Posted on 05/11/2004 7:52:36 AM PDT by Former Fetus
WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- In the wake of controversy surrounding photographs of the alleged abuse of Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison, Talon News is asking the White House to release images of Saddam Hussein's torture chambers.
As reported in a Talon News story in March 2003, the regime of the deposed dictator operated "rape rooms" where the sexual abuse of women was videotaped in order to humiliate them and their families. Acts of torture, mutilation, and murder were photographed and shown to Iraqis in order to intimidate or terrorize them.
On Monday, Talon News suggested that the visual evidence of Saddam's reign of terror be revealed to put the photographs from Abu Ghraib in proper perspective.
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan stated, "The president talks about that often. We did remove a brutal regime from power that was responsible for mass graves and torture chambers and rape rooms. And this was a regime that encouraged and tolerated that kind of activity."
He added, "It stands in stark contrast to the way we're addressing this issue of prisoner abuse. When something like this comes to light, the United States acts quickly and swiftly to bring people to justice and to take steps to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Some Americans are angry about the overreaction of the "Arab street" and the politicization of the matter by Democrats. The White House press corps' demands for an apology from President Bush have been a particular source of annoyance to many since no apologies were issued after several American contractors were burned and hung from a bridge in Falluja last month.
They contend that the prisoners that were photographed while naked will survive their ordeal, but many of Saddam's victims did not survive the torture chambers and will never be seen again. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis perished at the hands of his henchmen. Most of the regime's victims were simply executed, but thousands suffered unspeakable torture during three decades of brutal rule.
Last year, Aziz al-Taee, chairman of the Iraqi-American Council told Talon News about some of the atrocities he had seen. He spoke of how his cousin was tortured and murdered by Iraqi officials after which his mutilated body was returned to his mother with a bill for the bullets used to kill him. She was threatened with execution if she dared to hold a funeral service for her son.
Other survivors described electrocution, the burning of suspects alive, public beheadings, the dragging of bodies through the streets, amputation, and branding as methods of terror and torture. A particularly vivid account recalled how gasoline was poured down a man's throat with a lit match used as a threat. After a sufficient period of suffering from the toxic effects of ingesting gasoline, the victim was set afire and burned alive from the inside out. Little distinction is made between political opponents, disloyal officials, and petty criminals in terms of the brutality of punishment and reprisal.
Human Rights Watch has estimated that over 400,000 Iraqis disappeared over the past 15 years of Saddam Hussein's 33-year rule. This figure includes the 100,000 Kurds who were murdered or simply disappeared during the "Anfal" ethnic cleansing campaign.
Over 50,000 Shia have met a similar fate. But the most horrendous act of Saddam's long history of terror occurred during the 1988 attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja. Hydrogen cyanide gas was deployed from airplanes that killed 5,000 men, women and children where they stood. Another 7,000 suffered the lingering effects of exposure. Not a single person has ever been held accountable.
The White House did not announce a timetable for the release of the photographs of Saddam's terror, but McClellan said, "We should never forget the atrocities carried out by the former regime. You are having the head of that regime come to trial before long, and he will be held accountable for those atrocities."
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