Saddam's arrest is a mixed blessing for his captors
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1107865,00.html
Enemy leaders who are dead as well as overthrown are a lot less
trouble
Martin Kettle
Tuesday December 16, 2003
The Guardian
Under a different kind of empire in an earlier age, there is little
doubt what would have happened. The captured Saddam would have been
paraded in chains past cheering crowds along Pennsylvania Avenue to
bow the knee to the conquering president. The whole thing would have
been straight out of Aida or Tamburlaine the Great. Even today, there
seems to be a significant minority of US opinion that would probably
get off quite happily on such a celebration of raw American power.
Iraq's former exiles need this trial
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1107864,00.html
The US won't want to alienate its allies, so the Iraqis will try
Saddam
Glen Rangwala
Tuesday December 16, 2003
The Guardian
The capture, trial and punishment of Iraq's former leaders have been
at the forefront of the demands of Iraq's new political elite. For the
members of the US-appointed Iraqi governing council, dominated by
political factions that matured in exile, the talk since April has
been not about the ancien regime's weapons of mass destruction or its
putative links with al-Qaida, and it has only intermittently dealt
with improving social welfare, the development of infrastructure or
the restoration of Iraqi self-rule. For the past eight months, the
major theme has been the importance of exacting a suitable form of
revenge on the leaders who tyrannised the country for 35 years.
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