Leonardo Been is an NSA PSYCHOPATH with the PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY of his
job being to SPAM USENET and BRAINWASH, PROGRAM and MANIPULATE everybody to
HATE countries and leaders who were AGAINST the iraq war.
http://thirdworldtraveler.com/Authors/Quotations_page_5.html
It is the function of the CIA to keep the world unstable and to
propagandize the American people to hate, so we will let the establishment
spend any amount of money on arms. "
John Stockwell
" Coming to grips with these U.S./CIA activities in broad numbers and
figuring out how many people have been killed in the jungles of Laos or the
hills of Nicaragua is very difficult. But, adding them up as best we can, we
come up with a figure of six million people killed-and this is a minimum
figure. Included are: one million killed in the Korean War, two million
killed in the Vietnam War, 800,000 killed in Indonesia, one million in
Cambodia, 20,000 killed in Angola ... and 22,000 killed in Nicaragua. These
people would not have died if U.S. tax dollars had not been spent by the CIA
to inflame tensions, finance covert political and military activities and
destabilize societies.
Certainly, there are other local, regional, national and international
factors in many of these operations, but if the CIA were tried fairly in a
U.S. court, under U.S. law, the principle of complicity, incitement, riot,
and mayhem would clearly apply. In the United States, if you hire someone to
commit a murder your sentence may be approximately the same as that of the
murderer himself.
Who are these six million people we have killed in the interest of American
national security? Conservatives tell us, "It's a dangerous world. Our
enemies have to die so we can be safe and secure." Some of them say, "I'm
sorry, but that's the way the world is. We have to accept this reality and
defend ourselves, to make our nation safe and insure our way of life."
Since 1954, however, we have not parachuted teams into the Soviet Union -
our number one enemy - to destabilize that country... Neither do we run
these violent operations in England, France, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, or
Switzerland. Since the mid-1950s they have all been conducted in Third World
countries where governments do not have the power to force the United States
to stop its brutal and destabilizing campaigns.
One might call this the "Third World War." It is a war that has been fought
by the United States against the Third World. Others call it the Cold War
and focus on the anti-Communist and anti-Soviet rationales, but the dead are
not Soviets; they are people of the Third World. It might also be called the
Forty-Year War, like the Thirty-Year and Hundred-Year Wars in Europe, for
this one began when the CIA was founded in 1947 and continues today.
Altogether, perhaps twenty million people died in the Cold War. As wars go,
it has been the second or third most destructive of human life in all of
history, after World War I and World War II.
The six million people the CIA has helped to kill are people of the Mitumba
Mountains of the Congo, the jungles of Southeast Asia, and the hills of
northern Nicaragua. They are people without ICBMs or armies or navies,
incapable of doing physical damage to the United States the 22,000 killed in
Nicaragua, for example, are not Russians; they are not Cuban soldiers or
advisors; they are not even mostly Sandinistas. A majority are rag-poor
peasants, including large numbers of women and children.
Communists? Hardly, since the dead Nicaraguans are predominantly Roman
Catholics. Enemies of the United States? That description doesn't fit
either, because the thousands of witnesses who have lived in Nicaraguan
villages with the people since 1979 testify that the Nicaraguans are the
warmest people on the face of the earth, that they love people from the
United States, and they simply cannot understand why our leaders would want
to spend $1 billion on a contra force designed to murder people and wreck
the country."
John Stockwell
Look, if you think any American official is going to tell you the truth,
then you're stupid. Did you hear that? - stupid."
Arthur Sylvester, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, 1965
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin, 1759
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his
government."
Edward Abbey
http://thirdworldtraveler.com/Authors/QuotationsToMakeUSThink.html
http://thirdworldtraveler.com
Pax anti- american imperialism and terrorism is a philosophy.
Making sure evil, imperialistic american govt does not turn me into a SLAVE
like majority of the americans, is liberty building.
Think of it as somebody beating the ***** out of EVIL AMERICAN GOVT
CRIMINALS, MURDERERS and TERRORISTS for being FASCIST, GENOCIDAL and BLOOD
THIRSTY PSYCHOPATHS.
"Leonardo Been" <leonardo_been@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1151840018.404008.29980@a14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Refusing to have Iraq Invaded, means Severe Crimes against Humanity,
by Putin, Schroeder, Chirac, Jiang Zemin, etc.
2 July 2006
'
How insane have you been made by Criminal Minds and their parrots
(people relaying to you what these want you to hear)?
Very, very insane, utterly insane indeed - well, not you and I of
course, but others have been and are.
This is done to others by Criminal Minds
- these have everything in reverse.
Criminal Minds have everything in reverse. (I just repeat it,
so that, at some time, you are likely to notice it.)
They want you to see Evil as "normal."
And you must be made to "see" Good as "very, very bad."
They blame those who do Good, as "doing the evil,"
and those who do the Evil, you are invited to treat as
"normal," as "right," and as "to be supported."
'
'
They, Criminal Minds, made your mind be so, that decent caring
people "are evil" and are "causing harm," and "causing murder"
("A US military vehicle which attempted to approach the blast
scene, withdrew in a hail of stones thrown by angry residents."
- Baghdad - AFP, 20060701)
and that the Criminals, including those who refuse to stop Criminals,
are "the good people," "the normal heads of state."
That is, how utterly insane Criminal Minds have actually made
you, now. (Others, of course, not you and me - we always have
a very precise viewpoint on who causes evil and on who protects
us against evil, isn't it.)
'
What I did read, below, TO ME sounds like a very clear and massive
indictment against (accusation of) those who could and were asked to
- but who REFUSED TO - END THE EVIL, and who, instead, were
ridiculing and calling those "evil," who were and FOR their handling
the evil, those who gave their life to stop the evil for you.
