
Such influences have prevented the antiwar movement from understanding the war on the Iraqi side. "War for oil" describes the imperialist side, not that of Iraq. The failure to understand the war from both sides is a profound weakness that the antiwar movement must sooner or later remedy.
For Iraq the war from the outset in 1990 has been for sovereignty, for its right to develop outside the system of imperialist domination. The immediate cause of the war was the political-diplomatic campaign for Arab unity against U.S.-Israeli domination conducted in the spring of 1990 by President Hussein. The U.S. imperialists and the ruling Sabah family of Kuwait rigged up the Kuwait crisis in response.
Through everything President Hussein has defended the sovereignty of his country. For that reason and no other the imperialists have demonized him. Saddam Hussein must always be seen in the context of the great struggle he has waged against imperialism. Otherwise the United States-Iraq war is incomprehensible.
The essential thing is to insist on immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq. Occupation troops are on a permanent rampage. They raid homes and communities. They abduct whomever they wish. Their objective is to suppress the armed resistance of the people.
The people's armed resistance is just. The people's armed resistance is heroic. There can be no democracy or justice in Iraq until the occupiers are gone.
The invader and his rabble of collaborators have neither justification nor right to use violence against anyone in Iraq, not even against the people’s armed resistance. They have neither justification nor right to hold in custody or prosecute any patriotic person. That especially includes President Hussein.
The people of Iraq live today in a jungle of lawlessness forced on them by imperialism. Any imperialist "trial" of President Hussein will only deepen this condition. Only the people’s forces of resistance can end the lawlessness of the occupation.
The people of the United States must come to the aid of the people of Iraq. We must do so for our own sake because the perpetrators of lawlessness, the U.S. imperialists, are just as much a threat to us. The difference is only a matter of timing. We must free our minds of imperialist pollution and demand justice.
Free Saddam Hussein!
Withdraw all foreign troops from Iraq immediately and unconditionally!
