What did Saddam do?

[uh Clem]

We hate Saddam because he is our enemy, and because he has always been our enemy.

Next year it'll be somebody else.

[Nubclear]

Well, I know that I hate saddam because hes taken attention off of Bin Laden.

[Oerdin]

Originally posted by Joseph
We know some of it. Iran war, attack an American Naval Ship in the Gulf 87 USS Stark?

The Stark was hit buy a Iranian fighter jet which fired a French made exiset missile. The Iranians claimed they thought the Stark was an Iraqi oil tanker.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

"...they forced me to lay down on the floor. The hooded man started beating the soles of my feet with a cable. A few minutes later I lost consciousness... Every night from 12 until around 4 am they would call me into the interrogation room and would do the same thing ... They also threatened that they would use electric shocks..."

Against all the odds "A", a 59-year-old medical doctor in Baghdad, bribed a prison officer and fled the country. She told her story to Amnesty International just three weeks ago. Her crime? She was arrested in June 1999 on suspicion that she had contacts with an Iraqi opposition group. She denies the accusation.

"Those suspected of any involvement in opposition activities can expect to be arrested without a warrant; held in secret detention, without access to family and lawyers; be brutally tortured -- including in one case known to Amnesty International, having their eyes gouged out --and finally, could face execution," the human rights organization revealed in a new report today.

In its report, Amnesty International is shining a spotlight on these grave human rights violations in Iraq, that are taking place systematically and with total impunity. These violations range from arbitrary arrest and detention, to torture, extrajudicial and judicial executions after unfair trials, "disappearances" and forcible expulsions on the basis of ethnic origin.

The majority of the victims of Iraq's relentless repression are Shi'a Muslims in Southern Iraq and in some districts of Baghdad, as well as Kurds in the north. Summary executions are being carried out on a regular basis. The Iraqi Government rarely announces executions or makes public any official statistics in relation to the death penalty. In many cases it is impossible to determine whether the reported executions are judicial or extrajudicial given the secrecy surrounding them.

On 11 July 1999 Ibrahim Amin al-'Azzawi, a 70-year-old lawyer, was executed. His family, who have now fled the country, believed it was because his son-in-law, Riyadh Baqer al-Hilli, a Shi'a Muslim, was suspected of involvement in underground anti-government activities. No information on any charge, trial or sentencing was ever available. No information is available to Amnesty International either as to the fate of Riyadh, who was also arrested and taken away.

"This is the length the Iraqi security forces are prepared to go to identify any opposition views and silence them," Amnesty International said. "This has created a climate of terror which has forced thousands of Iraqi nationals to flee the country illegally and seek asylum elsewhere."

In the last 18 months alone, a number of prominent Shi'a Muslim clerics have been killed in Southern Iraq in circumstances suggesting that they may have been killed by government forces or forces acting on government orders. This includes the assassination of a prominent Shi'a cleric, Ayatollah Sadeq al-Sadr, on 19 February 1999, which sparked clashes between the security forces and armed Islamist opposition groups. Dozens were left dead on both sides, and arbitrary mass arrests and summary executions followed.

Thousands of Kurdish families have been forcibly expelled by the security forces from their homes in the north to areas controlled by the two Kurdish political parties in Iraqi Kurdistan on the basis of their ethnic origin.

Amnesty International is making a number of recommendations to the Iraqi Government. This includes:

•adopting the necessary legal and practical measures to ensure effective implementation of all the provisions contained in international human rights treaties ratified by Iraq;
•releasing all political detainees held without charge or trial if they are not to be promptly charged with any recognizable criminal offence; and
•stopping the policy of forcible expulsions of non-Arab families.

Amnesty International also believes that the Security Council, as the body that has imposed sanctions on Iraq, should give urgent attention to the humanitarian situation in Iraq, and take all necessary measures to protect the rights of the Iraqi population.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Iraq: The fate of 106 religious clerics and students still unknown after ten years


On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the arrest of 106 Shi'a clerics and students from the southern city of al-Najaf by the Iraqi authorities, Amnesty International expresses its deepest concern about their whereabouts.

"Ten years have passed since these people "disappeared" and the obligation remains on the government to clarify their fate" said Amnesty International today. "So far, there has been no evidence that the 106 victims were killed during the 1991 uprising or fled to other countries, as was suggested by the Iraqi authorities in a letter sent to Amnesty International in September 1993," added the organization.

The 106 arrested in March 1991, included 44 Iraqis, 28 Iranians and 34 nationals of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Bahrain.

Amnesty International calls on the government to release immediately and unconditionally all "disappeared" detainees including the 106 clerics and students and the 600 or so Kuwaiti and other nationals who were arrested during the occupation of Kuwait from 2 August 1990 to 26 February 1991.

"It is also the duty of the authorities of India, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Bahrain and Lebanon to urge the Iraqi Government to clarify the fate of their nationals", concluded Amnesty International.

Background

The arrest of the 106 clerics and students took place in the context of the March 1991 uprising which swept across Iraq in the weeks following the end of the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. Shi'a Muslims in southern Iraq rose against the government and the uprising quickly spread to the Kurdish towns and cities in northern Iraq. However, by the end of March 1991 government forces had largely succeeded in crushing the uprising and in the process widespread and serious human rights violations were reported, including arbitrary arrests, detention without trial, "disappearances" and extrajudicial executions. At some point an estimated two million people had fled to neighbouring Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

On 20 March 1991, Grand Ayatollah Abu al-Qassem al-Kho'i, aged 95, Shi'a Islam's most senior cleric was arrested in al-Najaf along with seven members of his family. He was detained for two days in Baghdad and returned to al-Najaf where he remained under house arrest until his death in 1992. In the following days the Iraqi authorities arrested 107 people, students of Shi'a Islam or followers of the Grand Ayatollah. While one of them, a Pakistani national, was released in 1992, the fate and whereabouts of the other 106 remain unknown. They included Ayatollah al- Sayyid Murtadha Jawad al-Khadimi al-Khalkhali, who was 89 years old, two of his sons and three of his grandchildren, Ayatollah al-Sayyid 'Ala'uddin 'Ali Bahr al-'Ulum, aged 58, a well known religious scholar, and three of his sons, and al-Sayyid Muhammad Ridah al-Sayyid Muhsin al-Hakim, aged 65, another well known religious scholar.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Iraq: Relentless executions must end


"The high rate of executions in Iraq shows a continuing disregard for human life", Amnesty International said today calling for an immediate moratorium.

"The Iraqi Government must put an end to the continuing executions of suspected opponents", Amnesty International said today.

The latest victim known to Amnesty International is 'Abd al-Wahad al-Rifa'i who was hanged after he had been held in prison without charge or trial for more than two years on suspicion of being in contact with the Iraqi opposition abroad. On 26 March 2001 his family in Baghdad collected his body from the Baghdad Security Headquarters. The body reportedly bore clear marks of torture including the pulling out of toe-nails and swelling on his right eye.

Also in March 2001 three officers in the Iraqi air forces, Sa'eed 'Abd al-Majid 'Abd al-Ilah, Fawzi Hamed al-'Ubaidi and Fares Ahmad al-'Alwan, were executed by firing squad. During the same month an army major-general, Tariq Sa'dun, was executed reportedly for criticising the government.

