Teheran suspects U.S. hidden agenda

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA, JULY 5 . Iran has questioned the list of charges levelled against the former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, and a leading Iranian cleric has aired his suspicions that the United States might have a hidden agenda behind the move.

Addressing Friday prayers, the former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is also the head of a powerful national arbitration body, questioned why Mr. Hussein was not being charged for his role in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. "If the Iraqi court refuses to include (Mr. Hussein's responsibility) in the unleashing of the war against Iran, it means it is on an order from the Americans," he said. Mr. Rafsanjani, whose sermon was broadcast over Iranian State radio asserted that Mr. Hussein's trial, if it covered the Iraqi use of chemical weapons, would expose Western support for Mr. Hussein to rollback Iran's Islamic revolution

Iran became an Islamic Republic in 1979 after a revolution led by Ayatollah Khomenei ousted the pro-U.S. Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahalvi. A year later, Iran was embroiled in the war with Iraq, widely perceived of having the extensive backing of the U.S. "Why does the war against Kuwait, which only lasted several months, figure among the major charges while the war against Iran which lasted eight years has been omitted?"

Iran's English daily, Tehran Times, in a front-paged commentary on Monday said: "U.S. officials are making efforts to try Saddam behind closed doors in order to prevent the dissemination of information about the U.S. assistance to the Iraqi dictator during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war." The Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Teheran would hand over documents to the court where Mr. Hussein is standing trial.

Elaborating on the clandestine American links with Iraq, Saad Djebbar, an Associate Fellow with the London-based Royal Institute of International Affairs, told The Hindu over telephone that the U.S. had been Iraq's "major adviser" in building its arsenal of chemical weapons. An open and comprehensive trial would expose Washington's covert support for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, he added.

The New York Times, in a report on August 18, 2002, highlighted another dimension of the clandestine U.S. support for Iraq.

The Reagan administration, it said, provided, "critical battle planning assistance at a time when American intelligence knew that Iraqi commanders would employ chemical weapons in waging the decisive battles of the Iran-Iraq war." Dubbed Iraq-Gate, the U.S. reportedly had Britain and Italy as its key partners in secretly arming Iraq then.

http://www.thehindu.com/2004/07/06/stories/2004070602481400.htm