Posted on 03/17/2003 2:37:50 PM PST by MadIvan
“There was a machine designed for shredding plastic. Men were dropped into it and we were again made to watch. Sometimes they went in head first and died quickly. Sometimes they went in feet first and died screaming. It was horrible. I saw 30 people die like this. Their remains would be placed in plastic bags and we were told they would be used as fish food . . . on one occasion, I saw Qusay [President Saddam Hussein’s youngest son] personally supervise these murders.”
This is one of the many witness statements that were taken by researchers from Indict — the organisation I chair — to provide evidence for legal cases against specific Iraqi individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. This account was taken in the past two weeks.
Another witness told us about practices of the security services towards women: “Women were suspended by their hair as their families watched; men were forced to watch as their wives were raped . . . women were suspended by their legs while they were menstruating until their periods were over, a procedure designed to cause humiliation.”
The accounts Indict has heard over the past six years are disgusting and horrifying. Our task is not merely passively to record what we are told but to challenge it as well, so that the evidence we produce is of the highest quality. All witnesses swear that their statements are true and sign them.
For these humanitarian reasons alone, it is essential to liberate the people of Iraq from the regime of Saddam. The 17 UN resolutions passed since 1991 on Iraq include Resolution 688, which calls for an end to repression of Iraqi civilians. It has been ignored. Torture, execution and ethnic-cleansing are everyday life in Saddam’s Iraq.
Were it not for the no-fly zones in the south and north of Iraq — which some people still claim are illegal — the Kurds and the Shia would no doubt still be attacked by Iraqi helicopter gunships.
For more than 20 years, senior Iraqi officials have committed genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. This list includes far more than the gassing of 5,000 in Halabja and other villages in 1988. It includes serial war crimes during the Iran-Iraq war; the genocidal Anfal campaign against the Iraqi Kurds in 1987-88; the invasion of Kuwait and the killing of more than 1,000 Kuwaiti civilians; the violent suppression, which I witnessed, of the 1991 Kurdish uprising that led to 30,000 or more civilian deaths; the draining of the Southern Marshes during the 1990s, which ethnically cleansed thousands of Shias; and the summary executions of thousands of political opponents.
Many Iraqis wonder why the world applauded the military intervention that eventually rescued the Cambodians from Pol Pot and the Ugandans from Idi Amin when these took place without UN help. They ask why the world has ignored the crimes against them?
All these crimes have been recorded in detail by the UN, the US, Kuwaiti, British, Iranian and other Governments and groups such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and Indict. Yet the Security Council has failed to set up a war crimes tribunal on Iraq because of opposition from France, China and Russia. As a result, no Iraqi official has ever been indicted for some of the worst crimes of the 20th century. I have said incessantly that I would have preferred such a tribunal to war. But the time for offering Saddam incentives and more time is over.
I do not have a monopoly on wisdom or morality. But I know one thing. This evil, fascist regime must come to an end. With or without the help of the Security Council, and with or without the backing of the Labour Party in the House of Commons tonight.
The author is Labour MP for Cynon Valley.
Cynicism should have some basis.
The impetus behind Iraq’s claims to Kuwait does not stem from historical will, but rather from Iraq’s desire to secure a deep-water port. The major point of conflict between the two states concerns the “Kuwaiti islands of Bubiyan and Warbah that dominate the estuary leading to the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. Beginning in the early 1970s, Iraq's desire to develop a deep-water port on the Gulf led to demands that the two islands be transferred or leased to Iraq.” Kuwait’s refusal spurred Iraq to move troops into a Kuwaiti border post in 1973. This action prompted broad Arab condemnation, leading to Iraq’s subsequent withdrawal.[18]
From the signing of the Agreed Minutes in 1963 until 1990, Iraq ceased openly declaring that Kuwait was part of Iraq, but they did repeatedly state that the international border between Iraq and Kuwait was not defined. In 1990, Iraq began to reassert its claim to Kuwaiti territory. Yet, despite the Iraqi declarations questioning Kuwait’s sovereignty, Iraq has long treated Kuwait as an independent state in the international arena. Previous to 1990, the two states enjoyed mutual diplomatic recognition, both states were members of the same international bodies, and Iraq regularly communicated with Kuwait using language that denotes a recognition of statehood.[19]
Of course, this is the Kuwaiti side of the story. You can dig up the Iraqi side if you wish. But I believe it would be as valid as the present Iraqi claims on WMD.
The same kind of idyllic, &%*$#@!, hippie, peacenik who denies such things can happen. The same kind of person who stands in front of a bulldozer.
That's who.
It is also a blatent attempt on the part of France to become the major player in Europe. What the stupid French don't realize is that Germany is in charge. They have set the poodle to barking while they lie low. In the end the Germans will attempt to dissemble their stance and put on the disguise of the rational power of Europe. After 100 years, Germany will finally win control the continent without firing a shot.
Please grab a clue. What I meant was I didn't make my decision to back the Gulf War based on some emir telling tales of fake atrocities. Your posts in this thread seem to indicate that you think it's "bizarre" if people want to go to war without being lied to first, and you also seem to have trouble believing the very real atrocities committed by some of the most evil regimes in human history. If you'll go back to my earlier post, you will find a whole list of times that horrible atrocities were dismissed as propaganda. Even if the ones Ivan posted here were crap there is ample evidence that Hussein has done things every bit as bad for a long time. Like I said, one emir tells some fibs and you're going to discount every torture story you hear after that? Hardly logical.
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