And not only did they refuse to stop Evil, they were OBSTRUCTING
others from handling the Evil, though it was their job directly to
do all they could, to assist.
All some had to do, was to say "Yes," I agree that YOU
stop the Crimes, without even themselves having to do
anything.
But they knowingly and deceptively committed those Crimes against
Humanity, as described in the previous paragraph.
'
'
And I have to point that out to you, because it has been smashed and
sucked out of your awareness, by the Criminals,
aided by the parrots of various News Agencies, such as by the
Associated Parrots (AP) and the Agency of French Parrots (AFP),
and by the United Parrots International (UPI), and so on.
That is, how utterly insane the Criminal Minds have
actually made you, now. (That means: others, of course,
not you and me - your and my awareness of the matter,
about those who caused the evil and of those who enjoyed
it and perpetuated it, has been precisely detected by and
unwaveringly held in our minds, isn't it.)
'
Just in order to refresh our awareness a little bit, anyway, I did read
the Crimes again, that form the basis of accusing those who refused
to stop the Crimes, but instead deceptively condoned and secretly
encouraged these, their guilt - of Putin, Chirac, Schroeder, Jiang
Zemin (and now Hu Jintao),
severely aggravated by the fact that it was part of their job
AND that they could very easily have moved to stop the Evil,
but instead, they preferred to have as much damage and
burden inflicted on others, seemingly "to aid their own
group or position."
It is PART OF THEIR JOB, to communicate to their
people, what actually is going on,
much like they are also informed about a tsunami
occurring in another country.
So that is yet another Crime of them, against
Humanity - to Conspire to prevent their own
population from stopping very severe Crimes
against Humanity by others.
Those are despicable Crimes, committed by the heads of
state mentioned, Putin, Chirac, Schroeder, Jiang Zemin,
etc., and by their respective successors who continued
these Crimes against humanity.
'
Human Rights is not a matter of papers and laws, but about people.
You also did not have to have laws and bilateral
agreements to help others at Earthquakes or Tsunamis,
did you.
What was happening in Iraq, and what is happening now
in China, and in some other dictatorial countries,
is a million times worse than any natural cataclysm,
which lacks the intention of malice.
This is about helping people, and about your facing THE CRIMINALITY
of those who obstruct and who refuse to cooperate in handling very,
very severe Crimes against very many people.
You remove such people from any authority.
It is your nature to help people, so, do so! Maybe you even will get
the idea, who knows, to help me,
'
Koos Nolst Trenite "Cause Trinity"
human rights philosopher and poet
'Men of all nations came
to listen to Solomon's wisdom,
sent by all the kings of the world,
who had heard of his wisdom.'
1 Kings 4:34
__________
References:
'About 'Intense Joy of Beautiful Hate' Living in Criminal Minds'
(29 June 2006 - Version 3.0 on 1 July 2006)
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.security.terrorism/msg/db9d5a30204de18a?fwc=1
'Sports, The Game of Not Facing Evil Individuals
- The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Boycott'
{HRI 20060618-V1.4}
(18 June 2006 - Version 1.4 on 23 June 2006)
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.japan/msg/a880bf1ba370b9e5?fwc=1
'Kofi Annan, the typical "sane Criminal" - one who, "to maintain
a position" (in the UN) protects and hides severe Criminals'
(8 June 2006 - Version 1.1 on 9 June 2006)
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.politics.org.un/msg/cffc79dde74820cd?fwc=1
'North-Korea is managed by the Chinese Criminal government as a
front group for China, TO CREATE very costly trouble for you'
(21 June 2006) (version for China's Great Wall)
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.politics.usa.congress/msg/7f3a3f0fc6c10d03?fwc=1
'U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour is
Destructively Insane by Definition of {HRI 20030205}'
(23 June 2006)
http://groups.google.com/group/talk.politics.misc/msg/4deee3dc894eaf0e?fwc=1
'
____________
Verification:
http://www.angelfire.com/space/platoworld
Copyright 2006 by Koos Nolst Trenite - human rights philosopher
and poet
This is 'learnware' - it may not be altered, and it is free for
anyone who learns from it, and (even if he can not learn from it)
who passes it on unaltered, and with this message included,
to others who might be able to learn from it.
None of my writings may be used, ever, to support any political
or religious or scientific agenda, but only to educate, and to
encourage people to judge un-dominated and for themselves,
about any organizations or individuals.
Send free-of-Envy and free-of-Hate, Beautiful e-mails to:
PlatoWorld at Lycos.com
(address unreadable for Internet robots
- replace ' at ' with the '@' symbol)
'
___________
Attachments:
1. 'Iraq: A Population Silenced' Dec 2002, public document from the
US House Armed Services Committee.
2. 'THE SHADOW OF A MONSTER: I was Uday's Hussein's body double' -
A telling report about Latif Yahia,who escaped to a life in Dublin
with an Irish wife, after years of horror with Saddam's sadistic
son Uday Hussein. By Lance Laytner © http://www.unison.ie/
Saturday, April 12th 2003
Latif Yahia escaped to a life in Dublin with an Irish wife after years
of horror with Saddam's sadistic son (LANCE LAYTNER reports)
__________________________________________________________
Public document from the US House Armed Services Committee
Title 'Iraq: A Population Silenced'
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor -
December 2002
Executive Summary
In 1979, immediately upon coming to power, Saddam Hussein silenced all
political opposition in Iraq and converted his one-party state into a
cult of personality. Over the more than 20 years since then, his regime
has systematically executed, tortured, imprisoned, raped, terrorized
and repressed Iraqi people. Iraq is a nation rich in culture with a
long history of intellectual and scientific achievement. Yet Saddam
Hussein has silenced its scholars and doctors, as well as its women and
children.
