[Wall Street Journal, 23Aug06] Editorial - Saddam Hussein's second trial is up and running before an Iraqi judge in Baghdad. The proceedings are instructive, not least for showing once again that the dictator used chemical weapons even if U.S. forces never found "stockpiles" of WMD after his ouster in 2003. The current case concerns his Anfal ("spoils of war") military campaign of 1987-1988 against the Kurds, in which tens of thousands are alleged to have been killed and some 2,000 villages razed. "There was a smell of rotten apple or garlic," said Ali Mustafa Hama, about an April 16, 1987, attack on the Kurdish villages of Basilan and Sheik Wasan. "We were blinded. We were screaming. There was no one to save us, only God." The horrifying testimony is a reminder that, despite the current problems in Iraq, the U.S. decision to topple Saddam was an act of pre-emptive global hygiene. Saddam was convicted in his first trial for the massacre of 148 Shiites in the town of Dujail in the 1980s. Sentencing in that case is set for October 16, with the death penalty possible, Inshallah.
2006-08-23 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive