The much-awaited death sentence handed to the former Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, creates more complications than it solves. He was convicted for the killing of 148 civilians in 1982 after a failed assassination attempt. Hussein, who has the automatic right to appeal, also faces similar charges for the death of scores of his opponents and Iraqi Kurds.

Predictably, reactions both within and outside the region was along partisan lines. Those who were at the receiving end of Saddam Hussein’s fury greeted the decision as fair and appropriate. Anything short of a death sentence would have meant that their ordeals would remain a forgotten incident in history. For the Kurds and Shias of Iraq, Saddam symbolised the brutal face of the Ba’athist regime. For the same partisan reasons, the Sunni Arabs who had benefited under the Hussein dispensation, opposed the verdict as an American conspiracy.

Likewise, Iran and Kuwait — the two states who were at the receiving end of Saddam’s aggressive designs — are more than happy to see him hanged. Despite its political differences with Washington, the Islamic Republic of Iran had been pleased to see his removal by the US-led forces. The US accomplished what the ayatollahs had always wanted but could never achieve: the removal of Saddam and his trial and execution for the war crimes he had committed against the Iranians.

The same holds true for Kuwait, which he sought to invade in 1990. Even though the US-led multilateral alliance restored status quo ante the following February, Kuwait had never forgiven him for his aggression. It was no accident that one of the first actions of the post-Saddam Iraqi government under then prime minister, Iyad Alawi, was to seek reconciliation with the Gulf sheikhdom. Likewise, the US was pleased with the verdict. President George Bush responded quickly and Washington saw this verdict as “a milestone” in Iraqi history and “a major achievement” for the young democracy and constitutional order in Iraq. That the former dictator was not killed during a military operation but was duly tried in an Iraqi court would be presented as a vindication of US efforts to sow the seeds of democracy in Iraq. As for the Republicans, they see the verdict’s timing — coming as it does days before the crucial bi-annual elections in the US — as a divine intervention that may rescue them from losing control of the US senate.

... contd.