Editorial

The Politics of Assassination

During the past week, U.S. military leaders announced with great fanfare that they had killed Saddam Hussein's two sons, Udai and Qusai. They released photos and videotape of two bodies alleged to be those of the two former leading members of the Baath regime and invited selected journalists to view the bodies. While the journalists reported that the faces of the dead men were too mangled to be sure who they were, this has not stopped the Bush administration from crowing about their great "victory".

Given the habit of the Bush administration and senior U.S. military officials of manufacturing evidence and news, at this time it is anyone's guess whether or not the dead men are who they are claimed to be or if they were indeed killed in the course of a gun battle as is also claimed. However, these are not the real issues. The real issue is that U.S. imperialism has now openly adopted the politics of assassination as one of its main methods of dealing with its enemies. In the past, when U.S. agents organized the assassinations of Patrice Lumumba, Salvador Allende and others, or attempted on numerous occasions to assassinate Fidel Castro, the White House denied any knowledge of or connection with the crimes. Now the president of the United States not only boasts publicly of his latest victims, but in a modern version of the "Wanted Dead of Alive" mentality of the "Old West", he announces his future targets and puts bounties on their heads

It is claimed that Udai and Qusai Hussein were ruthless and sadistic killers who deserved to die. This may be true, or it may be a vicious smear campaign carried out by the Americans, who have made similar claims about numerous others with whom they have disagreed. If the charges are true, then it is the sovereign right of the Iraqi people to bring them to justice and punish them and their former colleagues. The U.S. army has no business usurping this right of the Iraqi people and, in so doing, depriving them of their national sovereignty and dignity as a people.