Stop lying.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1355420/posts
What have the Americans ever done for us? Liberated 50 million
people...
The Times (U.K.) ^ | 03/04/05 | Gerard Baker
Little more than three years after US forces, backed by their faithful
British allies, set foot in Afghanistan, the entire historical dynamic
of this blighted region has already shifted.
Ignoring, fortunately, the assault from clever world opinion on
AmericaÂ’s motives, its credibility and its ambitions, the Bush
Administration set out not only to eliminate immediate threats but
also to remake the Middle East. In the last month, the pace of
progress has accelerated, and from Beirut to Kabul.
Confronted with this awkward turn of events, RegÂ’s angry successors
are asking their cohorts: “What have the Americans ever done for us?”
“Well, they did get rid of the Taleban in Afghanistan. ’Orrible bunch,
they were.”
“All right, the Taleban, I grant you.”
“Then there was Iraq. Knocked off one of the nastiest dictators who
ever lived and gave the whole nation a chance to pick its own rulers.”
“Yeah, all right. Fair enough. I didn’t like Saddam.”
“Libya gave up its nuclear weapons.”
“And then there’s Syria. Thousands of people on the streets of
Lebanon. Syrians look like they’re pulling out.”
“I just heard Egypt’s going to hold free presidential elections for
the first time. And Saudi Arabia just held elections too.”
“The Palestinians and the Israelis are talking again and they say
there’s a real chance of peace this time.”
“All right, all right. But apart from liberating 50 million people in
Iraq and Afghanistan, undermining dictatorships throughout the Arab
world, spreading freedom and self-determination in the broader Middle
East and moving the Palestinians and the Israelis towards a real
chance of ending their centuries-long war, what have the Americans
ever done for us?”
ItÂ’s too early, in fairness, to claim complete victory in the
American-led struggle to bring peace through democratic transformation
of the region. Despite the temptation to crow, we must remember that
this is not Berlin 1989. There will surely be challenging times ahead
in Iraq, Iran, in the West Bank and elsewhere. The enemies of
democratic revolution — all the terrorists and Baathists, the sheikhs,
the mullahs and the monarchs — are not going to give up without a
fight.
But something very important is happening now, something that will be
very hard to stop. And, although not all of it can be directly
attributed to the US strategy in the region, can anyone seriously
argue that it would have happened without it? Neither is it true, as
some have tried to argue, that all of this is merely some unintended
consequence of an immoral and misconceived war in Iraq.
It was always the express goal of the Bush Administration to change
the regime in Baghdad, precisely because of the opportunities for
democracy it would open up in the rest of the Arab world. George Bush
understands the simple but historically demonstrable thesis that
freedom is not only the most basic of human rights, but also the best
way to ensure that nations do not go to war with each other.
In a speech one month before the start of the Iraq war in 2003, Mr
Bush laid out the strategy: “The world has a clear interest in the
spread of democratic values, because stable and free nations do not
breed the ideologies of murder. They encourage the peaceful pursuit of
a better life.”
I doubt that anybody, even the most prescient in the Bush
Administration or at 10 Downing Street, thought the progress we are
now seeing would come as quickly as it has.
But what was clear to the bold foreign policy strategists in
Washington was that the status quo that existed before September 11
could no longer be tolerated. Much of the Muslim world represented
decay and stagnation, and bred anger and resentment. That was the root
cause of the terrorism that had attacked America with increasing
ferocity between 1969 and 2001.
AmericaÂ’s critics craved stability in the Middle East. DonÂ’t rock the
boat, they said. But to the US this stability was that of the mass
grave; the calm was the eerie quiet that precedes the detonation of
the suicide bomb. The boat was holed and listing viciously.
As a foreign policy thinker close to the Administration put it to me,
in the weeks before the Iraq war two years ago: “Shake it and see.
That’s what we are going to do.” The US couldn’t be certain of the
outcome, but it could be sure that whatever happened would be better
than the status quo.
And so America, the revolutionary power, plunged in and shook the
region to its foundations. And it is already liking what it sees.
You miserable despot apologist!
