Ramsey Clark: Hero or Traitor?

From Guest Blogger Rob Robinson:

Surprisingly, I have heard little scuttlebutt from fellow Americans about former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark joining the defense team of Suddam Hussein. After all, according to President George W. Bush and the majority of the Congress and Senate, didn’t we declare war against Suddam Hussein because of his alleged alliance with Al Queda and involvement with the horrific events of 9/11? Isn’t Hussein a declared enemy of the United States? Didn’t the United States issue a multi-million dollar monetary reward for his capture? Remember Wanted, Dead or Alive? Surely that process will be reviewed and debated over the next several months, maybe years to come.

Nonetheless, in reference to Mr. Clark, defending so called dictators is nothing new to the former Attorney General who served under the LBJ administration. In recent past, Clark was involved with the defense of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, on trial for war crimes at a UN court in The Hague.

Leading to more curiosity is the Bush’s Administration’s silence on Clark’s involvement. According to comments published on December 29, 2004 on aljazeera.net (considered a mainstream Arabic news site), Clark stated that "In international law, anyone accused of crime has the right to be tried by a confident, independent and impartial court, and there can be no fair trial without those qualities," he said.

"The special court in Iraq was created by the Iraqi governing council, which is nothing more than a creation of the US military occupation and has no authority in law as a criminal court," he said. Even to date, in court there is strong discussion concerning the lack of protection for the defense team and the potential that the judge is impartial because of his relationship with those connected with the ousting of the former dictator.

According to the same article, it is noted that the Iraq Special Tribunal was established by the US-led administration (Paul Bremer) in Iraq last December to try members of the former government. Clark also said the US itself must be tried for the November assault on Falluja, destruction of houses, torture in prisons and its role in the deaths of thousands of Iraqis in the war.

These are very strong words from an American about his government and its involvement in a war that continues to cost thousands of American lives and takes its toll on the US economy. Simply, is Clark attempting to be fair and impartial to spare the very integrity of what all of us feel that America stands for? If so, he should revered as an international hero. If not, is he treading on the grounds of betraying the confidence in ourselves, military and our own government? In Clark’s support of Slobodan Milosevic, America did not declare war against Yugoslavia or its leader, but quite the contrary concerning Hussein and Iraq. In many American’s minds, while the Bush Administration has prematurely declared victory, as long as American Soldiers are still dying on the foreign desert sands of Iraq, we are still at WAR.

Rob Robinson