Saddam Hussein was summarily executed on the day before New Year's Eve, and now he not only will escape trial for the killing of 180,000 Kurds during the notorious Anfal campaign (he was offed by the Shiite Dawa Party for killing 148 of their own during the 1980s) ... he actually had those charges dropped. Seriously. Read on:
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein and his cousin ``Chemical Ali'' discussed how chemical weapons would exterminate thousands before unleashing them on Kurds in 1988, according to tapes played on Monday in a trial of former Iraqi officials.
``I will strike them with chemical weapons and kill them all,'' a voice identified by prosecutors as ``Chemical Ali'' Hassan al-Majeed is heard saying.
``Who is going to say anything? The international community? Curse the international community,'' the voice continued.
``Yes, it's effective, especially on those who don't wear a mask immediately, as we understand,'' a voice identified as Saddam is heard saying on another tape.
``Sir, does it exterminate thousands?'' a voice asks back.
``Yes, it exterminates thousands and forces them not to eat or drink and they will have to evacuate their homes without taking anything with them, until we can finally purge them,'' the voice identified as Saddam answers.
With Saddam's chair empty, nine days after he was hanged, Majeed and five other Baath party officials were being tried for their roles in the 1988 Anfal (Spoils of War) military campaign in northern Kurdistan.
MANY KURDS GASSED
Prosecutors said 180,000 people were killed, many of them gassed. Many Kurds regret the chief suspect can no longer face justice for his role in the campaign against them, but they hope others share his fate on the gallows.
Saddam was hanged on December 30 after being convicted in an earlier trial for his role in killing 148 Shi'ites in the 1980s.
Majeed, who faces charges of genocide, is considered the main enforcer of the Anfal campaign.
Defendants have said Anfal was a legitimate military operation targeting Kurdish guerrillas who had sided with Shi'ite Iran during the last stages of the Iraq-Iran war.
Chief Prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon also played on Monday video showing women and children lying dead on village streets and mountain slopes after what he said was a chemical attack ordered by Saddam.
``These are the honorable battles they claimed to have launched against the enemy,'' he told the court.
Judge Mohammed al-Ureybi, in his first order of business, formally dropped charges of genocide and crimes against humanity against Saddam. He cut off the microphones when Majeed stood up and started to read the Koran in tribute to his former chief.
``In virtue of the confirmation of the death of defendant Saddam Hussein, the court decided to finally stop legal procedures against defendant Saddam Hussein according to the Iraqi Penal Procedures Law,'' Ureybi told the court.
So Saddam gets a free pass for killing Kurds, but he gets offed quick-fast for killing Shiites. Yep, Iraq is moving forward.
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"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