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/15996.htm
Silence by Murder
For more than 20 years, Saddam Hussein has executed perceived
opponents without respect for rule of law. Saddam Hussein silences
these alleged dissidents because he believes that their political
beliefs, faith, ethnic background, family members or acquaintances are
a threat to his power. Some are first taken as political prisoners
before being executed. In February 1998, 400 prisoners at Abu Gharaib
prison were executed summarily. Two months later, 100 detainees from
Radwaniyah Prison were buried alive in a pit in Ramadi province. These
killings were supposed to "clean out" the prisons. More than 3,000
people have been killed in a similar manner since 1997.
Summary executions in Iraq take many cruel forms. A quick yet
effective method is to line up the entire male population of a village
and shoot them systematically, one at a time, in order to eliminate
the village. Saddam Hussein?s regime, however, often prefers methods
that take more time, and inflict more pain on the victim and the
victim?s family. His regime has poisoned political prisoners by giving
them a slow-acting poison, thallium, which slowly infiltrates the
system and takes several days to bring death. Iraqi citizens are often
decapitated in front of family members, and at other times, they are
shot in front of family members and the family is charged for the cost
of the bullet. Saddam Hussein has perfected many of these methods of
murder on Kurds in Northern Iraq and religious leaders from the Shi?a
community, claiming that they are disloyal to the Government. Once
murdered, many Iraqis are buried in unmarked graves so that their
family members cannot visit them.
"It has been the Iraqi regime?s policy to change the demography of
Iraq, by eradicating the Kurdish population from areas that are deemed
important in the north of the country. The regime has done this
through forced deportation, arbitrary arrests, and systematic
torture." ? Paiman Halmat, teacher, former Iraqi citizen
As a particularly brutal example of silencing political opposition, it
is estimated that at least 30,000 to 60,000 members of the Shi?a
community were killed during their post-Gulf war political
insurrection in southern Iraq.
Silence Through Torture
Under Saddam Hussein?s orders, the security apparatus in Iraq
routinely and systematically tortures its citizens. Beatings, rape,
breaking of limbs and denial of food and water are commonplace in
Iraqi detention centers. Saddam Hussein?s regime has also invented
unique and horrific methods of torture including electric shocks to a
male?s genitals, pulling out fingernails, suspending individuals from
rotating ceiling fans, dripping acid on a victim?s skin, gouging out
eyes, and burning victims with a hot iron or blowtorch.
Gwynne Roberts, a reporter for the London-based Independent, describes
her experience in a torture center in Northern Iraq:
In one cell pieces of human flesh ? ear lobes ? were nailed to the
wall, and blood spattered the ceiling. A large metal fan hung from the
ceiling and my guide told me prisoners were attached to the fan and
beaten with clubs as they twirled. There were hooks in the ceiling
used to suspend victims. A torture victim told me that prisoners were
also crucified, nails driven through their hands into the wall. A
favorite technique was to hang men from the hooks and attach a heavy
weight to their testicles.
? Independent, March 29, 1991
Foreign citizens are not spared the brutality either. Large numbers of
Kuwaiti citizens were murdered, tortured and raped during the Gulf
War. More than two dozen torture centers in Kuwait City have been
discovered, and photographic evidence confirms reports of electric
shocks, acid baths, summary execution and the use of electric drills
to penetrate a victim?s body. Many innocent civilian citizens were
also used as human shields.
Branding and amputations have been routine in Iraqi hospitals. In
1994, the Iraqi government issued at least nine decrees that
established cruel penalties such as branding. Amputation has been used
against citizens convicted of military desertion. One citizen whose
hand was cut off was paraded on national television as a method of
instilling fear in the people.
In 1994 and 1995 alone, large numbers of soldiers had portions of
their ears cut off for deserting the army. The government branded an
"X" on the foreheads of these soldiers so that Iraqi citizens did not
think that these soldiers were wounded war heroes. Doctors who refused
to perform the operations were threatened with reprisals, and many
have been arrested and detained. The Iraqi authorities also issued a
decree in 1994 making it illegal for doctors to perform plastic or
corrective surgery for victims of branding and amputation. In 2000, a
new Iraqi decree was issued authorizing the government to amputate the
tongues of citizens who criticize Saddam Hussein or his government.