Hundreds of political prisoners and detainees are executed in Iraq every year. The Iraqi Government rarely announces executions or makes public any official statistics in relation to the death penalty. In many cases it is impossible to determine whether the reported executions are judicial or extrajudicial given the secrecy surrounding them.

In October 2000, dozens of women accused of prostitution were beheaded without any judicial process in Baghdad and other cities. Men suspected of procurement were also beheaded. The killings were reportedly carried out, in the presence of representatives of the Ba'ath Party and the Iraqi Women's General Union. Members of Feda'iyye Saddam, a militia created in 1994 by 'Uday Saddam Hussain, the eldest son of the President, used swords to execute the victims in front of their homes.

Some victims were reportedly killed for political reasons. Amongst those beheaded were Fatima 'Abdallah 'Abd al-Rahman, Shadya Shaker Mahmoud and Iman Qassem Ahmad, who were all beheaded in Mosul.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Iraq: Stop the torture


Amnesty International called on the Iraqi authorities to put an end to the systematic torture and ill-treatment of political prisoners and to introduce legislative and practical steps to improve the human rights situation in the country.

In a report published today -- Iraq: Systematic torture of political prisoners -- the organization paints a grim picture of routine torture, whereby horrendous physical and psychological suffering is inflicted upon political prisoners and detainees.

"Victims of torture in Iraq are subjected to a wide range of forms of torture, including the gouging out of eyes, severe beatings and electric shocks," said Amnesty International, based on interviews with hundreds of torture victims in Iraq over the years. "Some victims have died as a result and many have been left with permanent physical and psychological damage."

Other methods of torture include extinguishing of cigarettes on various parts of the body, extraction of finger nails and toenails and piercing of the hands with an electric drill. Some have been sexually abused and others have had objects, including broken bottles, forced into their anus. In addition to physical torture, detainees have been threatened with rape and subjected to mock executions.

Over the years many victims of torture have been Shia Muslims from Baghdad or from Southern Iraq. The fate of al-Shaikh Nazzar Kadhim al-Bahadli, a 29-year-old theology student from Saddam City, a district of Baghdad, is typical. He was arrested in 1999 and was tortured for long periods in the building of Saddam City Security Directorate. His wife, father and mother were reportedly brought to the building in August 1999 and were tortured in front of him to force him to confess to being one of those responsible for the April 1999 disturbances in Saddam City. He was said to have confessed in order to spare his relatives any further torture. They were released following his confession but he was sentenced to death later and executed at the beginning of 2001.

Torture is used against other political opponents and army and security officers suspected of dissidence or involvement in coup attempts. Amnesty International's report also documents torture, ill-treatment and extra-judicial executions of women.

A 25-year-old woman known as "Um Haydar" was beheaded in the street without charge or trial at the end of December 2000 after her husband, who was suspected by the authorities of involvement in Islamist armed activities, fled the country. Um Haydar was taken from her house in al-Karrada district, in front of her children and mother-in-law, by men belonging to Fedaiyye Saddam. Two men held her by the arms and a third pulled her head from behind and beheaded her in front of the residents. The beheading was also witnessed by members of the ruling Ba'ath Party in the area. The security men took the body and the head in a plastic bag and took away the children and mother-in-law. Their fate remains unknown.

The report stresses that torture in Iraq is also practised through various judicial punishments, which were introduced in the mid-1990s ostensibly to stem the increase in the crime rate that the Government attributed to the impact of economic sanctions imposed on the country since 1990. These 'judicial punishments,' including amputation of hand and foot, branding of forehead and cutting off of the ears, used to be publicized by the Iraqi media. Such publicity became rarer since the end of 1996, following international condemnation of these punishments.

Amnesty International's recommendations to the Iraqi authorities include renewed calls to ratify and implement fully in domestic law and practice the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; repeal all decrees imposing punishments amounting to torture; set up an independent body to undertake impartial investigations into all allegations of torture and bring to justice anyone responsible for serious violations; and put an end to all extra-judicial executions.

"The systematic torture and climate of fear that have prevailed in Iraq for so many years must be brought to an end," Amnesty International said. "The continuing scale and severity of human suffering must not be allowed to continue."

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

IRAQ

Systematic torture of political prisoners



1 INTRODUCTION

Torture is used systematically against political detainees in Iraqi prisons and detention centres. The scale and severity of torture in Iraq can only result from the acceptance of its use at the highest level. There are no attempts to curtail or prevent such violations or punish those responsible. This total disregard for a basic human right, the right not to be tortured or ill-treated, grossly violates international human rights law which prohibits torture in all circumstances. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Iraq ratified in 1971, states that ''No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment''(Article 7).

Amnesty International has over the years received numerous reports of torture and interviewed hundreds of torture victims. The organization has also published many reports documenting a wide range of human rights violations in the country, including torture and ill-treatment. Victims of torture in Iraq have been subjected to a wide range of forms of torture. The bodies of many of those executed had evident signs of torture, including the gouging out of the eyes, marks of severe beatings and electric shocks to various parts of the body, when returned to their families. Some detainees died as a result of torture. Many torture victims now live with permanent physical or psychological damage.

Torture is used both to extract information or confessions from detainees and as a punishment. Political detainees are tortured immediately following arrest and their torture generally takes place in the headquarters of the General Security Directorate in Baghdad or in its branches in Baghdad and in the governorates. Torture also takes place in the headquarters of the General Intelligence (al-Mukhabarat al-'Amma) in al-Hakimiya in Baghdad, its branches elsewhere, as well as in police stations and detention centres such as al-Radhwaniya. Detainees in these places are held incommunicado for months or even years without access to any lawyers or family visits.

Victims of torture have included suspected government opponents who range from army, security and intelligence officers suspected of having contacts with the Iraqi opposition abroad or accused of plotting against the government, to followers of leading Shi'a Muslim religious personalities. Torture has also been used against women suspected of having links with Shi'a Islamist groups in the country or simply because of family links. In many cases relatives of those active in the Iraqi opposition abroad have been tortured or ill-treated as a way of putting pressure on those opposition leaders to cease their activities.

Iraq's legislation prohibits the use of torture. Article 22(a) of Iraq's Interim Constitution states that ''the dignity of the person is safeguarded. It is inadmissible to cause any physical or psychological harm''. Article 127 of the Code of Criminal Procedure states that ''it is not permissible to use any illegal means to influence the accused to secure his statement. Mistreatment, threatening to harm, inducement, threats, menace, psychological influence, and the use of narcotics, intoxicants and drugs are all considered illegal means.'' In fact the Iraqi Penal Code criminalizes the use of torture by any public servant. Article 333 states that ''any employee or public servant who tortures, or orders the torture of an accused, witness, or expert in order to compel that person to confess to committing a crime, to give a statement or information, to hide certain matters, or to give a specific opinion will be punished by imprisonment or detention. The use of force or threats is considered to be torture''. Amnesty International is not aware of any instances where officials suspected of torture of detainees have been brought to justice.

In the mid-1990s Iraq introduced judicial punishments such as amputation of hand and foot, branding of forehead and cutting off of the ears, and many people have been left with permanently mutilated bodies as a result of such punishments. Such punishments have been described as cruel, inhuman and degrading by international human rights bodies. The Iraqi Government justified the introduction of these punishments by the increase in the crime rate which it attributed to the impact of economic sanctions imposed on the country since 1990.

