Ms. Hamilton grossly misrepresents America’s position in Iraq by implying that, only now that we have captured Saddam, does the Bush administration have a “fresh incentive” to return control of Iraq to the Iraqis.
Our intentions in Iraq have been clear from the beginning, and they included the establishment of a free and democratic Iraq.
It would appear that it is the world community, represented by the U.N., that now has an incentive to disallow freedom and democracy in Iraq.
Claudia Roth’s statement is understandable, but this “top human rights official” fails to realize a major difference between Saddam’s behavior and that which he will receive from the newly-freed Iraqis. Namely, a trial, which I believe he failed to grant to the thousands he slaughtered over the years.
While it is certainly within their prerogative to do so, it is not required of nations to grant humane sentences to the inhumane.