Iraqi dissidents are tortured, killed, or disappear in order to deter
other Iraqi citizens from speaking out against the government or
demanding change. A system of collective punishment tortures entire
families or ethnic groups for the acts of one dissident. Women are
raped and often videotaped during rape to blackmail their families.
Citizens are publicly beheaded, and their families are required to
display the heads of the deceased as a warning to others who might
question the politics of this regime. Saddam Hussein was also the first
leader to use chemical weapons against his own population, silencing
more than 60 villages and 30,000 citizens with poisonous gas.
Saddam Hussein has tried to silence ethnic and religious minorities in
Iraq as well. During the Anfal Campaign of 1987-88, Saddam Hussein's
regime killed and tortured the Kurdish population. It eliminated many
Kurdish villages, and forced surviving Kurds into zones where he could
control them. His regime has suppressed the Shi'a religious community
through killings and arrests and bans their Friday prayers and books in
certain regions. He has also targeted the citizens of other nations in
his region, killing and torturing Kuwaiti and Iranian citizens, among
others.
The Iraqi people are not allowed to vote to remove the government.
Freedom of expression, association and movement do not exist in Iraq.
The media is tightly controlled - Saddam Hussein's son owns the daily
Iraqi newspaper. Iraqi citizens cannot assemble except in support of
the government. Iraqi citizens cannot freely leave Iraq.
The international community, including the U.N. and
internationally-based nongovernmental organizations, has documented and
repeatedly condemned this regime's horrific record of abuse. Saddam
Hussein simply ignores the will of the rest of the world.
Saddam Hussein has given the Iraqi people a terrible choice - to remain
silent - or face the consequences. But despite his regime's attempts to
silence the Iraqi people, their voices are still being heard.
Al-Shaikh Yahya Muhsin Ja'far al-Zeini
On July 2, 1999, a young theology student in his late 20s named
al-Shaikh Yahya returned home to find that his father and two brothers
had been detained as substitute prisoners until Saddam's secret police
could arrest him. Al-Shaikh Yahya was suspected of being a supporter of
a prominent Shi'a cleric whose murder had set off protests six months
before. The protests had been brutally suppressed by the regime's
security forces but the subsequent crackdown continued.
Seeing no other option, al-Shaikh Yahya submitted, was arrested and
blindfolded and taken to the Saddam Security Directorate building "for
questioning." After being forced to watch one of his friends being
tortured, the security officials took him to another room where he
awaited his own torture. His recount of what happened next is chilling:
They stripped me of my clothes and a security officer said, "The person
you saw, has confessed against you". He said to me "You followers of
[Ayatollah] al-Sadr have carried out acts harmful to the security of
the country and have been distributing anti-government statements
coming from abroad." He asked if I have any contact with an Iraqi
religious scholar based in Iran who has been signing these statements.
I said "I do not have any contacts with him" . . . I was then left
suspended [naked and handcuffed, with a board between my elbows and
knees on two high chairs]...My face was looking upward. They attached
an electric wire on my penis and the other end of the wire is attached
to an electric motor. One security man was hitting my feet with a
cable. Electric shocks were applied every few minutes and were
increased. I must have been suspended for more than an hour. I lost
consciousness. . . . They repeated this method [of torture] a few
times.
Al-Shaikh Yahya was regularly subjected to electric shocks and beating
on his feet. For two months of his detention, he slept on the floor
with his hands tied behind his back and his face on the floor.
According to his testimony, this was more unbearable than the electric
shocks. He was also suspended from a window non-stop for three days
once, and at one point during this suspension, had a heavy weight
attached to his genitals.
Five months later, al-Shaikh Yahya and 21 other detainees were
transferred to a separate detention center also in Baghdad. He was
detained without charge or trial for another four months, until April
14, 2000, when he was released.
[Account taken from Amnesty International, IRAQ Systematic torture of
political prisoners, August 15, 2001]
Al-Shaikh Yahya's experience was not an isolated event, but just one
example of how Saddam Hussein and his regime have systematically abused
Iraqis in order to silence their beliefs.
"Traitors" Are Silenced
Since 1979, Saddam Hussein and his regime have systematically murdered,
maimed, tortured, imprisoned, raped, terrorized and repressed the Iraqi
people. For more than two decades, this "Republic of Fear," a term
developed by noted Iraqi scholar Kanan Makiya, has targeted and preyed
upon so-called enemies of the state in order to maintain power, get
rich, and acquire land. These enemies are most often innocent Iraqi
citizens and include mothers, wives, school children, teachers,
Muslims, Kurds, and intellectuals. His regime also routinely arrests,
detains, tortures and kills the relatives of these so-called enemies.
Saddam Hussein has also found enemies in neighboring Gulf States, such
as Kuwait, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
"The political-legal order in Iraq is not compatible with respect for
human rights and, rather, entails systematic and systemic violations
throughout the country, affecting virtually the whole population." -
Max van der Stoel, UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human
Rights in Iraq, 1999
The practice began immediately upon Saddam Hussein's becoming President
in July 1979 when he ordered his security forces to publicly and
forcibly remove, imprison and eventually kill several long-standing,
distinguished members of the Iraqi National Assembly. He claimed that
there were "traitors" in the National Assembly. Saddam Hussein calmly
smoked a cigar in the Parliament as he videotaped 66 members of the
Ba'th senior leadership being taken away. He later called upon other
senior members of the Ba'th party leadership to participate in public
"democratic executions" of their fallen comrades. Since then, the same
tactics have been used to silence Iraqis of all walks of life. However
you earn the title of "traitor," you will be silenced - one way or
another.
