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Iraqi Vice-President Discusses Timing of Saddam Trial, US Withdrawal

Posted on: Wednesday, 26 October 2005, 06:00 CDT

Text of telephone interview with Iraqi Vice-President Adil Abd- al-Mahdi, in Baghdad, by presenter Muntaha al-Ramahi, in the studio, broadcast live by Dubai-based news channel Al-Arabiya TV on 25 October

[Al-Ramahi] Mr Adil, good evening, some might say that the Iraqis have the right, in the wake of the democratic stage that is under discussion, to have a fair judicial system that will try President Saddam Husayn. But others say that Iraqi institutions are still very fragile and that the situation has not, as yet, settled down. If this is the case, how can one trust the judicial system and not the others?

[Abd-al-Mahdi] Actually, the Iraqi institutions are still being established and the only means to build these institutions is to go back to the people and adopt the basic foundations and rules to depend on the people to build these institutions. This highlights the importance of the elections that the Iraqi people held last January and the importance of submitting the draft constitution to a general referendum, which is unprecedented in the region. Some 10 million citizens participated in the referendum. The results that were announced today supported this constitution in a major democratic exercise, in which many approved while many others rejected the constitution, while others boycotted it for political reasons. Therefore, this is the course of action to build judicial, political and legislative institutions, not as was the case under [former Iraqi President] Saddam Husayn, when the constitution used to be adopted without the knowledge of the people and when special courts used to be set up to execute thousands of citizens without any legal justification. Therefore, this is the sound course -

[Al-Ramahi, interrupting] This is the sound course. Some may say that this is the beginning of the sound course. Do you hear me, Mr Adil?

[Abd-al-Mahdi] Yes, I hear you.

[Al-Ramahi] Many may say that this is the beginning of the sound course and the trial will take place at the beginning of this course. They also say that if it is to be fair and just, the trial should be held after the institutions in Iraq are firmly established?

[Abd-al-Mahdi] The trial could have started from the very first days. Usually, during periods of change, the despots are brought to trial and convicted expeditiously as many nations so testify and there are many incidents of the sort. The important thing with this trial is to ask whether the conditions for justice are available? Are the necessary judicial rules and controls available? We believe that we have waited for a long time for these conditions to become available, and that these conditions are available, as the entire world has witnessed, and that they are highly transparent and just and enjoy international supervision, not to mention that the Iraqi and international judicial standards are respected.

Bush interview

[Al-Ramahi] Mr Adil Abd-al-Mahdi, Iraqi vice-president. Mr Adil, I thought that we had no more time for this interview but I still have about a minute or two. Let us discuss what the US President [George W. Bush] said that he will wait or that the United States will wait for the security situation to stabilize after which it will reduce the number of its troops in Iraq. Do you not believe that the use of the word reduce now incites those who carry out operations under the pretext of the US presence in Iraq?

[Abd-al-Mahdi] I do not doubt this. However, the agreement is that Iraq will build its security capabilities. It is illogical - after all that has taken place, the internationalization of the Iraqi issue, and after all the repercussions resulting from 30 years of domestic and foreign wars - to leave the matters as they are. The sound course is to build Iraqi capabilities. According to this course of action and programme, one could actually start to think about the gradual withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq.

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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