Posted on 04/05/2003 7:15:08 PM PST by nmh
OPERATION: IRAQI FREEDOM
Saddam's 'gruesome' Kuwaiti war crimes
Power drills, axes used at a dozen 'torture sites' during prior conflict
April 5, 2003
By Paul Sperry
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON -- When it comes to war crimes, Saddam Hussein's reputation precedes him.
In the last Gulf war, the Iraqi dictator racked up 16 violations of the law of war under the Hague and Geneva conventions, according to an unclassified report written by Pentagon lawyers in 1992.
Some of them involved "gruesome" tortures by amputation, electric shock, electric drills, acid baths, rape, forced self-cannibalism, dismemberment and ax beatings, according to the "Report on Iraqi War Crimes: Desert Shield/Desert Storm," a copy of which was obtained by WorldNetDaily.
U.S. officials say Saddam and his henchmen in the current war are on a path to break their old war-crimes record. So far, Iraqi troops and irregulars loyal to Saddam have, among other things:
Abused the flag of truce by pretending to surrender and then firing on U.S. Marines.
Executed and likely tortured U.S. prisoners of war.
Disguised themselves as civilians, then fired on U.S. troops. And more atrocities are anticipated as U.S. forces enter Baghdad.
The November 1992 Pentagon report accused Iraqi troops of systematically carrying out grisly acts of torture against Kuwaiti citizens "with the approval of the national leadership in Iraq."
"The evidence establishes that there were at least two dozen torture sites in Kuwait City, most of which were located in either police stations or sports facilities," the report said. "The gruesome evidence confirms torture by amputation of or injury to various body parts, to include limbs, eyes, tongues, ears, noses, lips and genitalia.
"Electric shock was applied to sensitive parts of the body (nose, mouth, genitalia)," the report said. "Electric drills were used to penetrate the chest, leg(s) or arm(s) of victims."
Invading Iraqi soldiers also allegedly beat Kuwaiti civilians, crushing bones, skulls and disfiguring their faces, according to the catalog of abuses. Some victims were soaked in acid. Others were beaten while suspended from ceilings. Axes were allegedly used in some beatings.
"Women taken hostage were raped repeatedly," the report added.
But it gets worse: "Eyewitnesses reported Iraqis torturing a woman by making her eat her own flesh as it was cut from her body," the report said.
Some of the Kuwaiti accounts have since been challenged as exaggerations designed to whip up international sympathy for their cause.
The findings of war crimes were a result of evidence collected by the Army's 199th Judge Advocate Detachment in St. Petersburg, Fla., the 208th Judge Advocate Reserve Detachment here in Washington, and the Defense Intelligence Agency's Document Examination Center in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
According to the report, that evidence included: U.S. documents, captured Iraqi documents, videotaped and written statements of eyewitnesses to war crimes, prisoners of war, "human shields," Kuwaiti victims, and graphic videotape and still photos of war crimes.
Here is the carnage by numbers, according to the report:
A total of 1,082 Kuwaiti civilians were killed.
Some 120 babies "were left to die after being removed from incubators that were taken to Iraq."
More than 150 children between the ages of one and 13 were killed "for various reasons."
Fifty-seven mentally ill individuals were killed "simply because of their handicap." Among U.S. military personnel, 21 individuals were captured and held as prisoners of war by Iraq.
"All of the prisoners of war were the victims of war crimes committed by Iraq," the report said.
Interestingly, U.S. military investigators found no evidence Iraq used chemical weapons against U.S. forces or Kuwaitis, although they established that it "intended to use" them.
The first Bush administration had refused to declassify the document reportedly because it worried it would hurt former President Bush's reelection bid by underscoring his failure to drive Saddam from power.
The Clinton administration finally released the report in March 1993.
BTW did a search and didn't see this lovely description of saddam posted.
I am not sure, the story was told by a young girl, who it turned out later was the daughter or niece of a high ranking Kuwaiti official, the story was later retracted.
I am not making light of the atrocities of the Iraqies, the real facts are bad enough.
My thoughts too.
As are we all, these people are barbaric.
Cheers.
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