Saddam's sons and grand son killed -- but under what law?

Uday and Qusay were playboys -- yes. They were debauchees -- yes. They were the killers -- probably yes as many Iraqis say so. But they must not have been killed just the way the occupying forces did. In any case, what was the fault of the minor grandson who was also butchered by the same forces? Indeed, who gave the occupying forces the authority to kill people regardless of their crimes, without proper trial? Even Milosovic has been going through an internationally accepted legal process. The occupying forces would do the same if they find Saddam. There is already a bounty of $25 million on Saddam's head. But again, the question is -- under what law? If civilized people do such things without showing any regard to international law, then the whole world will plunge into lawlessness and terrorism will take over. Already the international fight against terrorism has suffered tremendously.

Indeed, heaps of lies led to the death of a sovereign nation -- one of the oldest civilisations on earth. UN Secretary General Kafi Annan has now been pleading for restoring sovereignty to Iraq. But who are responsible for destroying Iraqi sovereignty? Kafi Annan cannot escape responsibilities. It was he who withdrew the Weapons Inspectors (UNMOVIC) from Iraq, which cleared the way for US and UK to launch their immediate attack on Iraq. Was there any UNSC resolution for such withdrawal of Weapons Inspectors? With Weapons Inspectors of different nationalities still on Iraqi soil, the U.S. would have thought twice to launch the attack. At least there could have been some delay and that would have given some chance to several UNSC members which were opposed to war to detect the lies on weapons of mass destruction (wmd).

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Lies about weapons of mass destruction are being unearthed now by the legislators of both the U.S. and the U.K. There is a story: a man went upto his neighbor and said -- you rebuked me for nothing. The neighbor said -- I did not do it. The man then said -- then your father did it. The reply was -- my father died some 10 year before your birth. The man's vexed reply was -- then your grandfather did it. This is what is going on now with Bush-Blair's the story of weapons of mass destruction. Prime Minister Blair categorically told the British Parliament that weapons of mass destruction could be 'activated by Saddam in 45 minutes'. As no weapons of mass destruction could be found in Iraq even months after the war, President Bush said -- these weapons were looted or were transferred to a neighboring country -- Syria. When these could not be proved, now the stand is that Saddam had a program on weapons of mass destruction if not the weapons themselves. The latest appears to be that Saddam had dreamt of producing weapons of mass destruction. So he had to be removed because he could be a threat to Israel, the US and the UK one day. So immediate attack was necessary to make Israelis, Americans and British people safe. But have they really been made safe? Only result one can see is that Bush and Blair have made their countries unsafe and more insecure as there is now tremendous urge for a revenge -- for "Jihad".

The worst was the TV pictures of the ghastly disfigured Hussein brothers (Many doubt whether Hussein brothers were at all there together to be killed like that. Later their faces were reconstructed by the occupying forces to convince Iraqis). The killing of Saddam's sons brought some celebration among some Iraqis who suffered in their hands, but many others demonstrated anger over such gruesome murder of Uday and Qusay and his minor son by the occupying forces. There was already a quick retaliation -- 3 American sons against 3 Iraqi sons. Two of the Iraqi sons were infamous but the little grandson became the victim for no fault of his.

The Arabs' reactions appear to be of general anger but some were mutely happy as they wanted Saddam and his sons to go. But their positions may not remain safe for long. The whole M-East is now under serious turmoil. The process has just started; nobody knows where it will end.

The illegimete and illegal war without UN mandate, occupation, extra-judicial murders, etc. all based on mountains of lies, have already destabilised American and British politics. The "Great" image of Great Britain has been tarnished somewhat by the death of Dr. Kelly, a biological weapons scientist and Scientific Advisor to the British government due to the alleged "intolerable" humiliation he suffered from parliamentary interrogation. His fault was he divulged the "lies" on which the war was launched. As a conscious Briton he had to do it through BBC so that the world could know the truth. But this was undoubtedly a very tragic and unnecessary death.

So far as Iraq is concerned, it is almost certain that the Governing Council that the US and the UK Coalition forces have created under Administrator Paul Bremer will not be able to bring any security, let alone ensuring normal or even nearer normal life to Iraqis. Let the US and the UK or some others move a resolution in the UNSC asking the UN to take over fully and the occupying forces should withdraw handing over Iraq to the UN. The UN should take over and ask the countries friendly to Iraqi people to contribute forces under UN command. Such a UN Peace Force under UN mandate may have full cooperation from Iraqis -- Bathists and others and restore normalcy in Iraq within a reasonably short period of time and organise general election for a government acceptable to Iraqis. Nothing else can work in Iraq.

[Muslehuddin Ahmad is a former Secretary and Ambassador and Vice-Chancellor (designate) of the Presidency University. He is also the Chairman of Civic Watch -- Bangladesh]