The Daily Star of Lebanon has a chilling interview with an Iraqi trying to document mass murder under Saddam Hussein. He has documented nearly 150,000 victims of Ba’athist murder, with more being discovered every day. He also has some interesting thoughts about recent events in Iraq:
Ibrahim Idrissi has mixed feelings about the recent uproar caused by the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib under the US occupation. "As a humanitarian organization, we oppose this," he says. "But these are soldiers who have come to Iraq to fight, not to be prison guards. It was to be expected. Of course, if there are innocent people in there … it is possible, I guess, that some of them are innocent."
If Idrissi seems a bit callous about the fate of the Iraqis in US-run jails, he has probably earned the right to differ. He recalls a day in 1982, at the General Security prison in Baghdad:
The story he tells is beyond horrendous — another testiment to the bloody nature of the Hussein regime. He also has this to say about those such as Hans Blix that would argue that the Iraqis were better off under Saddam:
The brothers hope to get compensation for the families, who have often lost all their belongings in addition to their loved ones. One day, they hope, the executioners will be put on trial. But most of all, they want recognition for what they, and thousands of others like them, have been through. And that people would stop saying "things were better under Saddam."
"Only criminals could say such a thing. The victims deserve better than this," Idrissi concludes.
Indeed they do.
(Article via Tim Blair)
I am struck by how cold hearted and unfeeling the liberals have become. They just ignore stories like this and act as if it doesn’t matter. In their desire to bring down Bush, they have abandoned a good deal of their humanity.
Look at the Moore movie: it makes life under Saddam look like tea and cookies, and makes it seem as if the majority of the pain and suffering were inflicted by us bad Americans. Moore becomes a de facto apologist for the Saddam regime.
It’s fair enough if one wants to criticize Bush, but please let’s not diminish the humanitarian value of what has occurred in liberating Iraq. Let’s not assign the Iraqi people some second rate status in order to try to win a political point, which is what many liberals are doing these days.
The scary thing about this new liberal realpolitik is that never works.
The Europeans practiced realpolitik and it resulted in 2 world wars in the last century. If not the for US, in the Cold War the Western Europeans probably would have been taken over the Soviet Union.
Now John Kerry is on record wanting to adopt his own version of European realpolitik, which is very scary. Realpolitik is simply a code for not caring about one’s neighbor, being selfish, and choosing what is in the short term the path of least resistance and risk, of taking the easy way out. That is a formula for failure, whether it be for an individual or nation.
So Kerry has already stated that promoting freedom and democracy around the globe would not be a priority of his, and yet he wants to be the leader of the free world? How sick can one be?
They just ignore stories like this and act as if it doesn’t matter.
Of course it matters. I didn’t vote for Saddam, though.
I did vote for Bush. That makes his actions partly my responsibility. I don’t like his actions, so I’m voting for Kerry in November.
You don’t seem to understand that I can both hate Saddam and oppose the method and results of his removal. Then again nobody ever accused conservativism of being a nuanced position.
Instead of apologizing or at least worry for what the Bu$h team has done, you are to accusing all those who disagreed with the war of “criminals”?!?!?!?!?(“people would stop saying “things were better under Saddam. Only criminals could say such a thing.”)
This technique to reverse the culpability is nasty and obvious. Nobody will buy that.
Saddam was a terrible leader. Until now, Americans haven’t prove any better. I’ve just read how the CIA is deciding TODAY (even though the scandal is running for 2 months, the CIA announces TODAY -29th June) that they will stop using “advanced techniques”!! Among these advanced techniques you can find:
-tying someone to a bathtube and fill it up!!
-make the prisonner believe he is held by another government (maroccans, saudis…or any government using torture on a daily basis…oh wait, so are the americans since Bush is in charge!)
-lack of sleep, food, drug…depending on the situation
-noises and lights on all day (read week)
So Jay, if you want, you can compare your life with the life of a homeless and then pretend that you are the most successful guy on earth but it wouldn’t be very telling as a comparison, right? Of course the Bu$h administration is better than Saddam was, but is it REALLY something you can be proud about? Is THIS comparison worth anything?
For those who want to open their eyes to what’s really happening with the “Boys in Irak”:
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3230,36-370888,0.html
(french)
Vincent write “Saddam was a terrible leader. Until now, Americans haven’t prove any better.”
Vincent, you have no credibility when you make a statement like that…tell me, would you have wanted to live under Saddam’s rule…would you have preferred that to living in America?
As for those CIA techniques you decry, do they really compare to what Saddam did on a far larger scale: the cutting off of limbs and tongues, feeding prisoners into shredders, shooting people for sport, the filling of mass graves…?
I don’t know about you, but I’ll take noise all week and lack of sleep and being tied to a bathtub over being fed to a shredder anyday…
Vincent, you really are quite absurd…for making the statements you make against the American government you would have been imprisoned, tortured, and perhaps murdered under Saddam. Yet you freely criticize our government and have no such fears.
As I was explaining above, but maybe its wasn’t clear, is that I would rather live in America than in Irak under Saddam, OF COURSE! You can only compare what is comparable, and this is not. We have Higher standards of living. It remains that the torture doesn’t really fit in the picture and this wasn’t an isolated case.
Vincent: You clearly wrote “Saddam was a terrible leader. Until now, Americans haven’t prove any better.”
You really need to be more precise with your choice of words. I do see how later in your post you contradict your own statement and grudgingly admit that the Bush administration is better than Saddam, but again, this contradicts your earlier statement.