Iraq continues to be subjected to comprehensive trading sanctions imposed by UN Security Council resolutions since 1990 in the aftermath of its occupation of Kuwait. The sanctions have, according to many international experts, journalists, non-governmental organizations and UN agencies, crippled Iraq's economic infrastructure and have resulted in the breakdown of the socio-cultural fabric of the society, acute poverty, malnutrition, wide-spread corruption and crime, and the reported deaths of over half a million children under the age of five.(1) It is, however, the responsibility of the Iraqi Government to uphold the rule of law and respect of human rights.

The international community has been concerned about the human rights situation in Iraq for many years and therefore decided in 1991 to appoint a Special Rapporteur in order to report regularly to the UN Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Iraq.

2 METHODS OF TORTURE

Torture victims in Iraq have been blindfolded, stripped of their clothes and suspended from their wrists for long hours. Electric shocks have been used on various parts of their bodies, including the genitals, ears, the tongue and fingers. Victims have described to Amnesty International how they have been beaten with canes, whips, hosepipe or metal rods and how they have been suspended for hours from either a rotating fan in the ceiling or from a horizontal pole often in contorted positions as electric shocks were applied repeatedly on their bodies. Some victims had been forced to watch others, including their own relatives or family members, being tortured in front of them.

Other methods of physical torture described by former victims include the use of Falaqa (beating on the soles of the feet), extinguishing of cigarettes on various parts of the body, extraction of finger nails and toenails and piercing of the hands with an electric drill. Some have been sexually abused and others have had objects, including broken bottles, forced into their anus. In addition to physical torture, detainees have been threatened with rape and subjected to mock execution. They have been placed in cells where they could hear the screams of others being tortured and have been deprived of sleep. Some have stayed in solitary confinement for long periods of time. Detainees have also been threatened with bringing in a female relative, especially the wife or the mother, and raping her in front of the detainee. Some of these threats have been carried out.

3 VICTIMS OF TORTURE

3.1 Followers of Shi'a Clerics

Over the years many victims of torture have been Shi'a Muslims from Baghdad or from southern Iraq. They were arrested and tortured because they were suspected of anti-government activities. Many of them were students at al-Hawza al-'Ilmiya in al-Najaf in the south, which is considered to be one of the most prestigious theological teaching institutions in Shi'a Islam. Mass arrests and torture often took place during the periods of unrest which southern Iraq has witnessed intermittently over the last few years. The murder in al-Najaf of Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, a prominent leading Shi'a cleric, and his two sons on 19 February 1999(2) sparked off riots in predominantly Shi'a districts in Baghdad, especially in Saddam City (also known as al-Thawra City), and in southern towns of al-Hilla, Karbala', al-Nassiriya and al-Najaf. Protests in Saddam City resulted in the killings of dozens of protesters by the security forces and the arrest of hundreds of people. The riots lasted for three days and according to press reports at least 100 people were killed in Baghdad alone.(3)

A month later riots erupted in Basra for three days between 17 and 20 March 1999 during which the local headquarters of the ruling Ba'ath Party was attacked and several government officials were killed by armed Iraqi Shi'a Islamists, some of whom were reportedly sent by Iraqi Shi'a opposition groups based in Iran. As soon as government forces regained control of Basra on 20 March the repression started with dozens of people executed following torture and hundreds of others were arrested and tortured.

On 16 April 1999 violent clashes were reported between protesters and security forces when the latter attempted to prevent Shi'a Muslims from taking part in Friday prayers at the al-Hikma Mosque in Saddam City in Baghdad. These clashes reportedly left scores of protesters dead. An eye witness told Amnesty International that ''when people were prevented from prayers they started shouting slogans against the authorities. Some protesters were armed and started shooting at the security forces but the latter were using tanks against the population and many people, including children, were killed. Initially the security forces did not remove the dead bodies. They waited for families and relatives to come and collect them so that they could arrest them. However, the families were too frightened to do so and in the end the security forces had to collect the bodies to clean the streets.'' As a retaliation, armed Islamist activists killed the director of Abu Ghraib Prison, Major Hassan al-'Amiri, and several other security officers the following day in an attack on a house close to the mosque, which was used as a temporary headquarters for the security forces.

The Iraqi government denied all reports of unrest which followed the assassination of Ayatollah al-Sadr. However in mid-May 1999 a government official admitted for the first time that disturbances had taken place in Basra claiming that ''some agents who came from behind the border, from Iran, carried out sabotage acts in the city of Basra on March 17 in order to harm Iraq and its people''.(4)

Among those arrested in Basra were several university lecturers. One person A (name withheld) told Amnesty International that he was arrested on 7 June 1999 at night from his home in Basra. He was taken to the General Intelligence prison in Basra and was tortured during interrogation. Methods of torture included extinguishing cigarettes on his feet and beating. He was also made to lie naked on the floor of the prison's concrete courtyard which was unshaded from the heat of the sun. He was then dragged by his arms from one side of the courtyard to another. This left his back, buttocks and thighs bleeding. A was taken to a special courtroom in Basra. There was a judge and several security men in the court. The judge told him that he was guilty of six charges, including criticising the government in his lectures and collecting money to help families of those executed in Basra. A stated that he was innocent. He was then hit by a security officer on the back of his head with a weapon which left his head bleeding. He was taken back to the prison. He was then released on 19 July 1999 after his family had bribed local miliary and security officials. A few other lecturers remain detained until now after they had been tortured. They include Khaled al-'Adeli and 'Abd al-Hussain Hanin, lecturers in Chemistry and Computing, respectively, at Basra University. They are reported to be still detained at the General Intelligence prison in Basra.

During and following these events hundreds of followers of Ayatollah al-Sadr were arrested and were subjected to torture. Dozens were later summarily tried and executed. Among them were Al-Shaikh Salim Jassem Sadkhan al-'Abboudi and al-Shaikh 'Ala' Hussain al-Shuwaili who were reportedly arrested in around June 1999 and were sentenced to death in May 2000 and executed a month later. Both were from Saddam City and their family homes were demolished by the security forces. Others executed during the same period after they had been tortured included al-Sayyid Sa'ad Mohammad 'Ali al-Nouri, Qassim Ghazi al-Shuwaili and al-Sayyid 'Amr al-Mussawi. Al-Shaikh Nazzar Kadhim al-Bahadli, a 29-year-old theology student from Saddam City, was arrested in June 1999 and was tortured for long periods in the building of Saddam Security Directorate. His wife, father and mother were reportedly brought to the building in August 1999 and were tortured in front of him to force him to confess to being one of those responsible for the disturbances in Saddam City. He was said to have confessed in order to spare his parents and his wife any further torture. They were released following his confession but he was sentenced to death later and was executed at the beginning of 2001.

