Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
By ROBERT H. REID - Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - (AP) He sits alone in a cell, writing poetry,
reading and preparing for appearances before a court that could sentence him
to hang.
But Saddam Hussein is very much a player in Thursday's national
elections, even if he is not a candidate.
His legacy has shaped the electoral debate as the country's Shiite,
Sunni Arab, Kurdish and other communities struggle to find a formula to
share power in the wake of his 24-year rule.
And his loud courtroom antics _ played out on TV to the nation _
have reminded Iraqis that like it or not, Saddam is still around.
The trial, now in recess until after the election, has enabled
Saddam to present himself as "a caged lion" instead of "a mouse in a hole,"
says Iraq's Sunni vice president, Ghazi al-Yawer.
As a result, a trial that was designed to expunge the ghosts of his
tyrannical rule has instead sharpened divisions among Iraq's people at a
time when the United States is struggling to promote national unity.
Shiite candidates warn that their followers must pull together lest
Saddam or someone like him return to power. They wonder publicly why it has
taken nearly two years since his capture to put Saddam on trial.
Sunni candidates promise their constituents an end to purges of
Saddam's followers from government jobs. The violence that has plagued Iraq
since the U.S.-led invasion has softened the memory of Saddam's crimes among
many Sunnis, who now are terrified of domination by the majority Shiites.
How various groups view the Saddam years lies at the heart of Iraq's
division and the insurgency that has cost more than 1,500 American lives
since U.S. President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat in May
2003.
Iraq's majority Shiites and minority Kurds suffered most under
Saddam's Sunni Arab-dominated regime. Powerful factions within the Shiite
political establishment remain adamantly against any accommodation with
people they consider accomplices in the slaughter of Shiites.
"We must educate all Iraqi citizens to be cautious about the return
of Saddam to power," Shiite cleric Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalai told his
followers ahead of the election.
Those remarks were a thinly veiled message: Vote for Shiite
religious candidates who will stand firm against Saddam's loyalists.
The Sunnis, in contrast, want a guaranteed stake in the new Iraq,
and thus have pushed to end the purging of former members of Saddam's Baath
party from the government, military and public life.
As public support for the war ebbs in the United States, American
generals increasingly see victory as achievable only through a deal with
Saddam's followers.
The United States thus has been encouraging Sunni Arabs to vote in
the election in hopes they will send a strong Sunni bloc to the new
legislature. That in turn could produce a government more likely to win the
Sunnis' trust and weaken the insurgency.
But key Shiite politicians have resisted any significant compromise
on de-Baathification and have been quick to galvanize their voters by
raising the specter of Saddam returning.
In Sadr City, Baghdad's giant Shiite slum, posters merge Saddam's
face with that of Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite and former interim prime
minister who is running for parliament. The message: A vote for Allawi is a
vote for Saddam.
Allawi, a former Baath member, broke with Saddam and lived for years
in Britain, where he tried to mount a coup against the Iraqi regime.
As prime minister, however, Allawi won the enmity of fellow Shiites
by bringing former Baath members back into the government to add muscle to
the battle against the insurgents.
Shiite politicians wish Saddam had been tried and quickly convicted,
because it would have cheered up their voters and distracted attention from
the Shiite-led government's failure to improve security and electricity
supplies.
Instead, the trial, which began Oct. 19, has provided Saddam with a
public forum to rail against his treatment by American guards, and a
government he calls a servant of "foreign occupiers."
Each such performance rekindles a nagging fear in many Iraqis that _
against all odds _ Saddam just might come back.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - (AP) He sits alone in a cell, writing poetry,
reading and preparing for appearances before a court that could sentence him
to hang.
But Saddam Hussein is very much a player in Thursday's national
elections, even if he is not a candidate.
His legacy has shaped the electoral debate as the country's Shiite,
Sunni Arab, Kurdish and other communities struggle to find a formula to
share power in the wake of his 24-year rule.
And his loud courtroom antics _ played out on TV to the nation _
have reminded Iraqis that like it or not, Saddam is still around.
The trial, now in recess until after the election, has enabled
Saddam to present himself as "a caged lion" instead of "a mouse in a hole,"
says Iraq's Sunni vice president, Ghazi al-Yawer.
As a result, a trial that was designed to expunge the ghosts of his
tyrannical rule has instead sharpened divisions among Iraq's people at a
time when the United States is struggling to promote national unity.
Shiite candidates warn that their followers must pull together lest
Saddam or someone like him return to power. They wonder publicly why it has
taken nearly two years since his capture to put Saddam on trial.
Sunni candidates promise their constituents an end to purges of
Saddam's followers from government jobs. The violence that has plagued Iraq
since the U.S.-led invasion has softened the memory of Saddam's crimes among
many Sunnis, who now are terrified of domination by the majority Shiites.
How various groups view the Saddam years lies at the heart of Iraq's
division and the insurgency that has cost more than 1,500 American lives
since U.S. President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat in May
2003.
Iraq's majority Shiites and minority Kurds suffered most under
Saddam's Sunni Arab-dominated regime. Powerful factions within the Shiite
political establishment remain adamantly against any accommodation with
people they consider accomplices in the slaughter of Shiites.
"We must educate all Iraqi citizens to be cautious about the return
of Saddam to power," Shiite cleric Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalai told his
followers ahead of the election.
Those remarks were a thinly veiled message: Vote for Shiite
religious candidates who will stand firm against Saddam's loyalists.
The Sunnis, in contrast, want a guaranteed stake in the new Iraq,
and thus have pushed to end the purging of former members of Saddam's Baath
party from the government, military and public life.
As public support for the war ebbs in the United States, American
generals increasingly see victory as achievable only through a deal with
Saddam's followers.
The United States thus has been encouraging Sunni Arabs to vote in
the election in hopes they will send a strong Sunni bloc to the new
legislature. That in turn could produce a government more likely to win the
Sunnis' trust and weaken the insurgency.
But key Shiite politicians have resisted any significant compromise
on de-Baathification and have been quick to galvanize their voters by
raising the specter of Saddam returning.
In Sadr City, Baghdad's giant Shiite slum, posters merge Saddam's
face with that of Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite and former interim prime
minister who is running for parliament. The message: A vote for Allawi is a
vote for Saddam.
Allawi, a former Baath member, broke with Saddam and lived for years
in Britain, where he tried to mount a coup against the Iraqi regime.
As prime minister, however, Allawi won the enmity of fellow Shiites
by bringing former Baath members back into the government to add muscle to
the battle against the insurgents.
Shiite politicians wish Saddam had been tried and quickly convicted,
because it would have cheered up their voters and distracted attention from
the Shiite-led government's failure to improve security and electricity
supplies.
Instead, the trial, which began Oct. 19, has provided Saddam with a
public forum to rail against his treatment by American guards, and a
government he calls a servant of "foreign occupiers."
Each such performance rekindles a nagging fear in many Iraqis that _
against all odds _ Saddam just might come back.