"Iraq under Saddam's regime has become a land of hopelessness, sadness,
and fear. A country where people are ethnically cleansed; prisoners are
tortured in more than 300 prisons in Iraq. Rape is systematic . . .
congenital malformation, birth defects, infertility, cancer, and
various disorders are the results of Saddam's gassing of his own
people. . . the killing and torturing of husbands in front of their
wives and children . . . Iraq under Saddam has become a hell and a
museum of crimes."
- Safia Al Souhail, Iraqi Citizen, Advocacy Director, International
Alliance for Justice
Iraq is a nation with a rich cultural heritage. Its people have a
history of intellectual and scientific achievement. Showing no respect
for life, human dignity and fundamental freedoms, Saddam Hussein's
totalitarian regime has turned back the clock on centuries of progress.
His regime silences Iraqis who demand freedom and a normal life for
themselves and their families.
Silence by Murder
For more than 20 years, Saddam Hussein has executed perceived opponents
without respect for rule of law. Saddam Hussein silences these alleged
dissidents because he believes that their political beliefs, faith,
ethnic background, family members or acquaintances are a threat to his
power. Some are first taken as political prisoners before being
executed. In February 1998, 400 prisoners at Abu Gharaib prison were
executed summarily. Two months later, 100 detainees from Radwaniyah
Prison were buried alive in a pit in Ramadi province. These killings
were supposed to "clean out" the prisons. More than 3,000 people have
been killed in a similar manner since 1997.
'
Summary executions in Iraq take many cruel forms. A quick yet effective
method is to line up the entire male population of a village and shoot
them systematically, one at a time, in order to eliminate the village.
Saddam Hussein's regime, however, often prefers methods that take more
time, and inflict more pain on the victim and the victim's family. His
regime has poisoned political prisoners by giving them a slow-acting
poison, thallium, which slowly infiltrates the system and takes several
days to bring death. Iraqi citizens are often decapitated in front of
family members, and at other times, they are shot in front of family
members and the family is charged for the cost of the bullet. Saddam
Hussein has perfected many of these methods of murder on Kurds in
Northern Iraq and religious leaders from the Shi'a community, claiming
that they are disloyal to the Government. Once murdered, many Iraqis
are buried in unmarked graves so that their family members cannot visit
them.
"It has been the Iraqi regime's policy to change the demography of
Iraq, by eradicating the Kurdish population from areas that are deemed
important in the north of the country. The regime has done this through
forced deportation, arbitrary arrests, and systematic torture." -
Paiman Halmat, teacher, former Iraqi citizen
As a particularly brutal example of silencing political opposition, it
is estimated that at least 30,000 to 60,000 members of the Shi'a
community were killed during their post-Gulf war political insurrection
in southern Iraq.
Silence Through Torture
Under Saddam Hussein's orders, the security apparatus in Iraq routinely
and systematically tortures its citizens. Beatings, rape, breaking of
limbs and denial of food and water are commonplace in Iraqi detention
centers. Saddam Hussein's regime has also invented unique and horrific
methods of torture including electric shocks to a male's genitals,
pulling out fingernails, suspending individuals from rotating ceiling
fans, dripping acid on a victim's skin, gouging out eyes, and burning
victims with a hot iron or blowtorch.
Gwynne Roberts, a reporter for the London-based Independent, describes
her experience in a torture center in Northern Iraq:
"In one cell pieces of human flesh - ear lobes - were nailed to the
wall, and blood spattered the ceiling. A large metal fan hung from the
ceiling and my guide told me prisoners were attached to the fan and
beaten with clubs as they twirled. There were hooks in the ceiling used
to suspend victims. A torture victim told me that prisoners were also
crucified, nails driven through their hands into the wall. A favorite
technique was to hang men from the hooks and attach a heavy weight to
their testicles."
- Independent, March 29, 1991
Foreign citizens are not spared the brutality either. Large numbers of
Kuwaiti citizens were murdered, tortured and raped during the Gulf War.
More than two dozen torture centers in Kuwait City have been
discovered, and photographic evidence confirms reports of electric
shocks, acid baths, summary execution and the use of electric drills to
penetrate a victim's body. Many innocent civilian citizens were also
used as human shields.
Branding and amputations have been routine in Iraqi hospitals. In 1994,
the Iraqi government issued at least nine decrees that established
cruel penalties such as branding. Amputation has been used against
citizens convicted of military desertion. One citizen whose hand was
cut off was paraded on national television as a method of instilling
fear in the people.
In 1994 and 1995 alone, large numbers of soldiers had portions of their
ears cut off for deserting the army. The government branded an "X" on
the foreheads of these soldiers so that Iraqi citizens did not think
that these soldiers were wounded war heroes. Doctors who refused to
perform the operations were threatened with reprisals, and many have
been arrested and detained. The Iraqi authorities also issued a decree
in 1994 making it illegal for doctors to perform plastic or corrective
surgery for victims of branding and amputation. In 2000, a new Iraqi
decree was issued authorizing the government to amputate the tongues of
citizens who criticize Saddam Hussein or his government.
Torture Methods in Iraq
* Medical experimentation
* Beatings
* Crucifixion
* Hammering nails into the fingers and hands
* Amputating the penis or breasts with an electric carving knife
* Spraying insecticides into a victim's eyes
* Branding with a hot iron
* Committing rape while the victim's spouse is forced to watch
* Pouring boiling water into a rectum
* Nailing the tongue to a wooden board
* Extracting teeth with pliers
* Using bees and scorpions to sting naked children in front of
their parents
The Missing Are Silent
Many Iraqi citizens simply "disappear" never to be heard from again.
