Victor's justice

It is difficult to avoid the impression that the death sentence handed out to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is "victor's justice", the term that External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee used while reacting to the sentence ""a cautious Mukherjee had said such life and death decisions require a credible process that does not look as if it is victor's justice. Apart from the fact that two of the judges were changed through the trial and Saddam himself saw three of his lawyers getting killed, there is the issue of timing and of the venue of the trial.

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, whose crimes against humanity were far more severe than those levelled against Saddam, was not tried by one country, but was tried at the International Court of Justice at The Hague. It's curious why the same system wasn't applied to Saddam. The sentence, from an Iraqi administration put in place by the US, also comes at a time when it is clear that the US plans for the country have gone awry and there is intense speculation that the US administration wants to cut its losses and run, to create enough space between the events in Iraq and the next presidential elections. For instance, a verdict like this makes it easier for the US administration to declare that its avowed aim of sending forces to Iraq has now been achieved.

The other point to note is that while Saddam has been sentenced for the murder of 148 persons as revenge for an aborted assassination attempt against him in 1982, a recent Johns Hopkins study estimates that apart from the huge economic losses, the US invasion resulted in Iraq losing between 400,000 and 950,000 persons""that's around 3 per cent of the country's population.

India's reaction has been criticised as waffling by analysts within the country as well as the Left, but it is actually the most appropriate one under the circumstances. It cites natural concerns about the nature of the trial but makes no comment on whether it was or wasn't a sham. The wish that the sentence should not cause any more suffering to the Iraqi people, similarly, is a statement that can be read either way. While it is true India did condemn the hanging of Pakistan Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto by General Zia ul Haq, the country's stakes are quite different now. For one, there's the Indo-US nuclear deal and there's only one superpower in the world today. Second, with the tension certain to deepen in the Gulf, it makes little sense to jump into the fray. Keeping in mind the sentiments of the local Muslim population is another reason to hold one's peace.