Al-Shaikh Yahya Muhsin Ja'far al-Zeini, from Saddam City, is a 29-year-old former theology student in al-Hawza al-'Ilmiya in al-Najaf. On 2 July 1999 he was arrested in his parents' house following his arrival from al-Najaf. His father and two brothers had been detained as substitute prisoners until his arrest. Security men blindfolded him and took him to the building of Saddam Security Directorate. Once there, he was taken to a room and his blindfold was removed. He told Amnesty International:

'' ... I saw a friend of mine, al-Shaikh Nasser Taresh al-Sa'idi, naked. He was handcuffed and a piece of wood was placed between his elbows and his knees. The two ends of the wood were placed on two high chairs and al-Shaikh Nasser was being suspended like a chicken. This method of torture is known as al-Khaygania (a reference to a former security director known as al-Khaygani). An electric wire was attached to al-Shaikh Nasser's penis and another one attached to one of his toes. He was asked if he could identify me and he said ''this is al-Shaikh Yahya''. They took me to another room and then after about 10 minutes they stripped me of my clothes and a security officer said ''the person you saw has confessed against you''. He said to me ''You followers of [Ayatollah] al-Sadr have carried out acts harmful to the security of the country and have been distributing anti-government statements coming from abroad. He asked if I have any contact with an Iraqi religious scholar based in Iran who has been signing these statements. I said ''I do not have any contacts with him''... I was then left suspended in the same manner as al-Shaikh al-Sa'idi. My face was looking upward. They attached an electric wire on my penis and the other end of the wire is attached to an electric motor. One security man was hitting my feet with a cable. Electric shocks were applied every few minutes and were increased. I must have been suspended for more than an hour. I lost consciousness. They took me to another room and made me walk even though my feet were swollen from beating.... They repeated this method a few times''.

Al-Shaikh Yahya was regularly subjected to electric shocks followed by beating on the feet. For two months he had to sleep on the floor with his hands tied behind his back and his face on the floor. He stated that this was more unbearable than being subjected to electric shocks. On one occasion Shaikh Yahya was suspended from a window for three days. Another method of torture that he described was that while suspended a heavy weight was attached to his genitals and was left hanging for some time. After five months of detention in the building of the Saddam Security Directorate al-Shaikh Yahya and 21 other detainees arrested at the same time were transferred to the Security Directorate of al-Rassafa district, also in Baghdad. He remained held without charge or trial until 14 April 2000 when he was released.

Al-Shaikh Mohammad 'Aziz Rahif al-'Aqqabi, a 27-year-old man married with children, was arrested in the early hours of 14 May 2000 in his house in Saddam City. He was accused of involvement in the murder of the head of Saddam Security Directorate which took place during the disturbances. He was held in Saddam Security Directorate during which he was tortured. In the first 15 days he was held in solitary confinement blindfolded and his hands tied behind his back. The blindfold was removed only during prayers. He stated to Amnesty International:

''...on the second day of my arrival I was taken to a room for interrogation. The blindfold was removed. The interrogator asked me a lot of questions about people I knew but I said I did not know them. Then he asked the guard to take me to al-Gannara [butcher's] room. Once inside the room the blindfold was removed again and the room was empty. I then had my hands tied with a telephone cable behind my back. I was made to stand on a barrel and then the guards encircled each of my upper arms with a tight belt. The belts had a knob. The knobs were tied to a rope and onto a horizontal rod. The guards then pushed the barrel I was standing on and I was left suspended. One guard then held me from the waist and started to pull me down. This was very painful. The interrogator asked the guard to tie my penis and one of my toes to an electric wire and onto an electric motor. He would then turn the electricity on and would increase it. The interrogator was also beating me with a stick on my back...''.

Al-Shaikh al-'Aqqabi was regularly tortured during the first 15 days of detention. He was made to confront one of his friends who under torture had told the interrogators that Shaikh al-'Aqqabi was involved in the killing of the head of Saddam Security Directorate. Al-Shaikh al-'Aqqabi ''confessed'' to the killing under torture. However the details he gave about the circumstances surrounding the killing convinced the security officers interrogating him that he was not involved. Nevertheless he was kept detained without trial and was tortured further in order to extract from him information about activities of other followers of Ayatollah al-Sadr. He was released on 7 November 2000.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Iyyad Taresh Sajet al-Sa'idi, a 25-year-old former student at Baghdad's Institute of Fine Arts, was arrested together with three of his brothers, Salem, Hamid, Fahd, on 26 June 1999. They were arrested and held in Saddam Security Directorate as substitute prisoners because another brother, al-Shaikh Nasser Taresh Sajet al-Sa'idi was sought by the security authorities. When al-Shaikh Nasser, aged 31 and married with two children, was arrested on 30 June 1999 in al-Najaf where he had been studying theology, and was transferred to Saddam Security Directorate the brothers were not released. They were interrogated in connection with the activities of al-Shaikh Nasser who was a follower of Ayatollah al-Sadr. Each one of them was made to attend the torture of al-Shaikh Nasser. They themselves were tortured separately in front of their brother. Methods of torture included being left suspended and electric shocks being applied on their bodies including their genitals. They were tortured every two or three days during the first three weeks. The three brothers stayed in Saddam Security Directorate until 7 August 1999 when they were transferred to al-Rassafa Security Directorate. On 15 November 1999 they were taken back to Saddam Security Directorate and were released five days later. Following his release Iyyad al-Sa'idi discovered that he had been dismissed from the Institute of Fine Arts. His brother al-Shaikh Nasser was sentenced to death on 13 May 2000. At the beginning of 2001 he was transferred to al-Radhwaniya detention centre where he is reported to be still on death row. No information relating to the exact charges against him or his trial is available to Amnesty International.

3.2 Other suspected political opponents

B (name withheld), a Kurdish businessman from Baghdad, married with children, was arrested in December 1996 outside his house by plainclothes security men. Initially his family did not know his whereabouts and went from one police station to another enquiring about him. Then through friends they found out that he was being held in the headquarters of the General Security Directorate in Baghdad. The family was not allowed to visit him. Eleven months later in November 1997 the family was told by the authorities that he had been executed and that they should go and collect his body. His body reportedly bore evident signs of torture. His eyes were gouged out and the empty eye sockets were filled with paper. His right wrist and left leg were broken. The family was not given any reason for his arrest and subsequent execution. However, they suspected that he was executed because of his friendship with a retired army general who had links with the Iraqi opposition outside the country and who was arrested just before B.'s arrest and was also executed.

Salah Mahdi, a 35-year-old traffic warden in al-Mansur district in Baghdad, married with three children, was arrested together with scores of people following the attempted assassination of 'Uday Saddam Hussain, the eldest son of the President, in December 1996. He was accused of neglect because he did not notice the car the assailants used. He was held in the Special Security building and was severely tortured. He died, reportedly as a result of torture, in around June 1997. His family was told that he had died but the body was never returned to them for burial despite their repeated requests and to date his burial place reportedly remains unknown to the family.

'Abd al-Wahad al-Rifa'i, a 58-year retired teacher, who was executed by hanging after he had been held in prison without charge or trial for more than two years. On 26 March 2001 his family in Baghdad collected his body from the Baghdad Security Headquarters. The body reportedly bore clear marks of torture including the pulling out of toe-nails and swelling on his right eye. 'Abd Wahad al-Rifa'i, married with nine children, was arrested on 8 March 1999. Initially he was held in the headquarters of the General Security Directorate in Baghdad then transferred to the Baghdad Security Headquarters. He was believed to have been arrested because the authorities suspected that he was in contact with the Iraqi opposition abroad through his brother, 'Abd al-Rahim al-Rifa'i, an active anti-government opponent living in Europe. 'Abd al-Wahad al-Rifa'i's wife and children have reportedly had their food ration card withdrawn from them as a punishment and the authorities also stopped pension payments which 'Abd al-Wahad was receiving before his execution.