Widespread disappearances are prevalent and occur regularly among
Kurdish minorities. In 2001, Amnesty International claimed that Saddam
Hussein's Government was responsible for the majority of the hundreds
of thousands of persons that have disappeared in the Middle East and
North Africa in recent decades.
"If you are arrested, your life is over." - 'Ahmed,' an anonymous
current Iraqi citizen tells Cameron W. Barr of The Christian Science
Monitor (Oct. 31, 2002)
The UN Special Rapporteur on Iraq to the Commission on Human Rights has
specifically documented 16,496 cases of disappearances, but states that
the number of Kurds alone missing from the 1988 Anfal Campaign could
reach tens of thousands. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International
place the number of disappeared between 70,000 and 150,000. According
to the UN Special Rapporteur, the second largest targeted group for
disappearances were the Shi'a Muslims.
Chemical Weapons Silence Iraqi Citizens
Saddam Hussein became the first leader in the world to systematically
and aggressively gas his own people. Between 1983 and 1988 alone, he
murdered more than 30,000 Iraqi citizens with mustard gas and nerve
agents. Several international organizations claim that he killed more
than 60,000 Iraqi citizens with chemicals, including large numbers of
women and children. During his two-year Anfal campaign against the
Kurdish population, Saddam Hussein used these chemical weapons against
more than 40 villages.
It was 6:20 PM on March 16, 1988, when a smell of apples descended on
the town of Halabja. This Iraqi Kurdish town of 80,000 was instantly
engulfed in a thick cloud of gas, as chemicals soaked into the clothes,
mouths, lungs, eyes and skin of innocent civilians. For three days,
Iraqi Air Force planes dropped mustard gas, nerve agents known as sarin
and tabun, and VX, a newly manufactured and highly lethal gas. These
chemicals murdered at least 5,000 civilians within hours of the initial
attack, and killed and maimed thousands more over the next several
years. Halabja has experienced staggering rates of aggressive cancer,
genetic mutation, neurological damage, and psychiatric disorders since
1988. If you walk through the streets today, you will still see many
diseased and disfigured citizens.
* Shaho was nine at the time. Within weeks, he began to suffer
back pains and eventually was unable to stand or walk. 'Before
the chemical attack, I was perfectly healthy ... I am certain
that poison gas caused my illness. My mother lost her sight at
the time, and I've got gradually worse ever since.' Shaho spends
each day at home lying on his mattress, turned every thirty
minutes by his devoted sister to avoid bedsores. [Gwynne
Roberts, "Poisonous Weapons," Crimes of War, eds. Gutman and
Rieff, (Singapore, 1999)].
* One citizen, Mr. Akra, was taken to a hospital in Iran before
returning to Halabja to look for his family. "I saw over 200
bodies in just 100 meters. There was a terrible smell from the
chemicals and the corpses. I went into the shelter. I first saw
my grandmother. She had swollen up. Then I saw the blackened
face of my mother and I lost consciousness."
- Guy Dinmore, Financial Times, July 10, 2002
Women Silenced: Saddam Hussein Acknowledges Violent Crimes Against
Women
Saddam does not deny the fact that his regime tortures and brutally
murders women. The daily newspaper "Babel" owned by Uday, the eldest
son of Saddam Hussein, contained a public admission on February 13,
2001of beheading women who are suspected of prostitution. The Iraqi
Women's League in Damascus, Syria describes this practice as follows:
"Under the pretext of fighting prostitution, units of 'Feda'iyee
Saddam', the paramilitary organization led by Uday, have beheaded
in public more than two hundred women all over the country,
dumping their severed heads at their families door steps. Many of
the victims were innocent professional women, including some who
were suspected of being dissidents. Such barbaric acts were
carried out in the total absence of any proper judicial
procedures, even under Iraq's own Penal Code." (March 3, 2001).
In Iraq, if you are a woman, you could face....
* Beheading if you are accused of prostitution
* Rape, if you are related to someone the regime thinks is disloyal
* Torture, if you are related to a dissident
Reports show, that many families have been required to display a
victim's head on their outside fence for several days. These savage
practices have been used against women of all professions. For example,
an obstetrician was arrested for criticizing the corruption within the
health services, but was subsequently beheaded for prostitution.
Another woman with a husband and three children was beheaded without
charge or trial. According to Amnesty International, her husband was
wanted by the security authorities because of his alleged involvement
in Islamist armed activities against the state. He managed to flee the
country, but men belonging to Feda'iyye Saddam (the paramilitary unit)
went to his house and found his wife, children, and mother-in-law.
His wife was taken to the street and two men held her by the arms while
a third pulled her head from behind and beheaded her in front of
residents. The security men took the body and the head in a plastic bag
and took away the children and the mother-in-law. Their fate remains
unknown.
Women are often raped in order to blackmail their relatives. Men who
leave Iraq and join Iraqi opposition groups regularly receive
videotapes showing the rape of a female relative. These tapes are
intended to discourage Iraqi nationals abroad from engaging in
opposition activities. As shown below, some authorities carry personnel
cards identifying their official "activity" as the "violation of
women's honor."
* Statement made by Nidal Muhyi al-Shaikh Shallal, the wife of
Shaikh Shallal Muhammed al-Shallal, tribal chief of the Grai'at
Jibour on October 4, 2002
* My brother was arrested in 1980. Since then, we have no idea
what happened to him. The regime sent us a statement of his
death in order to provoke us. My husband's brothers, who are
also my cousins, were executed. They were Martyr Ra'ad Shallal
Muhammed al'Shallal and Martyr Wa'd-Allah Muhammed al-Shallal.
