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Commentary Speaks of Saddam's Foreign "Accomplices" in War Against Iran

Posted on: Saturday, 8 October 2005, 18:00 CDT

Text of commentary by Iranian newspaper Jomhuri-ye Eslami website on 26 September

Following the referendum on the constitution, Saddam's trial is the most important issue for the people of Iraq. This is of no less importance for the Iranian people, because, for close to 30 years, his aggression and cruelty affected Iran more than any other country.

Partners in pain ever since 1975, to date Iraqis and Iranians have celebrated together on two occasions, once when the eight-year war initiated by Saddam when he coerced Iraqis to go to war with their Muslim brethren on pain of torture and execution ended and a second time following Saddam's arrest and seeing his repulsive image miserably hiding in a hole in the ground.

But it seems that obvious hands are at work to prevent Iran from celebrating with the Iraqi people on a third occasion, which it has been anticipating for years, and that is to see Saddam tried.

Saddam's trial will begin on 19 October at a time when it has instigated everyone's surprise, for in the list of accusations levelled at Saddam, there is no mention of the most savage aggression of the second half of the 20th century - a war, in which, after eight years, then United Nations Secretary-General Javier Solana [as published] officially claimed Saddam as the aggressor; an aggression that resulted in the martyrdom of hundreds of thousands of Iranian youth and the suffering of close to a million families.

Likewise, Saddam's use of non-conventional weapons in this savage attack left 200,000 chemically wounded and paralysed veterans. These figures are in addition to the economic losses sustained by Iran. Experts say Iran suffered losses amounting to 1,000bn dollars from Saddam's aggression. But why is Saddam's most damaging charge, which is known to all, not listed in his file?

We turn to this September's issue of Le Monde Diplomatique and we come across an article entitled: "Our Friend Saddam."

In this article it is written that the United States will dominate the trial of the former Iraqi dictator and that no foreigner will be charged in it and that, in fact, the American and British planners of this trial have decided that the special tribunal trying Saddam's crimes is not empowered to accuse any country of complicity with him.

Citing compelling documents, this monthly publication introduces America, Britain, France, and Germany as accomplices in the crimes perpetrated by Saddam.

Le Monde Diplomatique writes that a highly classified American government document dated 1983, demonstrates that then American President Carter gave a green light to Saddam to start a war with Iran. Then American Secretary of State Alexander Haig revealed the existence of this document in a letter addressed to Reagan. But the United States and its other accomplices participated in drawing up plans against Iran after giving Saddam the green light.

Quoting an American journalist who conducted interviews with several American officials after the Iraq's imposed war against Iran, this is what this monthly concludes: this war plan was the handiwork of the Americans.

Likewise an investigative American committee revealed that the White House and the CIA placed all sorts of weapons, including, cluster bombs and chemical weapons at Iraq's disposal and by providing satellite information to Saddam, allowed him to better target Iranian forces.

Rick Francona, an American military intelligence officer has admitted that he supplied Iraq with satellite information of Iranian targets for chemical bombings.

In a detailed article, the Baghdad daily Al-Sabah quoted the annual cost of Iraq's war against Iran was 9.23bn dollars. In this war the Saddam regime received 120bn dollars in foreign aid and spent 102bn dollars on a variety of weapons, including non- conventional weapons.

The German newspaper Tag Zeitung also named America, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, China, and the Soviet Union as Iraq's main suppliers in its invasion of Iran, and wrote: "Of the 68 bomb, missile and weapons companies and factories, 40 are American and British, which supplied Saddam with a host of non-conventional biological and low-grade uranium weapons in order to break the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The presence of the French Super Etendard fighter planes and Exocet missiles and enormous British artillery pieces used in Iraq's war against Iran were also not lost on anyone.

Therefore, we can conclude that the efforts by America, Britain and their accomplices to keep Iraq's savage invasion of Iran in 1980 off of Saddam's charge sheet is not unexpected.

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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