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| Iraq |
| GC confronts Saddam |
| 2003-12-14 |
| Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan. Edited for brevity. The wild gray beard was gone, and he sat on a metal Army cot, just awake from a nap, in socks and black slippers. He was not handcuffed. He did not recognize all his visitors, but they recognized him. That was the purpose of the visit: to help confirm that this was, in fact, Saddam Hussein. What came next was, according to people in the room, an extraordinary 30 minutes, in which four members of the Governing Council, among the new leaders of Iraq, grilled the nation’s deposed and now captured leader about his crimes. Mr. Hussein, they said, was defiant and unrepentant — but very much defeated. "The world is crazy," said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, one of the council members in the room today after Mr. Hussein was captured in his hometown of Tikrit. "I was in his torture chamber in 1979 and now he was sitting there, powerless in front of me without anybody stopping me from doing anything to him. Just imagine. We were arguing, and he was using very foul language." Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress, said: "He was quite lucid. He had command of his faculties. He would not apologize to the Iraqi people. He did not deny any of the crimes he was confronted with having done. He tried to justify them." Asked about the mass graves of tens of thousands of Iraqis uncovered since Mr. Hussein was toppled from power in the American-led offensive this spring, Mr. Rubaie said that Mr. Hussein answered: "Ask their relatives. They were thieves and they ran away from the battlefields with Iran and from the battlefields of Kuwait." Asked why he invaded Kuwait in 1990, provoking the first American-led assault on Iraq the next year, he said that Kuwait was rightfully a part of Iraq. "He was not remorseful at all," Dr. Chalabi said. "It was clear he was a complete narcissist who was incapable of showing remorse or sympathy to other human beings." Dr. Chalabi said that Mr. Hussein also suggested that he had been behind the recent wave of attacks against American soldiers in Iraq since his defeat. "He said, `I gave a speech and I said the Americans can come to Iraq but they can’t occupy it and rule it,’ " Dr. Chalabi said. "He said, `I said I would fight them with pistols and I have.’ He didn’t say it directly but he was trying to take credit for it." Throughout the meeting, Mr. Hussein was calm but often used foul language. Mr. Pachachi said he looked "tired and haggard." Mr. Bremer and General Sanchez, they said, did not speak, though Dr. Chalabi said that Mr. Hussein was "deferential and respectful to the Americans. You can conclude from that some aspect that he was reconciled to his situation," he said. "The most important fact: Had the roles been reversed, he would have torn us apart and cut us into small pieces after torture," Dr. Chalabi said. "This contrast was paramount in my mind — how we treated him and how he would have treated us." Mr. Rubaie said: "One thing which is very important is that this man had with him underground when they arrested him two AK-47’s and did not shoot one bullet. I told him, `You keep on saying that you are a brave man and a proud Arab.’ I said, `When they arrested you why didn’t you shoot one bullet? You are a coward.’ And he started to use very colorful language. Basically, he used all his French." Mr. Rubaie added: "I was so angry because this guy has caused so much damage. He has ruined the whole country. He has ruined 25 million people. And I have to confess that the last word was for me: I was the last to leave the room and I said, `May God curse you. Tell me, when are you going to be accountable to God and the day of judgment? What are you going to tell Him about Halabja and the mass graves, the Iran-Iraq war, thousands and thousands executed? What are you going to tell God?’ He was exercising his French language." |
| Posted by:Dar |
| #7 "It was clear he was a complete narcissist who was incapable of showing remorse or sympathy to other human beings." well, DUH! I find this whole exchange a bit odd. It's almost as if the men confronting him are, for the first time, coming to the realization that this is all there is, and ever was, to Sadaam. "When they arrested you why didn’t you shoot one bullet? You are a coward." It's almost as if the speaker is surprised and disappointed. Again - as if he would have expected more from Sadaam and was surprised that Sadaam did not rise to those expectations. That they confronted him as someone who they once thought of as a great man, but had disappointed them, seems soooo odd in light of all of the horrific evil that this man has unleashed. |
| Posted by: B 2003-12-15 8:34:24 AM |
| #6 You know, Rush Limbaugh advised defendants in criminal trials to at least feign remorse and sorrow at what they'd done to their victims, because the ones who don't always get the chair or at least life. Saddam could do worse than listen to El Rushbo in his cell...but I still think he's gonna get Jeffrey Dahmered long before he gets to a jury verdict. |
| Posted by: Jennie Taliaferro 2003-12-14 11:43:09 PM |
| #5 It is so fitting that members of the Governing Council confronted Saddam so soon after his capture, to reproach him on behalf of all Iraqis who suffered under him. |
| Posted by: Tresho 2003-12-14 11:28:25 PM |
| #4 I think the Iraqis should have a LONG trial and allow everyone that has been touched by his evil to speak. Only that way will others (Syria, Egypt, Iran, etc.) will see what kind of evil they put upon their own people. That is why EVERY Arab leader regards this as a BAD thing. They see themselves in Saddam and they DON'T like what they see. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-12-14 11:11:01 PM |
| #3 Mr. Rubaie said: "... he started to use very colorful language. Basically, he used all his French... He was exercising his French language." LOL And don't miss the hilarious pix at http://www.instapundit.com/archives/013017.php Merry Christmas! |
| Posted by: TPF 2003-12-14 10:53:47 PM |
| #2 I like Mr. Rubaie: Direct, to the point, and a hater of Weasels... |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-12-14 9:08:53 PM |
| #1 I'm sure he is planning a great show at his trial. He will be defiant on TV for all to see. In the end he will remain a hero of the Palestinians. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-12-14 9:01:31 PM |