After that, our possessions were confiscated and we were
expelled from our lands. Till now, one of our orchards has been
turned into a secret factory for making chemical weapons. It is
located in Grai'at (a suburb of Azamiyya in northern Iraq).
I was interrogated many times. It was then that my husband fled
away and went into hiding. Then I was expelled from my
government job. Many attempts were undertaken to have my
husband arrested because of his dissent. His brothers were
executed. In 1991, he participated in the Intifada (uprising),
but he was captured and jailed for four months at the prison run
by the Iraqi Military Intelligence. His left rib and nose were
fractured as he was being tortured, and he was exposed to
several electric shocks the marks of which are still visible on
his body.
Our tribe, the Jibour tribe, has been subjected to almost total
extinction. Al-Grai'at (branch of the Jibour tribe) is famous
for its struggle against the Iraqi regime. As many as 882
(eight hundred and eighty-two) men from among my relatives and
tribal members have been arrested and their fate is unknown.
The daughters of my uncle, namely Layla al-Jibouri, Fatima
al-Jibouri, Tarfa al-Jibouri and Safa al-Jibouri, have all been
executed.
Government Betrays Children's Welfare
Saddam has no regard for the health and welfare of the children of
Iraq. Since the Gulf War alone, Saddam Hussein has built 48 lavish
palaces for himself. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical supplies intended for
sick children are being exported for resale overseas. Medicine and
medical supplies that are desperately needed by children are frequently
delayed because regime members demand bribes from suppliers. The lack
of healthcare in Iraq has led to the re-emergence of diseases that had
been exterminated years ago, including cholera and polio.
In addition, the regime takes minority children hostage to force their
families to relocate, thereby increasing the Sunni Arab majority in
particular regions. They also force children between the ages of 10 and
15 to attend 3-week training courses in weapons' use, hand-to-hand
fighting, rappelling [?] from helicopters, and infantry tactics. These
children endure 14 hours of physical training and psychological
pressure each day. Families that do not want their children to attend
this rigorous training course are threatened with the loss of their
food ration cards.
Millions of innocent people in Iraq are suffering. Their daily life has
been significantly disrupted with respect to the distribution and
quality of food, pharmaceuticals and sanitation supplies, as well as
the lack of clean drinking water. All of these elements have severely
interfered with the functioning of basic health and education systems
and have undermined the right to work.
- 1999 Report by the UN Special Rapporteur on
the human rights situation in Iraq
'
In Saddam's Iraq, if you are a child, you could face....
* Inadequate nutrition or medicine because the Saddam limits
imports and distributes much of those to his friends and allies.
* Abduction, if you are a non-Arab living in an oil-producing area.
* Having to report what your parents say about the regime.
'
'
The Silent Voice of Iraqi Voters
As the world community increasingly embraces individual liberties,
pluralism and representative government, Iraqi citizens do not have the
right to change their government. Saddam Hussein has silenced the
political opposition and has not held true elections since his rise to
power in 1979. The Iraqi Constitution also provides for freedom of
association. However, Iraqi law makes past, present and future
associations with parties other than the Ba'th party punishable by
death. He relies on his 1995 and 2002 un-democratic "referenda" to
legitimize his presidency. In the most recent referendum, "confidential
ballots" were marked with a number so that the government could
identify the voter. There was only one name on the ballot: "Saddam
Hussein - Yes or No." Citizens understood the consequences of becoming
one of Saddam Hussein's "enemies." He claimed a remarkable 100 percent
"victory," an increase over the 99.96% result in 1995.
The Ba'th Arab Socialist Party, One Arab Nation With An Eternal Message
-Decree of the Revolutionary Command Council-
Punishable by execution is:
1- Any member of the Ba'th Arab Socialist Party who purposely conceals
his previous political and party affiliations, and commitments.
2- Any current or former member of the Party who, under proof, is
found to be linked during his membership to any other party or
political [group] or of working for them and their interests.
3- Any current or former member of the Party who joined another party
or political [group] or worked for them and their interests after
terminating his relations with the Party.
I, Majid Arshad Mahmud, have been apprised of the Revolutionary Command
Council's decree, and will be responsible before the law in the event
that I violate the decree's provisions. Accordingly, I signed.
Name: Majid Arshad Mahmud
Residential Address: Irbil, al-'Arab
Work Address: Employee/Irbil hospital
Date:11 Jan 1979
[Signature]
Confirm veracity of signature by a cell.
Confirm veracity of signature by the command of a division.
[Signature]
Stamp of the Division
'
'
Independent Thought or Beliefs are Silenced
Through history, Iraqi scholars have contributed to the development of
political thought. Today, however, there is no political debate nor are
there even articles in Iraqi newspapers that question the government.
Those who have tried are now in exile or dead.
In September 1999, Hashem Hasan, a noted journalist and Baghdad
University Professor, was arrested after he declined an appointment as
editor of one of Uday Hussein's government-controlled publications. His
fate is unknown.
Press freedom is nonexistent because the government controls the media.
Although the Iraqi Constitution provides for freedom of assembly,
citizens of Iraq are not permitted to assemble for any purpose other
than to express support for the Government.
They are also not permitted to leave Iraq and travel like citizens
living in free countries. Specific government authorization, expensive
exit visas, and a requirement that the government must be paid
collateral in order to travel are all examples of how Saddam Hussein
holds Iraqi citizens hostage in a country many want to leave.
Professors and journalists who are allowed to leave the country are
interrogated upon their return to ensure that they are still "loyal" to
the Iraqi government. In Saddam's Iraq, if you are an Iraqi who is
Chaldean Christian, Turkmen or other ethnic minority, or if you are a
member of the Shi'a majority, you could face...
