U.S.: Saddam torture video

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Video of Iraqi torture victims [VERY GRAPHIC; NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN] Note: the video listed in the event materials box (above right) covers the conference proceedings and does not contain the images found in this Pentagon videotape.

For the last 30 years, Iraqis inside Iraq had little knowledge of the full extent of Saddam Hussein's oppressive tactics. Many Iraqis who have documented his regime's history argue that Coalition authorities have not done enough to make this history known to the Iraqi people, and proponents of more stringent de-Baathification argue that until this education is completed, Saddam-era officials cannot be trusted with the rule of the new state.

Much of the recent controversy surrounding Abu Ghraib has made only vague reference to the prison's nightmarish past. Under Saddam Hussein, some thirty thousand people were executed there, and countless more were tortured and mutilated, returning to Iraqi society as visible evidence of the brutality of Baathist rule instead of being lost to the anonymity of mass graves.

Seven of these victims were Baghdadi merchants whose right hands were amputated and presented to Saddam as proof of their punishment. They have recently received medical attention in the United States, and now have the use of modern prosthetic hands.  Four of these victims will speak of their experiences before returning to Iraq. In addition to their presentations, an unedited video documenting acts of torture during Saddam's reign will be shown, and our Iraqi guests will identify persons conducting the torture who hold office in Iraq today.

The video has been posted on the website of the American Enterprise Institute.

Why post it on CaribPundit? The world must know what happened to Iraqis under Saddam. Around the globe, many sitting in the comfort of countries in which torture and rule of man (rather than law) are not the norm are saying that the Bush administration went into Iraq for revenge, or that Bush lied, or that the war is about oil, or that GWB rushed into war, or that no WMDs were found so the war in Iraq is illegitmate, or....

Yet, no one appears to have paid much attention to that from which the U.S. military have liberated Iraq. Indeed, even some Iraqis have forgotten and are calling the U.S. occupiers. In the same way in which the world knew of the Nazi concentration camp horrors of World War II, the world must know of the horrors Saddam perpetrated on Iraqis. We must watch and be horrified, be appalled at the gross inhumanity and evil of the Saddam Hussein regime. We must watch and be resolved to act decisively against evil wherever it may be found. In watching this video, hopefully we also will say what an earlier generation have said: Never Again!

Finally, I post this link for the benefit of those in the Caribbean whose media have encouraged them to regard the U.S. as the most brutal power in the world. I post it for all those who cannot see that Iraq is another Grenada, is another Germany and France. I post it so that Caribbean people may understand that though no stockpiles of WMD have yet been found, the war in Iraq is a just war, one that occurred twelve years later than it should have.

While I don't wish to discount the mistreatment of prisoners that occurred at Abu Ghraib, let us put it into the proper context and not condem the entire U.S. military for the vulgar folly of a seven soldiers.

I urge everyone to watch the video and pass the link along to friends. Here's the raw link: http://www.aei.org/audioLib/20040617_DoDIraq.MP4.