Torture Methods in Iraq
Medical experimentation
Beatings
Crucifixion
Hammering nails into the fingers and hands
Amputating the penis or breasts with an electric carving knife
Spraying insecticides into a victim?s eyes
Branding with a hot iron
Committing rape while the victim?s spouse is forced to watch
Pouring boiling water into a rectum
Nailing the tongue to a wooden board
Extracting teeth with pliers
Using bees and scorpions to sting naked children in front of their
parents
The Missing Are Silent
Many Iraqi citizens simply "disappear" never to be heard from again.
Widespread disappearances are prevalent and occur regularly among
Kurdish minorities. In 2001, Amnesty International claimed that Saddam
Hussein?s Government was responsible for the majority of the hundreds
of thousands of persons that have disappeared in the Middle East and
North Africa in recent decades.
"If you are arrested, your life is over."
- "Ahmed," an anonymous current Iraqi citizen tells Cameron W. Barr of
The Christian Science Monitor (Oct. 31, 2002)
The UN Special Rapporteur on Iraq to the Commission on Human Rights
has specifically documented 16,496 cases of disappearances, but states
that the number of Kurds alone missing from the 1988 Anfal Campaign
could reach tens of thousands. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International place the number of disappeared between 70,000 and
150,000. According to the UN Special Rapporteur, the second largest
targeted group for disappearances were the Shi?a Muslims.
Chemical Weapons Silence Iraqi Citizens
Saddam Hussein became the first leader in the world to systematically
and aggressively gas his own people. Between 1983 and 1988 alone, he
murdered more than 30,000 Iraqi citizens with mustard gas and nerve
agents. Several international organizations claim that he killed more
than 60,000 Iraqi citizens with chemicals, including large numbers of
women and children. During his two-year Anfal campaign against the
Kurdish population, Saddam Hussein used these chemical weapons against
more than 40 villages.
It was 6:20 PM on March 16, 1988, when a smell of apples descended on
the town of Halabja. This Iraqi Kurdish town of 80,000 was instantly
engulfed in a thick cloud of gas, as chemicals soaked into the
clothes, mouths, lungs, eyes and skin of innocent civilians. For three
days, Iraqi Air Force planes dropped mustard gas, nerve agents known
as sarin and tabun, and VX, a newly manufactured and highly lethal
gas. These chemicals murdered at least 5,000 civilians within hours of
the initial attack, and killed and maimed thousands more over the next
several years. Halabja has experienced staggering rates of aggressive
cancer, genetic mutation, neurological damage, and psychiatric
disorders since 1988. If you walk through the streets today, you will
still see many diseased and disfigured citizens.
Shaho was nine at the time. Within weeks, he began to suffer back
pains and eventually was unable to stand or walk. ?Before the chemical
attack, I was perfectly healthy ... I am certain that poison gas
caused my illness. My mother lost her sight at the time, and I?ve got
gradually worse ever since.? Shaho spends each day at home lying on
his mattress, turned every thirty minutes by his devoted sister to
avoid bedsores. [Gwynne Roberts, "Poisonous Weapons," Crimes of War,
eds. Gutman and Rieff, (Singapore, 1999)].
One citizen, Mr. Akra, was taken to a hospital in Iran before
returning to Halabja to look for his family. "I saw over 200 bodies in
just 100 meters. There was a terrible smell from the chemicals and the
corpses. I went into the shelter. I first saw my grandmother. She had
swollen up. Then I saw the blackened face of my mother and I lost
consciousness."
-- Guy Dinmore, Financial Times, July 10, 2002
Women Silenced:
Saddam Hussein Acknowledges Violent Crimes Against Women
Saddam does not deny the fact that his regime tortures and brutally
murders women. The daily newspaper "Babel" owned by Uday, the eldest
son of Saddam Hussein, contained a public admission on February 13,
2001of beheading women who are suspected of prostitution. The Iraqi
Women?s League in Damascus, Syria describes this practice as follows:
"Under the pretext of fighting prostitution, units of ?Feda?iyee
Saddam?, the paramilitary organization led by Uday, have beheaded in
public more than two hundred women all over the country, dumping their
severed heads at their families door steps. Many of the victims were
innocent professional women, including some who were suspected of
being dissidents. Such barbaric acts were carried out in the total
absence of any proper judicial procedures, even under Iraq?s own Penal
Code." (March 3, 2001).
In Iraq, if you are a woman, you could face....