* Forced relocation if you live in an area the regime wants to
control or clear
* Prohibitions on your religious study and practice
* Prohibitions on the study of your language, such as Syriac, and
its use in religious practice
* No protection from mob violence
* Discrimination in school, work and government
'
The Iraqi Constitution also provides for freedom of religion which does
not violate "morality and public order." However, freedom of religion
is virtually nonexistent in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The Iraqi Shi'a
community makes up approximately 60 percent of the Iraqi population,
yet the Ba'th party, comprised of Sunni Arabs, controls power and has
outlawed most common methods of Shi'a prayer.
In many areas, Shi'a Muslims are not allowed to participate in their
Friday prayers.
Shi'a programs are completely banned on the government-controlled radio
and television, and Shi'a prayer books and guides cannot be published
in Iraq. Thousands of Shi'a writings have been prohibited throughout
Iraq.
(...)
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/15996pf.htm
House Armed Services Committee
2120 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
'
'
'
______________________________________________________________
2. THE SHADOW OF A MONSTER: I was Uday's Hussein's body double
A telling report by Lance Laytner © http://www.unison.ie/
Saturday, April 12th 2003
Latif Yahia escaped to a life in Dublin with an Irish wife after years
of horror with Saddam's sadistic son (LANCE LAYTNER reports)
'
Iraq has been saved from a cruel dictator far worse than Saddam
Hussein, says the former body double of Uday Hussein, Saddam's eldest
son and heir. Latif Yahia had been a school classmate of the dictator's
son and looked like a twin brother. He thought he'd been forgotten, but
a few years later Yahia, an Iraqi officer serving in the Iran-Iraq war,
was suddenly summoned home to Uday's palace in Baghdad.
In strode Uday Saddam Hussein. "I want you to be me," the president's
son declared, "Everywhere, always. You will be my fidai, my double. You
will be the son of the president under my direction. You'll have the
most beautiful life on earth. Everything that's mine will also be
yours. You will be my brother."
Latif politely declined. He could not accept the task. It would be too
much for him. "What? You don't want to be the son of Saddam Hussein,"
Uday screamed.
Two bodyguards seized Latif and dragged him from the room. He was
blindfolded and thrown into a car. Latif was locked inside a
psycho-torture cell. The walls, floors and lights were bright red. The
cell was too small to lie down in or stand up, leaving him to squat;
and there was no toilet. After seven days, Uday came by. "Latif. How
are you? You've changed your mind haven't you? I'll set my dogs on you
and have your sisters raped if you refuse again." Latif gave in and
became Uday's double in November of 1987.
For years he lived an extraordinary life of untold luxury and
unimaginable horror - before eventually fleeing Iraq. He lived in
Dublin and married an Irish woman before going on the run again.
Saddam and his sons had a small army of doubles. Whenever the Iraqi
despot felt danger he had a double stand in for him. One had already
been assassinated in 1984, but he had several left. Doubles were chosen
from the Hussein family, usually a cousin closely resembling the
dictator. But none looked like Uday. That's when Uday remembered his
old classmate who did.
Latif Yahia was cleaned up and taken directly to Uday's palace on the
Tigris River and placed in Uday's own room. Latif's first lesson was to
learn how to not react in disgust or become sick at Hussein's regime of
cruelty. He was taken to a viewing room holding thousands of videos of
torture sessions. Saddam's son learned the same way.
"Uday told me whenever he seemed weak or squeamish as a child his
father would beat him with an iron bar and then force him to watch
videos of prisoners being tortured." It worked. 'Just wait until I
become president," Uday promised, "I'll be crueller than my father ever
was. You mark my words. You'll yearn for the days of Saddam Hussein.'
"I studied from nine in the morning to Muslim evening prayers,
practising how Uday Hussein sat, held his cigar, everything. In time I
could predict how he would act and move. Uday never looked anyone in
the eye, never shook anyone's hand, and greeted everyone arrogantly."
One day a pair of foreign doctors with Slavic accents arrived at the
palace. "They tested every inch of my body to see if it matched Uday
and were pleased. My skin colouring was 99pc similar to Uday's. Shape
of face, hair, ears, nose, build - all were almost identical. . . . Our
voices were also almost exactly alike, but the doctors said I would
need surgery to get Uday's lisp." The next day Latif Yahia's teeth were
ground down and implants screwed in. "They asked me to say something
and it was utterly bizarre. I was lisping."
Ismail al-Azami, Uday's private hairdresser, spent hours sculpting
Latif's hair to match Uday Hussein's. Yassem al-Helou, Uday's fashion
advisor, helped Latif choose from amongst Uday's thousands of Italian
suits, Swiss watches and Italian shoes. Uday changed suits four times a
day - and even had a paint shop behind his palace garage where each day
he would have one of his many cars painted to match the colour of his
suit.
Latif said: "Not one of his cars cost less than $100,000. He had more
than 100 Maseratis, Ferraris, Porsches, Jaguars, Mercedes in all models
and colours." Uday even enacted a law prohibiting Ferrari imports so he
would be the only person in Iraq to own one.
When double training was finished, there was one final test. Latif was
summoned to meet Saddam Hussein himself. "My walk to the president
would decide my fate. If he rejected me, I was a dead man." The Iraqi
dictator circled Latif Yahia observing every feature and gesture.
"Saddam smiled, spread his arms and exclaimed: 'Yes, it's you. Allah
gave me two sons and you're the third!'"
Says Latif: "Nothing about Saddam in person appeared cruel, cold or
repulsive. He was a man with strong charisma captivating everyone. Now
I was a member of his clan. I would learn secrets hidden from millions.
I was Saddam Hussein's third son, just as he said."
