Posted on 07/28/2003 7:43:10 AM PDT by NYer
A man who worked as Uday Hussein's chief executioner has revealed how Saddam's son once ordered him to seize, and then help drag, two 19-year-old students into a cage to be devoured by lions.
''I saw the head of the first student literally come off his body with the first bite,'' he told the London Times. He says he was forced to watch the animals devour the young students. ''By the time they were finished there was little left but for the bones and bits and pieces of unwanted flesh.''
The 36-year-old executioner, who uses the pseudonym Abu Ahmad, was told the men ''had competed with Uday where some young ladies were concerned, '' according to the newspaper.
Ahmad also claims to have supervised mass beheadings on the orders of Uday, and recounted the decapitation of 36 people, including a pregnant woman, in a single afternoon.
He claims to have been so distressed at participating in the killing of an unborn child he ''wished for Allah to open up the ground and swallow everyone there including myself.''
Uday wouldn't watch the executions, instead sending a cameraman to film them. He'd then order the victims' remains returned to their families with the head and body in separate bags, reports the paper.
Ahmad says he was also involved in killings in which the victims' heads were placed in a vice and their bodies split down the middle by a swordsman.
He says he never disobeyed Uday's orders out of fear he too would be executed.
Now in hiding, Ahmad, who has four children, sleeps surrounded by guns and grenades out of fear American forces will come looking for him.
U.S. soldiers have already captured several of Saddam's bodyguards and came close to seizing the former Iraqi leader in Mosul shortly after the deaths of his sons last Tuesday, according to the newspaper.
Military sources say intelligence intercepted a single satellite phone signal known to belong to Saddam during the bombardment of the building in Mosul where Uday and Qusay were killed.
Soldiers searched the nearby villa from which the call was made but came up empty.
Now in hiding, Ahmad, who has four children, sleeps surrounded by guns and grenades out of fear American forces will come looking for him.
As I'm sure they will be..."Following orders" isn't an excuse. Wasn't that established after WW2?
I certainly hope they are! This "I was only following orders" line isn't going to cut it.
The above was sent to me from a friend via E-Mail. I wonder though, If Uday was particularly fond of the Monty Python song - "I'm a lumberjack, and I'm ok."
Ironic isn't it, that even such a barbarian as this has more concern for unborn children than liberals in America?
The only incorrect portion of your post is the last word in paratheses. The DU'ers (aka, evil scum from the underside of an donkey's a$$) are really upset that we got these 2.
No, remember that this regime was fond of torturing and killing not just those who refused to follow orders, but often their close relatives as well, or even instead. This guy had four children, and had probably seen the children of others who refused to follow orders tortured and killed in unspeakable ways. Before we cast stones, we should ask ourselves honestly if we could have refused to follow such orders, knowing that our young daughters at home would be subject to being brought to Uday "for his pleasure", and our spouse, and sons, and siblings, and parents likewise subjected to torture and maybe death; all while knowing that the victim we refused to harm would still get the ordered treatment at the hands of another. Picture yourself going home to your family and explaining your decision to what's left of them.
In the '60's, doctors warned the liberal hippies too much LSD would cause brain damage and birth defects. They didn't listen.
I am leery of any news that comes out that supports a conservative agenda. Maybe its a relic of my left-wing past, but I'd like to make SURE what I am hearing is the truth, or about as sure as I can get.
With Saddam et al, there are just too many reports from so many different sources to NOT believe them. You know, I really didnt believe there was a childrens prison, and yet, there it was! Incredible level of depravity in this day and age. I am sure there is some weirdness over there in N. Korea that compares to this however..
This man is not excused from his actions but can bring the circumstances before the court. However, it is my impression that if you aren't being tortured at the time of the commiting of the crime, it doesn't really stand.The Nuremberg Tribunal was followed by the establishment of an International Military Tribunal in Tokyo, also to handle crimes committed during World War Two. These two tribunals lay the foundation for crimes for which individuals can be brought to account. These tribunals established that: 1) the most senior leaders of a state are not immune from prosecution; 2) the plea of following orders is not an effective means of avoiding prosecution, even though it can become a mitigating circumstance in sentencing; 3) conspiring parties can be considered to have been involved in certain kinds of crimes.
The decisions handed down by these two tribunals lay the foundation of command responsibility for crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Prosecution of Crimes under an International Justice Process
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