Posted on 06/09/2003 12:41:29 PM PDT by presidio9
Video tapes showing people being tortured and executed by Saddam Hussein's regime are being bought on the streets of Baghdad by Iraqis anxious to trace missing relatives. Saddam Hussein's regime filmed executions Most of the tapes are from the Shia Muslim insurgency that erupted after the first President George Bush urged Iraqis to overthrow the former Iraqi leader in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War.
Many of the executions took place in Najaf and Karbala in southern Iraq.
Some of the tapes show a man who appears to be Lieutenant General Ali Hassan al-Majid, a cousin of Saddam Hussein, better known as "Chemical Ali", killing people.
A BBC correspondent who has seen some of the recordings says they are evidence of the atrocities of the former regime.
Suffering under Saddam
One vendor said Iraqis buying the tapes want to see for themselves what happened.
"This is normal. People have suffered a lot of tragedies from Saddam Hussein. I don't know whether people believe these things or not. I don't know," the vendor told the BBC Arabic service.
Psychologist Abd al-Muhsin al-Khayat said people might also want to buy the tapes out of morbid curiosity.
"There are many possible explanations," he said. "They might have a missing or a person who was executed, so they try to identify him through the tapes.
"The other explanation is that some young people like sensational things, whether they are positive or negative."
Last month, human rights workers in Iraq said they found a number of mass graves containing the bodies of up to 100 civilians killed during the 1991 uprising.
If I had missing relatives in Iraq, I don't think I would want to see any of those tapes.
Most of the tapes are from the Shia Muslim insurgency that erupted after the first President George Bush urged Iraqis to overthrow the former Iraqi leader…
LOL! Bush did it.
It’s nice to know that Iraqis living under oppression are too stupid to think rebellion unless somebody on the other side of the earth tells them to do it.
How typical of leftist thought.
This is not true, and it's unfair to label Iraqis as being stupid. After 30 years of being brutally oppressed by Saddam Hussein, the entire country has "battered wife syndrome" where they believe they are entirely impotent to do anything on their own behalf. This is not their fault. The entire country has been brutalized for 30 years.
Look at how Elizabeth Smart felt completely trapped after just a few hours/days/weeks/months in her kidnapper's hands. And then think how it must be for Iraqis who's entire country has been kidnapped and brutalized for 30 years. Very few people in Iraq know any other way of life than to be completely, totally, submissive and without free will.
Blaming Iraqis for not standing up to Saddam & Co is like blaming the battered wife for not standing up to her battering husband. Who's fault is it that wives (Iraqis) are brutalized, their husbands (Saddam) or the wives (Iraqi people) themselves??
I have compassion for the Iraqi people. I have NO compassion for the terrorists, Saddam-loyalists, and die-hard Ba'athists who want to continue oppressing the Iraqi people via terrorist and guerilla warfare tactics. But I know the Iraqi people cannot yet stand up for themselves against these wannabe oppressors. It will take time, and the help and guidance from other Free people of the world. And this is why our troops are still dying every day over there - so that one day the Iraqi people will be free from the oppressors.
Notice how I also noted that that sort of thinking was typical of "leftist thought."
How typical of leftist thought.
Hmmm. The Shias might have expected Bush the Elder to support them, since he just kicked Saddam out of Kuwait and encouraged Iraqis to revolt.
They forgot the Iran-Iraq war. I guess balance of power considerations re-emerged at an awkward moment, leading to a FU reminiscent of the Bay of Pigs.
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