By Freedom Road Socialist Organization
We denounce the death sentence passed against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by the U.S. puppet regime in Iraq. The proceedings, like the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, are a crime against the Iraqi people. The so-called trial of Saddam Hussein violates the sovereignty of the Iraqi people.
The proceedings against Saddam Hussein have no legitimacy outside the Green Zone of the U.S. and their collaborators. The proceedings are illegal under the UN Charter and international law. Most Iraqis call the leaders of the U.S. puppet regime ‘traitors’ or ‘dogs’ and deny they are even Iraqi in their nationality. The Iraqi people want to see British and U.S. imperialist occupiers out of their country. In fact, a growing number of Iraqis want to see Saddam Hussein released from jail and returned to power.
The outcome of these proceedings was certain from the start – the Bush administration decided the death sentence long before any evidence was presented or testimony heard. “Dead or alive” was the word from the White House. The lynching of another country’s president is extreme, but not surprising, to peoples dominated by U.S. imperialism. Panama and Haiti have been invaded and occupied by U.S. troops and their presidents kidnapped. Bush attempted this against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but the street protests of millions of poor people turned into celebrations when patriotic and democratic military officers refused their orders and reinstalled the revolutionary president.
The people of Iraq, along with much of the Arab and Muslim world, are angered by the death sentence. Saddam Hussein is popular amongst the Arab masses for standing up to U.S. imperialism and for developing Iraq. The U.S. crusade is already defeated in Iraq, and the Iraqi resistance is stepping up its war against the U.S. occupation. This death sentence is an act of desperation by a foreign overlord. It is a last ditch attempt to garner support for the U.S. occupation.
The American anti-war movement sees the timing of the death sentence for what it is: Bush’s cheap attempt to put ‘positive spin’ on the failing occupation – two days ahead of Bush’s big losses in the mid-term elections. The American people sent Bush and the U.S. Congress a clear anti-war, anti-occupation message. Difficult as it is for Bush’s neo-conservatives to comprehend, the Iraqi and American people are now united in their opposition to Bush and the criminal occupation of Iraq.
We all know Bush lied. Bush said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, that Iraq had ties to al-Qaeda and that Iraq posed a threat to the territory of the U.S. Lies, lies and more lies.
The Bush administration is now trying to justify the invasion and occupation of Iraq based on allegations that Saddam Hussein committed ‘genocide’ against his own people. Because Saddam Hussein is so demonized in the U.S. corporate press, it is difficult for reasonable, thoughtful people to consider that he is innocent of the specific charges in court.
The basic standards of legal process and fairness were trampled upon in the trial. Nothing was proved other than the puppets and their puppet master care nothing about what is fair or just. The Iraqi government rules nothing and no one. It is a virtual government.
Three generations ago Adolf Hitler ran wild against all conventions of international law. He viewed the treaties he signed as “scraps of paper.” While there are differences, George W. Bush is following a similar course. It is Bush who the Iraqi people want to put on trial.
Freedom Road Socialist Organization demands that U.S. troops be brought home now! The Iraqi people have the right to self-determination, free from U.S. imperialism and other foreign interference. Countries want independence, nations want liberation and the people want revolution! Iraqis are struggling, suffering and dying, but like the Vietnamese people before them, they will liberate their country from U.S. imperialism!
