A Lone Woman Testifies To Iraq's Order of Terror

Washington Post ^ | 7/21/03 | Peter Finn

[saquin]

BAGHDAD -- She was walking hurriedly, as if in a trance, oblivious to the weakness in her legs, not seeing the bewildered looks of the American troops trailing her, not hearing her own cries of anguish. Jumana Michael Hanna, tears streaming down her face, had slipped into the darkest recesses of memory.

Hanna, a 41-year-old Assyrian Christian from a formerly rich and prominent Iraqi family, returned last week to the well of her nightmares: the police academy in Baghdad, a sprawling complex of offices, classrooms, soccer, polo and parade grounds -- and prison cells, some of them converted dog kennels, according to American officials who now control the campus.

This is the place where in the 1990s Hanna was hung suspended from a rod and beaten with a special stick when she called out for Jesus or the Virgin Mary. This is where she and other female prisoners were dragged outside and tied to a dead tree trunk, nicknamed "Walid" by the guards, and raped in the shadow of palm trees. This is the place where electric shock was applied to Hanna's vagina. And this is where in February 2001 someone put a bullet in her husband's head and handed his corpse through the steel gate like a piece of butcher's meat.

[speedy]

Always remember -- this is the regime the Democrats did not want to remove from power.

[zarf]

Powerful stuff....awful, awful.

[cardinal4]

The Dems need to have these stories read to them before every Senate session.

[speedy]

Concur. How come these stories aren't what Perky Katie features on "Today"?

[vbmoneyspender]

Just sickening. Anyone who reads that and doesn't support what Bush and Blair did is not human.

[Billthedrill]

The Iraqi people are still afraid of these people, and for good reason. We beat the murdering SOBs once and then abandoned the Iraqis to them. It may take as long as it did to run down the Nazis, but it will be time well spent.

[M0sby]

No kidding... I just sent it to my husband in Kuwait.. reminds me (again) of why he is there...

[Arpege92]

I hope this woman gets justice!

[hoosiermama]

Multiple copies of this should be sent to ANYONE who questions the war!

[squidly]

This is the place where electric shock was applied to Hanna's vagina.

What about the yellowcake? Quite bothering us with this trivia.

[GrandMoM]

BUMP

[hoosiermama]

Just in case any of us forgets why we're in Iraq. (This woman need our prayers.)

[blam]

"Once he is found, she said, "I will take off my black clothes."

[McGavin999]

OMG, I'm stunned. You hear about these things happening, but to actually hear a first hand report is wrenching. I pray that God brings her peace.......and justice.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Irish Eyes]

bump

[Paul_B]

Prayers, and admiration, for this woman's courage. God bless the victim of these unspeakable crimes, and give them peace.

[an amused spectator]

Quit trying to change Katie Couric's subject.

Where's The Yellowcake!

Reparations For Saddam!

[arasina]

Hanna cries at the memories of torture while revisiting the police academy.
She was detained while trying to legalize her marriage to a foreign-born man.
(Photos Dana Smillie For The Washington Post)

"For two months I've been here and heard the rumors about what happened to women, but no one came forward," said Bernard B. Kerik, the senior policy adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior and former police commissioner in New York City. "This is the first case where someone has given us information that appears to be credible and that we can corroborate and act on. A lot of Iraqi women will see that we are serious. This is an event that will lead to closure for a lot of people -- and justice."

What a brave woman! And I just love that Bernard Kerik is there. He'll make sure they find the perpetrators!