It wasn’t too long ago that the Bush administration and its anti-United Nations allies were working feverishly to bring about the dismissal of Mohamed El Baradei, Director General of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Commission, for the crime of failing to support U.S. claims that Saddam Hussein posed a dangerous WMD threat to the world (for the record, El baradei turned out to be right and the Bush administration turned out to be wrong). The smear campaign came to an abrubt end in October when El Baradei was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, widely interpreted as a sharp rebuke to the Bush administration.
The anti-United Nations crowd may not have El Baradei to kick around any longer, but judging by two Reuters articles out today (both so far getting scant attention from most of the U.S. mainstream media) they may have a new target to aim their sights at: John Pace, human rights chief for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq.
The first of the two Reuters articles was filed at 9:05am ET on Sunday, December 4: “UN Expresses Deep Concern over Saddam Trial.” Highlights follow:
Attacks on lawyers and flaws in the Iraqi justice system mean the trial of Saddam Hussein on charges of crimes against humanity will never satisfy international standards, a UN rights official said on Sunday.
…Pace expressed deep concern over the progress of the Saddam trial, which has had two brief hearings of a few hours each since October 19, and resumes on Monday.
“We’re concerned already by what we have seen, we are concerned by the murder of two defense lawyers and the serious wounding of another,” Pace told Reuters in Baghdad.
“There is already a paralysis in the legitimacy of the defense,” he said in an interview at the UN’s fortified compound, adding that defense counsel had to be able to work freely and effectively for the trial to be considered fair.
“We believe that weakness in the system of administration of justice, in addition to the antecedents surrounding the establishment of this tribunal, will never be able to produce the kind of process that would be able to satisfy international standards,” Pace said.
…Hearings were adjourned for a week last Monday so that two of Saddam’s seven co-defendants, former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan and former intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam’s half-brother, could find new lawyers after one advocate was killed and another fled Iraq in fear last month. Another defense lawyer was killed separately.
…The United Nations has no role in the trial, which is being conducted by a five-judge panel under a tribunal appointed by U.S. occupation forces, but has called for an independent probe into the deaths of the lawyers.
Rights groups have argued the Saddam trial should follow other war crimes cases like those for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia and be heard in an international forum like the International Criminal Court, which Washington does not support.
…Pace said significant human rights issues were involved, which meant the trial should be heard in an international forum.
“The trial should serve as a deterrent against the repetition of the violations of human rights witnessed under Saddam Hussein,” Pace said.
…All defendants have pleaded not guilty. They could face death by hanging if convicted. The United Nations opposes the death penalty…
The second Reuters article was filed at 6:38pm ET Sunday evening: “UN Official Says US Detentions Abuse Iraq Mandate,” and this one is sure to delight the Neocon critics who regard any UN criticism of the U.S. as unwelcome interference:
The U.S. military is abusing its United Nations mandate in Iraq by detaining thousands of people without due process of law, a senior U.N. official said.
The Iraqi government installed after the U.S. invasion of 2003 is also guilty of major human rights abuses, including holding people without charge in secret jails “littered” across the country, John Pace, human rights chief for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), told Reuters.
Referring to accusations of corruption among Iraqi justice officials and police, Pace said illegal detentions were fuelling rather than curbing revolt.
“There is no question that terrorism has to be addressed. But we are equally sure that the remedies being applied … are not the best way of eliminating terrorism,” Pace said. “More terrorists are being created than are being eliminated.”
…in some of the strongest U.N. comments to date, Pace said in an interview on Sunday that the system, including the pattern, duration and conditions of detention, were “not consistent with what is foreseen in 1546” and complained of a ”total breakdown” in individuals’ rights.
SECRET JAILS
Pace said that, apart from prisoners serving court-ordered sentences in prisons run by the Justice Ministry, there were between 1,600 and 2,000 people being held in up to eight known facilities run by the Iraqi Interior Ministry.
But there were also others in unofficial facilities in former palaces “littered” around Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, as well as roughly 14,000 held in U.S. military facilities like Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad and Camp Bucca in southern Iraq.
“All except those held by the Ministry of Justice are, technically speaking, held against the law because the Ministry of Justice is the only authority that is empowered by law to detain, to hold anybody in prison,” Pace said.
“Essentially none of these people have any real recourse to protection and therefore we speak … of a total breakdown in the protection of the individual in this country.
“It’s very rare to get judges ordering you to be released and effectively the police respecting that order.
