Posted on 04/15/2003 5:18:55 PM PDT by Steven W.
FOR three days, American tanks have been shelling a military intelligence building in the posh Al-Khathamia area in west Baghdad.
The dozen or so tanks are not here to pound intransigent fighters but to break down concrete beams and steel, to reach bunkers deep underground at the Al-Istikhbarat Al-'Askariya facility.
The Marines found 123 prisoners, including five women, barely alive in an underground warren of cells and torture chambers.
Being trapped underground probably kept them safe from the bombing of Baghdad by the coalition.
Severely emaciated, some had survived by eating the scabs off their sores. All the men had beards down to their waists, said onlookers.
Most looked absolutely dazed when they emerged, said Mr Sadoun Mohamed, 37, who lives in the area.
'They had not seen sunlight for a long time,' he said. 'They kept blinking and covering their faces.' He said they were taken to the Saddam Hospital for treatment.
Their names were posted on the walls of the Al-Hajabehia Mosque in west Baghdad, as were names of some 40 others known to have been executed or murdered in prison.
Hundreds of anxious locals wait for word of their family, relatives and friends, some of whom were taken away more than 10 years ago.
Outside Al-Istikhbarat Al-'Askariya, Mr Sadeq Al Saeed, 24, a construction worker, has been waiting sleepless for the last 36 hours. He said he had heard the facility had five levels below ground.
He said his father, an Iraqi army captain, was killed in 1991 during the first Gulf War, and his cousins Amer and Jasem and some 50 others were picked out by the secret police for chanting anti-Saddam slogans during the funeral procession.
'That was the last I saw of them,' he said.
'In the night, people raided their houses, blindfolded them and took them away.'
He hopes against hope that the Marines will be able to find his cousins, who were brought here to be interrogated.
This hellhole is believed to be one of many for Iraq's political prisoners. Thousands may still be behind bars though the regime released many criminals from prisons before the war.
The United States soldiers at Al-Istikhbarat Al-'Askariya would not say what they were doing there. Their tanks blocked the entrance.
This place could be part of the labyrinth of underground facilities which might still shelter regime members.
Under one palace, a German-designed 1,900 sq m bunker was built at a cost of US$90 million (S$160 million) with luxurious accommodation for the Iraqi President, his family, their bodyguards and staff.
More than 24 bunkers were identified 12 years ago. There may be more now, located under schools, hospitals, even mosques, and linked together.
The security police, or Da'irat Al-Mukhabbarat Al-'Amma; Iraqi Intelligence Service; and military intelligence, also built cells and tunnels underground.
Taxi driver Hathem Ejam, 36, said Mr Saddam's older son Uday, also used them for his harem discards.
Relaying widely-believed rumours, he said: 'He would pick any young girl he liked from the street, rape her, shave her head bald and then get his guards to dump her in an underground cell.'
I hope no one misunderstood my sentiments in saying this is a sideline story..but it has been well documented than mankind is cruel to its fellow man.
In my opinion it is a matter of degrees.. If saddam can be proven to have links to the islamofascists and we can prove he was supplying them..It will out weigh the fact that he is a egomaniacal sadist.
God Bless President Bush, his entire team and all our service people.
You know, since Sadaam is no longer in power, there's no reason why the companies who built these bunkers couldn't give us information about where they are. It's not like they're going to be betraying a confidence of the Govt. because there ISN'T one anymore!
It would save a lot of time and possibly a LOT of lives!
You saved me a trip downtown . Thank's !
Time and vigilance will reveal the tale.
Isn't is amazing? There has been more outcries about antiquities being looted, than there has been about the thousands of Hussein's prisoners, imprisoned in underground prisons, etc. Makes me quite ill, the medias' priorities, or lack thereof.
If you like ABC,BBC,NBC,CNN, and CBS in a learning environment we would be considered fair students . If you watched FOX in a learning environment you would fail .
Oh, yes, I know it's a waste of time, but I was doing an experiment!
I just had to see if the abu abbas story was going to be shunted off by any of them, and Petah at least did not disappoint...
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