Hundreds of army and security officers have been arrested in recent years and many have been executed. Charges against them have included plotting to overthrow the government or having contacts with the opposition abroad. Many were subjected to torture. A former Iraqi General Intelligence officer C (name withheld) told Amnesty International that he was arrested in mid-1990s on suspicion of having contacts with the opposition. He was held in solitary confinement for two years at the headquarters of the General Intelligence in al-Hakimiya in Baghdad. During the two years of detention he endured prolonged and repeated torture in the interrogation room. He was left suspended for long hours from a horizontal rod. His hands and feet were tied behind his back and was suspended from the upper arms. He was also beaten with a cable on different parts of the body, especially on the back of his head. Electric shocks were applied to various parts of the body and a wooden stick was inserted into his anus. He was held in solitary confinement all this time. The cell he was held in was painted entirely in red, including the ceiling, the floor and the doors. The light was red too. It is often referred to as the ''red room'' by former torture victims. He was released at the end of 1997. However he was rearrested again two years later also on suspicion of establishing contacts with the opposition and was held in the same detention centre. He was subjected to the same forms of torture as described above. C has now been left with permanent physical damage.

A number of former Iraqi political detainees were forced to undergo surgery to have a leg or arm amputated because they had been tortured for long periods of time and had developed gangrene for which they did not receive medical treatment. They had no choice but to sign statements in hospitals to the effect that it was solely their decision to have the amputation carried out.

4 TORTURE, ILL-TREATMENT AND EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTION OF WOMEN

Women too have been tortured, ill-treated and in some cases extrajudicially executed in Iraq. Su'ad Jihad Shams al-Din, a 61-year-old medical doctor, was arrested at her clinic in Baghdad on 29 June 1999 on suspicion that she had contacts with Shi'a Islamist groups. She was detained without charge or trial and was released on 25 July 1999. She was initially held in Baghdad Security Directorate and then was transferred to al-Ambar Security Directorate (also in Baghdad) on 5 July. Su'ad Jihad Shams al-Din was tortured frequently during interrogation by security men. Methods of torture included mostly beatings on the sole (falaqa) with a cable.

Some women have been raped in custody. They were detained and tortured because they were relatives of well known Iraqi opposition activists living abroad. The security authorities use this method to put pressure on Iraqi nationals abroad to cease their activities. For example, on 7 June 2000 Najib al-Salihi, a former army general who fled Iraq in 1995 and joined the Iraqi opposition, was sent a videotape showing the rape of a female relative. Shortly afterwards he reportedly received a telephone call from the Iraqi intelligence service, asking him whether he had received the ''gift'' and informing him that his relative was in their custody.

In October 2000 dozens of women suspected of prostitution were beheaded without any judicial process in Baghdad and other cities after they had been arrested and ill-treated. Men suspected of procurement were also beheaded. The killings were reportedly carried out in the presence of representatives of the Ba'ath Party and the Iraqi Women's General Union. Members of Feda'iyye Saddam, a militia created in 1994 by 'Uday Saddam Hussain, used swords to execute the victims in front of their homes. Some victims were reportedly killed in this manner for political reasons.

Najat Mohammad Haydar, an obstetrician in Baghdad, was beheaded in October 2000 apparently on suspicion of prostitution. However, she was reportedly arrested before the introduction of the policy to behead prostitutes and was said to have been critical of corruption within the health services.

A woman known as ''Um Haydar'' was beheaded reportedly without charge or trial at the end of December 2000. She was 25 years' old and married with three children. Her husband was sought by the security authorities reportedly because of his involvement in Islamist armed activities against the state. He managed to flee the country. Men belonging to Feda'iyye Saddam came to the house in al-Karrada district and found his wife, children and his mother. Um Haydar was taken to the street and two men held her by the arms and a third pulled her head from behind and beheaded her in front of the residents. The beheading was also witnessed by members of the Ba'ath Party in the area. The security men took the body and the head in a plastic bag, and took away the children and the mother-in-law. The body of Um Haydar was later buried in al-Najaf. The fate of the children and the mother-in-law remains unknown.

5 JUDICIAL PUNISHMENTS AMOUNTING TO TORTURE

In 1994 Iraq, through a series of decrees issued by the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), the highest legislative body in the country, introduced judicial punishments amounting to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments for at least 30 criminal offences, including theft in certain circumstances, monopolizing rationed goods, defaulting or deserting from military service and performing plastic surgery on an amputated arm or leg. The punishments consisted of the amputation of the right hand for a first offence, and of the left foot for a second offence, or the severance of one or both ears. People convicted under these decrees were also branded with an ''X'' mark on the forehead.(5) The Iraqi Government argued that the introduction of these severe punishments were in response to the rising crime rate resulting from worsening economic conditions as a result of the UN imposed sanctions. The punishment of amputation of the auricle of the ears and the branding of the foreheads were suspended in 1996 by the Iraqi Government, through RCC Decree 81/96.

A number of former soldiers who suffered amputation or had their ears cut off have fled the country and now live with permanent physical damage as a result of such punishments. They include:

Ahmad Dakhel Kadhim, aged 30, from al-Samawa in al-Muthanna governorate in southern Iraq, was arrested on 1 September 1994. He had been serving in the army and then deserted following the invasion of Kuwait. He was in hiding until his arrest. He was taken to al-Samawa prison where he was detained for three days and then he was blindfolded and taken to an unknown location. He later found himself in al-Samawa hospital. He was made to lie on a bed and his hands were tied to each side of the bed. He was given an anaesthetic and when he recovered consciousness his right ear had been cut off as a punishment. He was taken back to the same prison and then transferred to other prisons until 23 December 1994, when he managed to escape from prison, and at the beginning of 1995 he fled the country. Ahmad Dakhel Kadhim has been sentenced to death in absentia.

Majed 'Abd al-Wahed al-Sarraji, aged 30 from Baghdad, was arrested on 15 September 1994 because he failed to join the army when he was called to service. He told Amnesty International:

''I was taken to al-Rashidiya al-Hussainiya Prison in Baghdad. I stayed there for three days without being interrogated. Then on the fourth day they called my name and took me to al-Nu'man Hospital in Baghdad. I was given anaesthetic by injection on my right arm and when I woke up I discovered that they had cut off a small part of my right ear... I was taken back to the same prison where I stayed for 40 days. I found out later that all my family had been forcibly transferred by the security forces to a camp in al-Nahrawan, just outside Baghdad. The camp was surrounded by armed guards. My family was held for three months and were then allowed back to the house. I was transferred to al-Fudhaylia detention centre in Baghdad and six weeks later I was taken to al-Diwaniya Prison, south of Baghdad. I was held in this prison for two years. I was in a room where there were around 50 detainees. All of us in the room had one or both ears cut off partially or completely...''.

Majed 'Abd al-Wahed al-Sarraji managed to escape with a few inmates from al-Diwaniya Prison. He was living in hiding until the beginning of 1999 when he managed to flee the country.