But in six months Latif hadn't been allowed to see his parents. Every
day he had to be Uday Hussein, and Uday was a monster. "I witnessed
horrific crimes and began to hate the man whose double I had become.
Uday was a brutal rapist with an obsession for beautiful women."
Every day Uday Hussein and his bodyguards drove around the university
and the girls' schools until the president's son saw a girl he fancied.
He would stop her and ask her to spend the night with him. If she
refused, his bodyguards would grab her and bring her back to the
palace. There Uday would rape the girl. If she resisted, after he was
done, he would give her to the whole team of bodyguards.Uday learned
rape and murder from his father. Reveals Latif: "Saddam's family, the
Tikriti clan, were a bunch of criminals. When Saddam came to power it
was like the mafia taking control of a country."
But Iraq wasn't enough. Saddam Hussein next turned to Kuwait. Uday
divided his men into three teams: the Car Team would take every
Mercedes and BMW left in Kuwait; the Property Team would empty houses
abandoned by Kuwaitis; and the Electronics Team would gather valuable
electronics. Yahia directed the Car Team and auctioned them off in
Iraq, raising US$125m in cash for Uday. But the plunder of Kuwait
created an international outcry. Uday Hussein was mentioned by name and
his reputation suffered.
One of Uday's intelligence officers suggested: why not blame Latif? He
was forced to make a televised confession. The Iraqi TV newscaster said
Latif Yahia had been sentenced to death and would be executed in the
next few days. But he was kept alive to continue as a double.
"Until now my family and friends thought I had disappeared. With my
confession I became both disgraced and officially dead. I could never
have a life in Iraq. I would have to escape."
Then the first Gulf War began. The real Uday Hussein fled to
Switzerland while Latif risked assassination in his place. For much of
the war the double hid from Allied bombing in the famous bunkers of
Saddam Hussein.
One day Uday brought Latif and others to a meeting with Saddam Hussein
at his bombed personal palace, after the Kurdish uprising. Seeing the
damage up close so enraged Saddam he ordered his men to bring him
prisoners. Troops quickly returned with 30 captured Kurdish rebels.
"Saddam shot each one at close range. He emptied clip after clip," says
Yahia. "Then he demanded another 60 men and killed them too. Finally he
laughed and said he felt better."
During the rebellion Latif Yahia, posing as Uday, visited troops
fighting rebels in Basra when his convoy came under attack. "The
armoured windshield of my car burst into a thousand pieces," he
remembers, "then I was hit by grenade fragments." Doctors told him they
could save his legs and arms but his right pinky finger would have to
be amputated. Uday Hussein burst into the hospital the next day after
returning from Switzerland.
He lined up the hospital staff, "If you don't save his finger I will
kill you all." Uday knew if his double lost a finger he would have to
have a finger cut off too. The finger was saved and Latif returned to a
shattered Baghdad.
"Hundreds of thousands had no way to feed their families. But Uday
didn't care. He continued to party openly, without shame." Uday threw a
multi-million dollar extravaganza on his birthday. A thousand people
dined on lobster and delicacies. Hundreds of beautiful girls were
invited. At one point Uday shouted, "Rip the whores' clothes off!" His
friends shredded the women's clothing and the party turned into a
massive orgy.
The next day Uday summoned Latif and screamed, "Why are you sneaking
around after my girlfriend?" Latif was stunned. He never approached
Uday's women. "I can tell you despise me, that you want to get away. I
am going to have to educate you again."
The double was imprisoned at the al-Radvania secret police barracks,
kept in a tiny cell open to the sun and 120 degree heat and given no
water for days. Torturers worked over Latif for hours every day;
needles were driven under his nails and he was whipped with electrical
cable. Latif's back became badly infected, he was starved and
delirious.
After 27 days, Uday appeared. "How did you like your education? Would
you like a few more weeks?" Latif was completely broken at this point
and begged for mercy.
Next, Uday ordered all hair removed from Latif's body, a torture worse
than death for religious Muslims. Then they dumped Latif in front of
the home of his parents who thought he'd been killed years before. "I
crawled to the house. My mother didn't recognise the horrible creature.
When I told her who I was she almost went crazy from shock."
At a private clinic doctors managed to heal Latif's infection and many
broken bones. He then sent a secret appeal to the Kurdistan Democratic
Party. Kurds smuggled him out of Baghdad to northern Iraq and then up
into Turkey. There Latif requested asylum at a US military base after
showing pictures of himself with Uday Hussein. US Army Colonel John Nab
realised Yahia's intelligence potential. Latif was interrogated by the
CIA which confiscated everything he'd smuggled out of Iraq.
He was offered American citizenship, but instead chose to join family
in Austria. On March 9, 1992 Latif landed at Vienna's Shwechat Airport,
a free man. An international rescue agency smuggled out Latif's wife,
Bushra, and daughter, Tamara. The Iraqi set up successful businesses
with part of his family's large fortune in foreign bank accounts.
Bushra couldn't take the strain of life on the run and fled with their
daughter back to Iraq. Latif Yahia moved to Dublin in late 1999 after
escaping assassination attempts in Austria where he was shot at by
Iraqi agents, London where he was rammed by a car in a public phone
booth and in Norway where he was stabbed.
He married an Irish woman, but said he left Ireland in disgust after
being "hassled" by immigration authorities and others whom he believed
belonged to intelligence services.
Now Latif runs his European operations - including businesses in
Ireland - on the move, never staying in one country for long. He hopes
with the fall of the Hussein regime that life will finally become
normal for him and that the nightmare that began when he was forced to
be a body double for Uday Hussein will finally be over.
Lance Laytner
© http://www.unison.ie/
.
|
