This morning, December 30, Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq, was hanged on the orders of the US government and its hand-made ethnic-religious regime. For around 30 years, Saddam’s regime was a symbol of the most criminal and repressive dictatorships in history, claiming countless victims. The repression, brutality and tyranny of the Ba’ath regime caused enormous suffering for the people of Iraq, in particular political opponents, labour activists, communists and ethnic and religious minorities. Tens of thousands of people were tortured, executed and eliminated under that regime or brutally massacred by chemical bombs and other means. The atrocities of Saddam’s regime are truly beyond description and will never be forgotten.

However, Saddam’s execution is not the end of repression, violence or brutality. He was not overthrown and executed for his atrocities and cruelty. He was reared by forces which represent a repressive and inhuman system. They did not even allow his countless crimes to be revealed in a tribunal. Just like the trial of Milosevic and similar trials of the vanquished by victors, Saddam’s trial and punishment was totally political and served the interests of the US government and its allies in the region. There was not the slightest shred of justice or search for the truth in this trial. He was tried in a sham court, which in no way met the criterion for the trial of one of the world’s biggest criminals. Saddam’s trial could have exposed many politicians in the West and the Middle East who collaborated with him, and this is what they prevented. He was sacrificed so as to assert the unquestioning might of the American New Order to the world and its rivals; so as to bring the post-cold war world under the sway of the American New Order. The message of Saddam’s execution to humanity was that the US-created ethnic and religious regime in Iraq is essentially the same kind of dictatorship as Saddam’s.

The West’s full support for Saddam’s 30-year rule, its military attack on Iraq and destruction of civil life, and, finally, the trial and execution of Saddam exposed the deceitful democracy of the Western governments, in particular the US government. Despite the attempts of the US and its allies to cover up, everyone saw the depth of hypocrisy of the Western governments and the nature of their democracy.

Saddam should have had a fair and public trial. The files of his crimes and those of his local and international supporters and collaborators should have been opened and made public.

The Worker-communist Party of Iran condemns the execution of Saddam Hussein. Execution is deliberate murder, a tool of states against people, a means of covering up the real causes of violence, atrocity and oppression, and institutionalisation of violence and vengeance. Saddam’s execution was, moreover, the brutal declaration to the people of Iraq and the world that violence, vengeance and denial of people’s rights will be an integral part of the political system and the state in Iraq.

Worker-communist Party of Iran
30 December 2006