Marines free 123 from Iraq hellhole (UNBELIEVABLE Alert!)

Straights Times ^ | 4/15/03 | Derwin Pereira

[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.'

[texasbluebell]

Yes Petah..Is a socialist Lib..He ignores the real issues and chooses to propogate HIS view of the world as news.

I think we should take away his green card and send that high school drop out back to socialist heaven up north where he belongs.

[F16Fighter]

"I'll bet CNN knew a lot more that they have NOT told....."

HOW MUCH DID CNN KNOW, AND WHEN DID THEY KNOW IT??

[Guillermo]

Freeing these prisoners was not done in your name, Mr. Robbins, Ms Sarandon, Ms Garafalo and Mr. Moore.

[JZoback]

gut wrenching bump

[texasbluebell]

but the Marines are supposed to be guarding the museums...

I think this is the new DNC talking point for this week.

Next week they'll be on to something else. But this week, the US has to be blamed for the looting of that museum!

The dems are getting to be so predictable.

[Spirited]

" more outcries about antiquities being looted..."

The Fox crawl information currently says that the main museum was closed for a few years and when reopened UK archealogists felt that much of what was displayed were reproductions of what had been there.

[nutmeg]

Thanks for the bump. How horrible...

I have to say, though, that so far, I haven't heard a thing about this on the news (I had Fox News on most of the night earlier). Hopefully tomorrow... this needs to get out there.

[Steven W.]

That article is about the same place in Al Faw written before the prisoners were found - thanks for the link. There is still at least one or two more of these places, I believe. The first we heard of was in Basrah and the people were adamant there were people down there and the Brits were more than a little skeptical. I can't say I blame them, I presume thousands of people who know their family members disappeared behind the walls of Saddam's regime were executed long ago. Frankly, I used to thing the stories of Udai feeding people to lions was a little far fetched and, now, low & behold, we find he did, indeed, have two or more lions in a "zoo" at his private palace compound in Baghdad.

[Steven W.]

Tonight I saw live video fed back from Rick Leventhal on FOX News Channel during an early morning Baghdad raid picking up Saddam's Secret Police & Baath Party types that the neighborhood folks have reported they want cleared away. The men were taken relatively peacibly and had uniforms and at least one gas mask (of course) + ammo. Their wives came out crying and screaming which I found hard to reconcile after having read this report earlier today - after all - provided their husbands aren't guilty of war crimes or what not, they can expect to see their loved ones come home shortly. Meanwhile the regimes victims lay stories below the surface in Saddam's torture chambers.

[ATCNavyRetiree]

I see those pics of that well-like structure, and I think of the Time Machine and the Morlocks!

[diamond6]

Ooooo grose..........his teeth!

[Conservative4Ever]

you are assuming he had a soul.....does pond scum have a soul?

Red

[DuncanWaring]

I wonder if these bastards will get what they really deserve.

They will.

If not in this life, then in the next.

Count on it.

[Grampa Dave]

Earlier today, I posted that we will find places of evil and where the evil thrived due to Soddomite, his thugs, and the support of our liberals and certain countries.

This is one of those places.

May God Damn every liberal who has defended and still defends the evil regimes of Saddam, Assad, the murdering mullahs in Iran and Fidel Castro!

[nopardons]

AMEN !

[Grampa Dave]

You just get the awful feeling that our troops and the freed Iraqis will find nightmares like this and even worse hellholes all over Iraq.

Any left winger who does not part from the Rats because of these horrible evil deeds, is an enabler and an excuser of the terrrible people who committed these crimes.

[Grampa Dave]

Steven thanks for find and posting this living nightmare.

Ivan, this is fyi as you had some similiar posts this evening where our men were still searching for these poor people.

[Grampa Dave]

Dio, when you document these nightmares in one of your great show and tells please ping me. This is a nightmare that has to be documented and save for the short left wing memories.

[nopardons]

Exactly so ! But, the people from A.N.S.W.E.R. and the other socialist organizations don't really seem to care that they've been exposed; they're STILL talking the same garbage.

During the Vietnam War, I started keeping a list of names, of EVERYONE, who signed the ads in the N.Y. Times. I still have them and am adding today's traitors to it! I have bocotted them, their products, and hope that everyone else, here, will now do the same.

[bart99]

emailed to Drudge......

check in the morning..... if he confirms it, I'm sure it'll be the headline in the morning.

night all *waving*