Pieter Dorsman writes:
One of the drawbacks of the political blogosphere is that there is very little dialogue between the left and right sides, or the anti-war and pro-war camps. And if it ever happens, it isn’t all that pleasant to read. Yet, the time has come to get an exchange of ideas going and I was prompted to do so after reading Barry Lando’s Web of Deceit and noticing that it was mostly discussed on the left side of the blogosphere. That in my mind is somewhat absurd as Lando has written an instructive book – buy it here – on how Iraq’s destiny has been manipulated over the years by western powers in not exactly the most clever ways. If your background on Iraqi history is light, Lando’s book is a good primer, regardless of whether you agree with the author or not.
So, Pieter decided to “put a few thoughts forward to him and he has kindly taken the time to address them.”
I suggest you all head on over to Peaktalk to read the entire interview. The first question and answer:
Barry, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. You’ve written a very instructive book about western influence in Iraq over the past 100 years and you start out by arguing that in addition to Saddam major western players should have been standing next to him for enabling the chaos and endless bloodshed. Is this an emotional call or do you really believe that the mandate for the Iraq tribunal should have been expanded?
I realize that, unfortunately, the way the international criminal justice is currently set up, there is no court that realistically could have delivered justice for the crimes of Saddam.
If the purpose of the Iraqi Tribunal was truly to punish those responsible for the crimes against humanity committed during the reign of Saddam –as the Tribunal officially claims– that goal can never be achieved by limiting those who can be tried to Iraqi citizens and residents as the regulations of the Tribunal have done. Many observers realized there was no way that the question of guilt for Saddam’s crimes could not be fully explored by a Tribunal based in Iraq, a Tribunal that also would have no participation by international jurists. The U.S. and its Iraqi allies, however, refused to consider such options.
Certainly the mandate should have been expanded. The fact that it was not, and that the Tribunal was so limited in the issues it covered, simply demonstrate what a farce the whole process has been. It has only in a very limited way contributed to an understanding of what happened during Saddam’s reign as 90% of the story remains untold.
Another approach might have been to have a Truth Commission –as South Africa and Argentina did– to examine their dark history, apportion guilt where appropriate, though exact no punishment. More of an emotional release for the countries involved, a way of putting the past behind them. At one point such a commission might have worked in Iraq, but no longer I think.
Read more at Peaktalk.
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