Amputations were very often publicized in Iraqi media, including television and newspapers. However, since the end of 1996, following international condemnation of these punishments, reports of amputations being carried out have rarely been publicized in Iraq. In August 1998 six members of Feda'iyye Saddam reportedly had their hands amputated by order of 'Uday Saddam Hussain. They were said to have been accused of theft and extortion from travellers in the southern city of Basra.

Amputation of the tongue was reportedly approved by the authorities in mid-2000 as a new penalty for slander or abusive remarks about the President or his family. In September 2000 a man reportedly had his tongue amputated by members of Feda'iyye Saddam in Baghdad for slandering the President. He was said to have been driven around after the punishment while information about his alleged offence was broadcast through a loudspeaker.

Amnesty International had publicly called on the Iraqi Government to abolish the penalties of amputation and branding and to provide reparation for all victims, or for families of victims. In November 1997 the UN Human Rights Committee, the international body of experts responsible for supervising the implementation of the ICCPR, examining Iraq's fourth periodic report expressed deep concern that Iraq ''has resorted to the imposition of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments, such as amputation and branding, which are incompatible with Article 7 of the Covenant [ICCPR]'' and urged that such punishments be ceased immediately.(6) The Committee recommended that ''a thorough review of existing temporary laws and decrees be undertaken with a view to ensuring their compliance with the provisions of the Covenant''.(7)

6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Suspected government opponents and occasionally others are systematically and routinely tortured in Iraq. Some of the victims have died and many have been left with permanent physical and psychological damage. Others have been left with mutilated bodies resulting from the application of certain judicial punishments introduced by the government in the 1990s. Amnesty International's concerns about the systematic use of torture and about other gross human rights violations in the country are shared by the UN Commission on Human Rights which, in its 2001 session, condemned the ''widespread, systematic torture and the maintaining of decrees prescribing cruel and inhuman punishment as a penalty for offences''. The Commission called on the government to ''abrogate all decrees that prescribe cruel and inhuman punishment or treatment, including mutilation, and to ensure that torture and cruel punishment and treatment no longer occur''.(8)


Amnesty International is now urging the Iraqi Government to:


1 Ratify and implement fully in domestic law and practice the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;

2 Repeal all decrees introduced in the 1990s which amount to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments;

3 Set up an independent body to undertake prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into all allegations of torture and ill-treatment, including cases of death in custody, and ensure that the methods and findings of such investigations are made public;

4 Bring to justice anyone responsible for committing acts of torture and other serious human rights violations;

5 Issue a public declaration that torture, including rape, will not be tolerated under any circumstances;

6 Ensure that women prisoners are kept separately from men and supervised only by female prison officials;

7 Prohibit by law all extrajudicial executions;

8 Condemn publicly the practice of extrajudicial executions, and make clear to all authorities that such killings will not be tolerated;

9 Demonstrate respect for the inherent right to life by putting an immediate end to executions;

10 Pending the abolition of the death penalty in law for all offences, commute all outstanding death sentences and ensure that it is never applied in violation of Article 6(2)(9) of the ICCPR;

11 Declare a moratorium on executions as called for by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in April 1999;

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

You know, I've never been under any illusions concerning how well-informed Apolytoners are, but some levels of crashing ignorance baffle me.

Want more of these reports? There's loads. The Ba'athist regime is monstrous.

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by Lazarus and the Gimp
You know, I've never been under any illusions concerning how well-informed Apolytoners are, but some levels of crashing ignorance baffle me.

Want more of these reports? There's loads. The Ba'athist regime is monstrous.

Oh my, it sounds like hes an evil dictator.....We should assasinate him.....

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Yup. You got it. Have a biscuit for being clever.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Amnesty International has on numerous occasions over the years expressed its concern at the practice of "disappearances" by the Iraqi authorities. Cases have been documented in several reports [2]. The organization has obtained and continues to receive the names of thousands of victims whose fate and whereabouts remain unknown. As an example, according to some estimates over 100,000 Kurdish civilians "disappeared" in 1988 alone, in a space of three to four months, in the so-called Operation Anfal when the Iraqi Government implemented a program of destruction of villages and towns all over Iraqi Kurdistan, ostensibly in order to resettle the inhabitants in areas which offered improved conditions. An estimated 4,000 villages and towns were destroyed and razed to the ground and decrees were issued giving military and security personnel the authority to execute any persons attempting to return to their homes. Some Kurdish estimates put the figure at 150,000 to 180,000 "disappeared" victims. Amnesty International has the names of about 17,000 people who "disappeared" during that time.

About five years earlier, in August 1983, Iraqi forces arrested some 8,000 men and boys, aged between 8 and 70, from the Barzani clan near Arbil. A group of 315 children and young people, aged between eight and 17 at the time of their arrest, were among those arrested. They were first taken to Baghdad and then transferred to unknown places. All have "disappeared". The operation was believed to have been carried out as retaliation for alleged Kurdish support for the Iranian armed forces during the Iran-Iraq war. On 12 September 1983, President Saddam Hussain said in a speech: "We will punish those who co-operate with Barzani's sons, just as we punished the Barzani sons themselves and those who co-operated with them in the past. Those people were severely punished and went to Hell...".

Ever since the 1960s and 1970s entire families have been deported to Iran by the Iraqi authorities. With the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in September 1980, the practice became widespread and thousands of families were forcibly sent to Iran. They included Arab Shi'a Muslim families who were declared by the authorities to be "of Iranian descent", taba'iyya, and Feily Kurds who, unlike the majority of Kurds, are Shi'a Muslims [3]. However, thousands of male members, including minors, of those families who were deported to Iran, were arrested and detained. Although the majority were kept in acknowledged places of detention and had access to relatives, thousands were later transferred to unknown places and "disappeared".

At the end of the 1990-1991 Gulf war, and following the March 1991 uprising by Arab Shi'a Muslims in the south and by Kurds in the north, serious human rights violations were reported, including "disappearances" and extrajudicial executions. The fate and whereabouts of 106 Shi'a Muslim clerics and students remain unknown [4]. It is believed that around 12,000 people arrested in connection with the 1991 uprising continue to be detained in al-Radwaniyya garrison, south-west of Baghdad. Amnesty International has appealed on numerous occasions to the Iraqi Government to clarify the fate of the Shi'a clerics and students but has received no response. During the same period, when the Iraqi forces pulled out of Kuwait, more than 600 Kuwaiti and other nationals were arrested and taken to Iraq. Despite international pressure nothing has been heard of them. The sole exception is Nadia Muhammad al-'Anaizi, a Kuwaiti woman, believed to be one of those arrested in Kuwait and taken to Iraq, who was released by the Iraqi authorities in May 1996.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

This is not some bloke in a moustache being a bit naughty. It's ****ing genocide. Perhaps you're the sort of person who can sit back and live with that, but I'm not you.

[Dis]

I think we should assassinate him.

Wouldn't it be better to assassinate him and save Iraqi and American lives?

the only reason this is not feasible is because the CIA is incompetant and would screw it up and probably just assassinate a decoy.

war has a higher chance of succeeding.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

A Petition
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

The Venerable Chief and Leader, the Honorable Saddam Hussein (May God Protect Him), President of the Republic and Head of the Honorable Revolutionary Command Council:

Struggling Comrade, I greet you. And I present myself to you as a devoted citizen.

