Bad guy Saddam Hussein was good at killing terrorists: Donald Trump
WASHINGTON: Dictators of the world – rejoice, if Donald Trump becomes the US president. The Republican candidate for the White House threw out another foreign policy bombshell on Tuesday with seeming endorsement of totalitarian strong-arm methods to deal with terrorists, praising the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for the manner in which he eliminated them.
“Saddam Hussein was a bad guy , right? … But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina.”They didn’t read ’em the rights; they didn’t talk. They were a terrorist; it was over.”
“Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism,” he added.
It was not the first time Trump has expressed admiration for Saddam Hussain’s methods, but his continued endorsement of extra-judicial methods has rattled his own party , not to speak of outraging Democrats and civil liberties activists. No one is sure if he really means it, and what implications it would have for a world in which dictators -some of them regarded as terrorists themselves -have wrought havoc.
“Donald Trump’s praise for brutal strongmen seemingly knows no bounds,” Jake Sullivan, Hillary Clinton’s senior policy adviser said. “His cavalier compliments for brutal dictators, and the twisted lessons he seems to have learned from their history, again demonstrate how dangerous he would be as commander-inchief and how unworthy he is of the office he seeks.” Even Trump’s own party colleagues disavowed the remarks. “(Saddam Hussein) was one of the 20th century’s most evil people,” Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said. “He was up there. He committed mass genocide against his own people using chemical weapons. He was a bad guy.” The charitable and flippant explanation for Trump’s remarks is that he was jealous of the press Hillary Clinton’s appearance with Obama was getting and was keen to attract attention. On social media, there were jokes if he would praise Osama bin Laden.
But such explosive asides -including expressing support for more countries going nuclear, jettisoning allies if they don’t pay more protection money, and projecting a war in Europe – have rattled serious foreign policy pundits, even though there is a growing reappraisal of the Iraq War.
Trump remarks came even as Britain’s Iraq War Inquiry concluded that it was not justified and there was no imminent threat from Saddam. “The UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted,” chairman of the Inquiry John Chilcot said.
Separately, the man who was at the centre of the most was at the centre of the most euphoric moment of the war – the toppling of the famous statue of Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad – told BBC he regrets helping to take it down and wishes Saddam were back at the helm.
Still, Trump’s repeated assertion that extra-judicial methods are fine to tackle terrorism has spooked civil liberti es activists and minorities who are typically at the receiving end of such policy .
Among other things, Trump has supported waterboarding and other such torture methods, detaining families of alleged terrorists, and banning the entry of Muslims into America. Such unscripted remarks come even as he is falling behind in many polls with no sign from the GOP of the organisational effort that is visible on the Democratic side.
Just hours before Trump’s sketchy campaign appearance in Raleigh, President Obama delivered a full-throated endorsement of Hillary Clinton, saying she has been “tested” for the White House job, and “There has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office.” In contrast, few top Republicans have backed Trump. Some policy heavyweights are even decamping from the GOP.
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