“We have cases also where the judge who has ordered a group of people to be released, about 50-60 people, and the police, the Interior Ministry simply refuses,” Pace said.
“We have another case in another part of the country where the judge was actually the subject of reprisal for having found people not getting, as ordered, their release.
“The judge is now in jail,” he said, without giving details.
…Pace said the Justice Ministry was also failing detainees.
“The judiciary has a lot to answer for in this country. It is really not carrying out its duties,” he said, adding that bribes were sometimes paid for jobs in the judiciary and police.“This is not denied,” Pace said. “This is symptomatic of the corruption problems in this country and stands in the way of any kind of rule of law.”
We can probably count the hours before Donald Rumsfeld and Norm Coleman begin the clamor for Mr. Pace’s dismissal.
HMMM? Sounds like how the radical right-wing “neo-christian” GOPers would treat our justice sytem if they had it their way.
Don’t like the judges decision? Throw the judges in jail. Pay a few bribes and they would stay there for a good long time. Some of those fundies even try to incite their followers to violence against judges here in the good old US of A.
I wonder if any of those “judiciary and police” in Iraq get paychecks from Lincoln?
Norm Coleman is a tragic mistake. He too ran as a crossover moderate and exposed himself as chosen Bush shill. Seems to be a pattern with Rove’s candidates.
Hot damn, its good to see the world stand up to our crazed tinpot dictator. I’m sure John Bolton is going to come out with his very own version of McCarthy’s list any day now — “exposing” the terrorist-lovers in the UN.
As for Saddam’s trial, I follow its progress on NPR. I make believe its a satire, put on by the actual reporters of NPR, in a way that totally escapes their Republican appointed censors..er.. overseers.
After all, Saddam’s first trial is about him being attacked by a couple of would-be assassins, and his reaction of rounding up all the teen and adult males of the town, and imprisoning them, and committing a few personal atrocities and some torture in their pursuit of capturing the ‘evil terrorists’ who may have offered aid and comfort to those responsible for the assassination attempt.
Nope, no parallels to the actions of a crazed failed oilman there. Nosiree.
Saddam is an evil man, and deserves whatever fate he incurs. All the same, I wonder how the world and US press would react if he claimed it was all him acting as the sovereign leader of his own country, defending it against enemy combatants, and asking why its any different than similar actions taken by say… an outside occupying army?
The very fact that many Iraqis, including those in the Government, have expressed the wish that Saddam gets a speedy trial so he can be executed as soon as possible illustrates that the trial cannot be impartial. Amazingly, Bush himself has not sought to be excused from jury duty until he has left office as he has the ultimate decision in his ability to make a Presidential Pardon. As such he cannot both be on the initao jury and be the ultimate appelant decider. Even his presence on a jury would prejudice any appeal.
There are models for dealing with heads of State and their immediate subordinates who have committed crimes against humanity during their period in ofice. The Nuremburg trial are one such but this is acknowleged as flawed because it is “victors’ justice” – this is the fundamental flaw in the Saddam trial. At the other extreme for in-country tribunals are the South African “Truth and Reconcilliation Committee” which effectively acted as confessional and pardoner in the transition to a just and peaceful society. Yet there are intermdiate level of justice if we look again at Africa. Although the Hague tribunals are tto some extent tainted b “vicotrs’ justice”, those for the Congo are being held outside the country, on the continent and are competent to deal with crimes against humanity in as neutral a way as possible. While they may be slow, as a model they are seen to be fair and impartial. This is not the case with the Saddam trial. In itself that is laying the basis for a future mythology of matrydom and revolt against a democraticall elected government. In that it is also playing into Saddam’s hands where he wishes to be seen as a marty fighting opposing the infidel invaders.
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BAGHDAD (CNNi) Dec. 5 — As defense lawyers walked out of the court today, the half-brother of Saddam Barazan Ibrahim, also a defendant at the trial acclaimed: “Why don’t you just execute us to get this over with”. These words were reported by a CNNi reporter inside the courtroom and censored from being broadcast by U.S. vetters of the trial in a 20-30 minute delayed “LIVE” broadcast.
Saddam Hussein's defense team walk out of court after a heated exchange over the legitimacy of the tribunal. Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and two other attorneys for Hussein walked out after Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin refused to hear their complaints. At one point Hussein stood up, shook his fist and shouted, "Long live Iraq."“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
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