I implore you in the name of Ba'athist Justice to hear my plight, which has deprived me of sleep night and day. For I lost all hope and when I had no one left to turn to except yourselves, I came to you with my problem, which may be of some concern to you.

Sir:

I, the undersigned, Assi Mustafa Ahmad, who returned as a prisoner of war on August 24, 1990, am a reserve soldier born in 1955. I participated in the Glorious Battle of Saddam's Qadissiyat in the Sector of Al-Shoush and was taken prisoner on March 27, 1982. I remained a prisoner until the day that the decision to exchange prisoners of war was issued. Then I returned to the homeland and kissed the soil of the Beloved Motherland and knelt in front of the portrait of our Victorious Leader and President Saddam Hussein. In my heart I felt a tremendous longing to return to my family. They would delight in seeing me, and I would delight in seeing them, and we would all be caught up in an overwhelming joy that could not be described.

However, I found my home completely empty. My wife and my kids were not there. What a catastrophe! What a horror! I was told that the whole family had fallen into the hands of the Anfal forces in the Anfal operation conducted in the Northern Region, under the leadership of Comrade Ali Hassan al-Majid. I know nothing of their fate. They are:

1. Azimah Ali Ahmad, born 1955/ My wife.
2. Jarou Assi Mustafa, born 1979/ My daughter.
3. Faraydoun Assi Mustafa, born 1981/ My son.
4. Rukhoush Assi Mustafa, born 1982/ My son.
I have thus come to you with this petition, hoping that you would take pity on me and inform me of their fate. May God grant you success and protect you. You have my thanks and respect.
[signature]

Former Prisoner of War
Reserve Soldier/Assi Mustafa Ahmad
Without home or shelter in Suleimaniyeh/
Chamchamal/Bekas Quarter/
Haji Ibrahim Mosque October 4, 1990

The reply

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Republic of Iraq
Bureau of the Presidency
Reference No.: Sh Ayn/B/4/16565

Date: October 29, 1990

Mr. Assi Mustafa Ahmad
Suleimaniyah Governorate
Chamchamal District
Bekas Quarter
Haji Ibrahim Mosque

With regard to your petition dated October 4, 1990. Your wife and children were lost during the Anfal Operations that took place in the Northern Region in 1988.

Yours truly,
[signature]
Saadoun Ilwan Muslih
Chief, Bureau of the Presidency

[Ramo]

ramo thats ridiculous we aren't ignoring them. we know they are there.

Uh huh. The government sure could've fooled me.

Like how we've left Afghanistan in the hands of Islamist warlords except for the gov't in Kabul which has virtually no power. That sure is in the interests of liberty of the people and the security of Americans. Nice to see the US on top of things.

this is the typical hypocrisy u find by anti war protestors.
they yell at us for ignoring othe rppl. but would they support us invading them? no.

You are wrong. I would support certain military action by the US. For instance, finishing the job in Afghanistan.

so really all they are practicing is duplicitous arguing tactics to try and make the other side look bad. instead of engaging in any fruitful thot.

No, you're just taking stuff out of context, and making idiotic generalizations about the anti-war movement.

You know, I've never been under any illusions concerning how well-informed Apolytoners are, but some levels of crashing ignorance baffle me.
Want more of these reports? There's loads. The Ba'athist regime is monstrous.

That's not relevant. The alternative isn't going to be any better. Either the US installs another ruthless Sunni dictator, probably a Ba'athist general, who proceedingly crushes the autonomous Kurds, or a massive civil war breaks out in the South between the Sunni Ba'athist elite and the Shia populous dominated by Shia Islamists and backed by Iranian proxies, and there will be multiple invasions of an independent Kurdistan, causing reaction in Iran and Tukey, destabilization in Saudi Arabia, and lots of new recruits for al-Qaeda. Either case, considering the deaths and destruction to infrastructure a US invasion would case, would be decidedly worse than the status quo. Either Shrub understands the situation, and acts on interest of real-politik (which, again, is worse than the present situation), or he doesn't realize what's going on makes the situation much, much worse.

[Dis]

finishing the job in Afghanistan?

There is nothing more we can do. They have won. They know where to hide, we don't.

We can't just declare war on the tribal leaders. Do you realize how much flack we would take from European countries and anti-war protestors? That isn't feasible.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by Ramo


That's not relevant. The alternative isn't going to be any better.

That was the reasoning used on Indonesia, Rwanda, Burma, etc....

How many more millions is it going to take? Check your crystal ball for cracks and start thinking about whether we haven't been doing enough to stop regimes like this one.

[notyoueither]

Ramo, you cannot make countries out of whole cloth. Anyone must deal with those who are there. The fact that Afghanistan is a ****ed up place was known at the outset. However, leaving Bin Laden largely in charge was not a good idea.

So too is it known that Iraq is not an easy issue, but leaving Saddam in place does not seem to be an option. The guy doesn't want nukes? He would not do anything to get them? He is not a murderous bastard who starves his own people to pursue weapons programs?

What do you want? No sanctions, no war, and just leave him to his own devices?

[Dis]

and even Clinton supports booting Saddam and removing the weapons of mass destruction.

I can provide a link if you want. He said this recently at the speech on 92nd street.

Of course he says Bush screwed it up diplomatically- but he does support booting Saddam.

[Ramo]

How many more millions is it going to take? Check your crystal ball for cracks and start thinking about whether we haven't been doing enough to stop regimes like this one.

We didn't bring justice and liberty and the American way to Afghanistan. What makes you believe that we will in Iraq, where the domestic and international situation is considerably more complex?

[qutoe]finishing the job in Afghanistan?
There is nothing more we can do. They have won. They know where to hide, we don't. [/quote]

What do you mean there's nothing more we can do? We haven't made the slightest effort.

We can't just declare war on the tribal leaders. Do you realize how much flack we would take from European countries and anti-war protestors? That isn't feasible

Why can't we? We'd probably even have world support instead of world opposition in Afghanistan. As for anti-war protestors, myself and most of the people who oppose war in Iraq that I know wouldn't oppose finishing the job in Afghanistan.

[Dis]

the tribal leaders don't directly support terrorism or have weapons of mass destruction.

But I agree we need to put diplomatic pressure to somehow get some law and order into that country. But I'm not sure how we can do that.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by Ramo


We didn't bring justice and liberty and the American way to Afghanistan. What makes you believe that we will in Iraq, where the domestic and international situation is considerably more complex?

Nothing whatsoever, Ramo. I'd just settle for reducing the bodycount so that it's measured in tens of thousands, rather than hundreds of thousands (possibly millions).

[Ramo]

Ramo, you cannot make countries out of whole cloth.

That's what Shrub is planning on doing in Iraq, except that there aren't huge problems posed by neighboring countries.

What do you want? No sanctions, no war, and just leave him to his own devices?

What I want that I can perhaps realistically get are smarter sanctions, dealing directly with the Iraqi people instead of the gov't in Baghdad.

So too is it known that Iraq is not an easy issue, but leaving Saddam in place does not seem to be an option. The guy doesn't want nukes? He would not do anything to get them? He is not a murderous bastard who starves his own people to pursue weapons programs?

