JUSTICE OR COVER-UP?

"Less vocal – or heard -- were those critics who said Saddam was executed before he could stand trial for his worst atrocities. A just trial, these critics say, would have also charged or subpoenaed many of the world leaders, arms merchants and oil companies that supported him."
~ Amy Goodman, Democracy Now.

They're at it again. The fascists. You know, the people at Little Green Footballs, Captain's Quarters, Gateway Pundit, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Jawa Report, among others. They're crowing over the fact that Ali Hassan al-Majid, et. al., are going to be hanged for Anfal.

The irony here is that this same herd of fascists regularly call for the death of Muslims, yet they appear satisfied that Saddam's minions have received death sentences for murdering Muslims. I mean, Kurds are a majority Muslim people, right? And Kurds in and around Helebçe tend to be more religious than others. Now, Saddam and his cousin, Chemical Ali, managed to rid the world of some 5,000 of these Muslim Kurds in about an hour--without mentioning all those severely and chronically wounded by chemical weapons--a fact that the fascists should be applauding if they are consistent in their across-the-board hatred of Muslims.

Maybe someone can resolve this inconsistency for me.

In the meantime, Barry Lando has written his opinion of the outcome of the Anfal trial. He's the one whose series of videos, Web of Deceit, were posted here yesterday. Perhaps Lando's obsession explains why the fascists rejoice:

All the key players in the media were there to capture the dramatic courtroom scene. What none of the reporters mentioned however was that when Saddam and Chemical Ali and the rest of Saddam killers were doing their worst, the U.S. governments of Ronald Reagan and later George Bush Senior were their de facto allies, providing them with vital satellite intelligence, weapons and financing, while shielding them from U.N. investigations or efforts by the U.S. Congress to impose trade sanctions for their depredations.

I admit to being somewhat obsessed by the subject, but perhaps someone can explain how it is that none of the accounts of Sunday’s session that I’ve read mention in any fashion how close were the ties of the U.S. and Saddam—and how carefully the U.S. and its Iraqi allies have manipulated the Tribunal from the beginning so that the complicity of the U.S. and other Western countries with Saddam and his crimes are never discussed.?

You can watch or listen to an interview with Lando on Western complicity in Iraq at Democracy Now, and there's another article by Lando on how Bush père helped Saddam crush the 1991 uprising.

In coming months, the last bits of dirt will be swept under the rug and fascists the world over will be able to sleep a little easier by thinking that the truth about Anfal lies moldering in the grave. That will be the case unless all the documentary evidence from the trial is translated and published, barring, of course, the documents falling victim to some "state secrets privilege" or the physical and convenient "loss" of the documents. Meanwhile, those who aided the murder of almost 200,000 Kurds in the late 1980s walk freely, many in the halls of power in Washington and other foreign capitals, and they do so without the aid of crutches, wheelchairs, or respirators.

Has justice been done for the Kurdish people? Not on your life.