Washington - Saddam Hussein's loyalists may not be the only ones edgy about the prospect of a war crimes trial for the former Iraqi leader.
Vexing questions also could surface about how much the United States helped Iraq during its eight-year war with Iran - and whether it tried to stop Iraqi atrocities.
Among the questions that could arise in any such trial:
What did US officials know about products shipped to Iraq that could have been used for weapons?
What intelligence did they provide Iraq that could have been used for chemical attacks?
How hard did Donald Rumsfeld try to persuade Saddam Hussein to stop using chemical weapons against Iran?
Continues Below ↓
Rumsfeld, now defence secretary, met with Saddam and other top Iraqi officials during visits to Baghdad in 1983 and 1984, when he served as President Ronald Reagan's envoy.
Saddam and officials from his government could describe their dealings with Americans as they defend themselves from charges stemming from the Iran and Kuwait wars and the repression against Kurds and other Iraqis. The Iraqi Governing Council is creating a tribunal and some international jurists have called for a United Nations court.
"I don't think there's going to be much there that a leading Iraqi is going to be able to say, 'Hey, we had significant, witting cooperation from the United States government in our program of weapons of mass destruction,"' said Richard Murphy, head of the State Department's Near Eastern affairs bureau in the 1980s.
But testimony could provide embarrassing new details about American assistance to Iraq, what US officials knew about Iraqi atrocities and what they did - or didn't do - to stop them.
"I think there will be a dramatic embarrassment factor for the US government," said Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archives, a foreign policy research centre.
Continues...
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
