Saddam 'death squads executing defectors'

The Daily Telegraph ^ | March 28, 2003

[MadIvan]

Saddam Hussein's "sadistic" death squads are beheading disloyal subjects to strike fear into those who contemplate surrender, Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary has claimed.

The executioners, who wear American and British military uniforms, are weeding out soldiers and innocent civilians who take a stand against Saddam's reign and are using them as an example to others considering desertion, he said.

Mr Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news briefing: "These death squads report to the Hussein family directly. Their ranks are populated with criminals released from Iraqi prisons.

"They dress in civilian clothes and operate from private homes confiscated from innocent people and try to blend in with the civilian population. They conduct sadistic executions on sidewalks and public squares, cutting the tongues out of those accused of disloyalty and beheading people with swords.

"They put on American and British uniforms to try to fool irregular Iraqi soldiers who surrender to them and then execute them as an example for others who might contemplate defection or capitulation."

The Fedayeen were not making martyrs of themselves, he added, but were making martyrs of those innocent Iraqis opposed to Saddam's rule.

"We will take them at their word and if their wish is to die for Saddam Hussein they will be accommodated. As the regime deploys squads to slaughter its own citizens, coalition forces are trying to save Iraqi lives.

"We do this because, unlike Saddam Hussein's regime, our nations and our people value human life."

He urged the Iraqi people to try to remember the faces and the names of the death squad officers.

"Their time will come when we will need your help and your testimony," he said.

A British military source said: "Some of the things we are seeing are akin to some of the worst things that happened in places like Rwanda."

[MadIvan]

Would the peaceniks again care to tell us why we should allow Saddam to live?

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[swheats]

I hope the Iraqi's that want to surrender, first join together by submitting to Saddam's death squads as though they are going to fight. Once they are together and armed turn on the death squads.

Difficult to see any other way out of this.

[mgc1122]

I'd be interested in hearing the commentary of the enablers of evil a.k.a. "peace in our time" crowd ....

[nwrep]

Would the peaceniks again care to tell us why we should allow Saddam to live?

You naively assume they will believe this. Their perverted logic is so deep that they will deny this report, and others like it, claiming they are fabrications and propaganda.

[freddy]

And what did any/everyone expect would happen when the bad guys KNOW they are gonna die ?

There is no punishment worse than death !

[EaglesUpForever]

"Some of the things we are seeing are akin to some of the worst things that happened in places like Rwanda."

And to think, if the Iraqi regime is behaving this way under the world media microscope, how was it behaving before?

Rwanda-like dictatorships are clearly model governments for the European version of "peace." Funny how the Schroeders and Chiracs of this time have such similarity to their parents, the Hitlers and the Himmlers.

[Cultural Jihad]

"Keep Iraq Enslaved! No human rights for Iraqis! U.S. Out of Iraq!"

[Cultural Jihad]

You naively assume they will believe this. Their perverted logic is so deep that they will deny this report, and others like it, claiming they are fabrications and propaganda.

In that case we should wire them up with satellite video phones and send them into Basra to help the Iraqis reach plentiful water, food, and medicine outside the city, and then their peacenik friends will be able to see for themselves. "Follow me, O hungry and thirsty Iraqis! I shall lead you to succor and life! Come along! Here I go! ..." [transmission lost]

[Oldeconomybuyer]

I simply do not understand the "Arab mind" or the "Arab street". They are breathless about explosions near "markets" in Baghdad whose origins are dubious at best, but ignore clear evidence of summary executions of civilians by Saddam.

[Cicero]

Arab culture is simply delusional. We've seen something similar in this country since the 1960s, but they have a much worse case of it.

I'm more and more convinced that Islam is a religion for losers who desperately need to think of themselves as winners, and for those who want to park their brains and let somebody else do their thinking for them.

There's no place in Islam for free will, free choice, or independent thinking.

[CarmelValleyite]

As horrifying as this behavior is, how many Iraqi onlookers will really BELIEVE these thugs dressed up in coalition gear are anything other than Saddam's scum??? Not to generalize, but how many soldiers do we really have who look like the average Iraqi???

[Grampa Dave]

What is amazing is how in the UK and US, the left wing wackos and the whacko's who dare to call themselves the chosen conservatives, never say a damn thing about the real evil. They have zero compassion for these poor people. After war, they should be rounded and sent to talk to the survivors of 2 plus decades of hell thanks to their support of Soddamn.

[Mister Baredog]

The Fedayeen were not making martyrs of themselves

Right, that job will be left to the Iraqis with the help of the Brits and Americans. I hope Allah has a lot of virgins on hand, he'll be needing them!

[HiTech RedNeck]

Could Americans and Brits go to some super-unforgeable ID badge. Such as a hologram electrically activated by the biometrics of who is supposed to be bearing it. And the surrender propaganda changed to urge: don't surrender unless you see this special badge in operation. Clearly the Saddamnites don't give a damn about decency.

[Bahbah]

"You naively assume they will believe this."
Listening to the NPR reporter in the Middle East on the way home would disabuse anyone of the notion that facts are going to get in the way of their opinions.The reporter I was listening to said that the administration was reporting that the Iraquis were using civilians as human shields, but " we have no independent confirmation of that." I am wearing myself out yelling at the radio.

[RJayneJ]

One thing that disturbs me is the fact that Saddam has not even tried to get his airplanes in the air. I am concerned that he is saving them for some kamikaze or 9/11 type last ditch effort to cause us some pain.

[Desdemona]

The other day, someone actually defended this behavior to me as an example of Iraq defending itself as a soveriegn nation. I couldn't believe it. There is no justifying or defending barbarism. None.

[HangThemHigh]

"I am wearing myself out yelling at the radio."

Congratulations for your remarkable constraint. I usually wind up pounding on the radio when I listen to that crap (NPR is the only news on the radio as I drive to work).