Beheading if you are accused of prostitution
Rape, if you are related to someone the regime thinks is disloyal
Torture, if you are related to a dissident
Reports show that many families have been required to display a
victim?s head on their outside fence for several days. These savage
practices have been used against women of all professions. For
example, an obstetrician was arrested for criticizing the corruption
within the health services, but was subsequently beheaded for
prostitution. Another woman with a husband and three children was
beheaded without charge or trial. According to Amnesty International,
her husband was wanted by the security authorities because of his
alleged involvement in Islamist armed activities against the state. He
managed to flee the country, but men belonging to Feda?iyye Saddam
(the paramilitary unit) went to his house and found his wife,
children, and mother-in-law. His wife was taken to the street and two
men held her by the arms while a third pulled her head from behind and
beheaded her in front of residents. The security men took the body and
the head in a plastic bag and took away the children and the
mother-in-law. Their fate remains unknown.
Women are often raped in order to blackmail their relatives. Men who
leave Iraq and join Iraqi opposition groups regularly receive
videotapes showing the rape of a female relative. These tapes are
intended to discourage Iraqi nationals abroad from engaging in
opposition activities. As shown below, some authorities carry
personnel cards identifying their official "activity" as the
"violation of women?s honor."
Statement made by Nidal Muhyi al-Shaikh Shallal, the wife of Shaikh
Shallal Muhammed al-Shallal, tribal chief of the Grai'at Jibour on
October 4, 2002
? My brother was arrested in 1980. Since then, we have no idea what
happened to him. The regime sent us a statement of his death in order
to provoke us. My husband?s brothers, who are also my cousins, were
executed. They were Martyr Ra?ad Shallal Muhammed al?Shallal and
Martyr Wa?d-Allah Muhammed al-Shallal. After that, our possessions
were confiscated and we were expelled from our lands. Till now, one of
our orchards has been turned into a secret factory for making chemical
weapons. It is located in Grai?at (a suburb of Azamiyya in northern
Iraq).
I was interrogated many times. It was then that my husband fled away
and went into hiding. Then I was expelled from my government job.
Many attempts were undertaken to have my husband arrested because of
his dissent. His brothers were executed. In 1991, he participated in
the Intifada (uprising), but he was captured and jailed for four
months at the prison run by the Iraqi Military Intelligence. His left
rib and nose were fractured as he was being tortured, and he was
exposed to several electric shocks the marks of which are still
visible on his body.
Our tribe, the Jibour tribe, has been subjected to almost total
extinction. Al-Grai'at (branch of the Jibour tribe) is famous for its
struggle against the Iraqi regime. As many as 882(eight hundred and
eighty-two) men from among my relatives and tribal members have been
arrested and their fate is unknown. The daughters of my uncle, namely
Layla al-Jibouri, Fatima al-Jibouri, Tarfa al-Jibouri and Safa
al-Jibouri, have all been executed.
Government Betrays Children's Welfare
Saddam has no regard for the health and welfare of the children of
Iraq. Since the Gulf War alone, Saddam Hussein has built 48 lavish
palaces for himself. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical supplies intended for
sick children are being exported for resale overseas. Medicine and
medical supplies that are desperately needed by children are
frequently delayed because regime members demand bribes from
suppliers. The lack of healthcare in Iraq has led to the reemergence
of diseases that had been exterminated years ago, including cholera
and polio.
In addition, the regime takes minority children hostage to force their
families to relocate, thereby increasing the Sunni Arab majority in
particular regions. They also force children between the ages of 10
and 15 to attend 3-week training courses in weapons? use, hand-to-hand
fighting, rappelling from helicopters, and infantry tactics. These
children endure 14 hours of physical training and psychological
pressure each day. Families that do not want their children to attend
this rigorous training course are threatened with the loss of their
food ration cards.
[M]illions of innocent people in Iraq are suffering. Their daily life
has been significantly disrupted with respect to the distribution and
quality of food, pharmaceuticals and sanitation supplies, as well as
the lack of clean drinking water. All of these elements have severely
interfered with the functioning of basic health and education systems
and have undermined the right to work.
-- 1999 Report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights
situation in Iraq
In Saddam's Iraq, if you are a child, you could face....
Inadequate nutrition or medicine because the Saddam limits imports and
distributes much of those to his friends and allies
Abduction, if you are a non-Arab living in an oil-producing area
Having to report what your parents say about the regime