His persuit for WMD's is irrelevent. As the Gulf War had shown, he has demonstrated that he will not use them if there isn't international sanction behind their use. The fact that he's a murderous bastard might be relevant if our gov't were more responsible.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by Ramo

His persuit for WMD's is irrelevent. As the Gulf War had shown, he has demonstrated that he will not use them if there isn't international sanction behind their use. The fact that he's a murderous bastard might be relevant if our gov't were more responsible.

Goktapa means "green hill" in Turkish--a language whose influence is often apparent still in this former part of the Ottoman Empire's Mosul vilayet. Although the whole village had originally been built on the slopes of the hill, some families had resettled on the flat farmland on the south bank of the Lesser Zab after Goktapa was burned in 1963, during the first Ba'ath regime, after the first of many fierce battles between government forces and the peshmerga. In truth Goktapa was more a small town than a village, with at least 300--some say as many as 500--households, as well as a school, a clinic and two Sunni mosques. The surrounding fields produced rich harvests of cotton, wheat, tobacco, sunflowers, potatoes, eggplant, sweet pepper, beans, okra, grapes, apricots, figs and watermelon. Goktapa even had electricity, although the women still carried water from the river on donkeys.

Goktapa had endured the repression familiar to most villages in the prohibited areas. From a checkpoint outside the nahya of Aghjalar, half an hour away by car on a paved road, the army tried with mixed success to impose a blockade on all foodstuffs reaching the villages on the south side of the Lesser Zab. In 1982 or 1983, after a pitched battle between government forces and peshmerga, Goktapa was savagely attacked by helicopters, aircraft, tanks and ground troops. Among those killed was a 45-year old woman named Miriam Hussein, shot from a helicopter. There had been peshmerga in Goktapa since the far-off days of Mullah Mustafa Barzani, and after 1984 the village housed an important PUK command post. As a result it was bombed frequently. "We spent most of our lives in shelters," said one woman. When asked to describe the attitude of the civilian population towards the peshmerga, Fawzia, a woman of sixty, smiled. "The peshmerga were loved by the people," she said. "No one hates his own people." The peshmerga protected them from the armyand jahsh, she added: "Naturally; if there were no peshmerga, they would kill us with knives, cut out our tongues."6

May 3, 1988 was a lovely spring day. The river valley was carpeted in green and dotted with roses and other flowers. Although it was still Ramadan, and the people were fasting, the women of Goktapa were baking bread, and the children were splashing in the Waters of Dukan. Throughout April, Goktapa had seen a lot of peshmerga coming and going, stopping briefly in the village to eat, bringing news of the rout in Germian and Qara Dagh, spending the night and then moving on. But there had been no fighting in Goktapa itself, and ten days had now passed since the last Kurdish fighters had been sighted.

An hour or so before dusk, the late afternoon stillness was broken by the sound of jet engines. Abd-al-Qader Abdullah Askari, a man in his late 60s, was a little distance from his home when he heard the aircraft. Everyone in this part of Iraqi Kurdistan knew of Abd-al-Qader and his famous family. His late father, Abdullah, had been the head of the Qala Saywka tribe, which owned thirty-six villages in the hills around Aghjalar. By the time he died, the old man's property had dwindled to seven villages, which he divided among his sons. Abd-al-Qader was given Goktapa, although "I always worked with my hands; I never liked to exploit anyone."7 His brother Ali received the nearby village of Askar--hence the name "Askari." In time Ali became a senior PUK commander and a close confidant of Jalal Talabani.

Askar, an hour and a half on foot from Goktapa, seems to have been the aircraft's first target on May 3, no doubt because the PUK's first malband, in retreat from Germian, had tried to set up its new base here. A formation of MIGs swooped low over the village, which was now full of peshmerga. There were eight dull explosions, followed by a column of white smoke that smelled pleasantly of mint. Borne on a southeasterly wind, it drifted as far as Haydar Beg, a couple of miles away. When it cleared, nine villagers of Askar lay dead. Members of the PUK rushedaround administering atropine injections to those who had been exposed to the gas.8

Askar was not visible from Goktapa, and Abd-al-Qader was not especially alarmed when he looked up and saw the aircraft approaching. "I did not pay attention because we suffered from many bombardments. I thought it would be the same as in the past. We did not go into the shelters in front of our houses. No one paid any attention to the planes; we were accustomed to them. But when the bombing started, the sound was different from previous times. It was not as loud as in the past. I saw smoke rising, first white, then turning to gray. I ran away." But the wind from the southeast carried the smoke toward him. "I ran 50 meters then fell down. The smoke smelled like a match stick when you burn it. I passed out."

The bombs fell at exactly 5:45 p.m., according to Abd-al-Qader's daughter-in-law Nasrin, the 40-year old wife of his son Latif, a former schoolteacher. Nasrin remembered the time with precision because her family had a rare luxury: a clock mounted on the wall. She recalled counting four aircraft, although some other villagers say there were six--and some added that a second flight of six dropped their bombs later. The smoke, said Nasrin, was red and then turned to blue. It smelled of garlic.

There was general panic and confusion; villagers were screaming, running in all directions and collapsing from the fumes. Nasrin remembered the general advice that the peshmerga had given: in the event of a chemical attack, head for the river and cover your faces with wet cloths. She grabbed a bunch of towels and ran to the riverbank with seven of her eight children. Her eldest daughter, who ran off in another direction, was later arrested and disappeared. The advice about wet towels may well have saved the lives of Nasrin and her family, since the wind blew the gas straight across the Lesser Zab river where she had fled, and one bomb even fell in the water. Dead fish floated to the surface.9

Today, a simple monument on top of the "green hill" memorializes those who died in the chemical attack on Goktapa. Survivors say that they buried as many as 300, although a list compiledlater by the PUK gives the names of 154.10 Some died in the fields as they tended their crops. Other bodies were found in the river. With the help of a borrowed bulldozer, some of the villagers dug a deep trench in front of the mosque that had been destroyed by the army in an earlier raid, and buried many of the bodies that same night. Menawwar Yasin, a woman in her early 60s, helped with the burial. "Some of their faces were black," she said, "covered with smoke. Others were ordinary but stiff. I saw one mother, nursing her infant, stiffened in that position." Other corpses were covered over by the army with a rough layer of dirt when the ground troops destroyed Goktapa several days later. There was no time to do it any other way, an officer explained to a visiting member of the Askari family--it was hot and the bodies were beginning to smell; if they were left uncovered they might cause health problems for his men.11 Whatever the exact number of those who died, it was the heaviest toll from any confirmed chemical attack other than Halabja, six weeks earlier.

[Ramo]

the tribal leaders don't directly support terrorism or have weapons of mass destruction.

Yeah, the rape and pillage of the warlords isn't at all close to terrorism or anything like that. And it's only a matter of time till they bite us in the ass.

Nothing whatsoever, Ramo. I'd just settle for reducing the bodycount so that it's measured in tens of thousands, rather than hundreds of thousands (possibly millions).

Again, I'm not convinced that the bodycount would be reduced.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Your doubts are noted and duly dismissed.

[Ramo]

Why are you so convinced that the situation will turn out for the better?

[Dis]

and in case it isn't obvious Iraq is not Afghanistan. They are much, much more civilized. They have much more wealth because of their natural resources.

Iraq will not be like Afghanistan.

'nuff said.