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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sylvester80 who wrote (44704)	5/3/2004 5:43:56 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

NOBODY'S PERFECT story.news.yahoo.com

To: sylvester80 who wrote (44704)	5/3/2004 5:49:09 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

geocities.com The Pyramid of Skulls: How Saddam Hussein Came to Power (February 20, 2003) When Genghis Khan's grandson, Hualagu Khan captured Baghdad in 1258, he used fear to strengthen his rule over Iraq by killing every poet, scholar, military, civic and religious leader in the city. Hualagu piled their heads into a pyramid of skulls, topped by the head of their former ruler, the last Abassid Caliph. And some seven centuries later, Saddam Hussein did much the same thing when he took over in Iraq. In his very first week in power he arrested, tortured and executed 450 of the most prominent Iraqis, those whom he feared might someday challenge his rule. Saddam called these crimes, in his own words, a means to "cleanse the nation" of factionalism. Saddam is quoted as having said that among his proudest accomplishments is his 1978 campaign. He says that he ordered the liquidation of 7,000 people on charges of being "communists." His regime was born in a bloodbath, and like other such regimes, more blood is destined to flow in order to stay in power. Even conservative reports by human rights organizations, United Nations commissioners and exiled Iraqis estimate that at least 1.5 million Iraqis have been killed to keep Saddam in power. The murdered include some 15,000 Kurds who were attacked to chemical attacks in 1988. Saddam's number of dead in Iraq represents almost one tenth of the population of that country. But then one should add the more than 500,000 soldiers and civilians that were killed or wounded during Saddam's eight-year war with Iraq. At least another 300,000 were killed when Saddam tried to absorb Kuwait in 1990-1991. Saddam Hussein isn't the type of person who would deny that he kills people. When asked by a journalist if his police "have tortured and perhaps even killed opponents of the regime," Saddam responded in his outwardly calm manner, "Of course. What do you expect if they oppose the regime?" Many, many thousands of refugees still fleeing Iraq report that death squads continue to hunt for Kurdish and other ethnic leaders. Iraqi secret police agents continuously purge the officer corps of suspected plotters. And it is Saddam's second son, Qusai, who leads that army of secret police.

To: sylvester80 who wrote (44704)	5/3/2004 5:49:29 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

8 year war---The war turned out to be a war without progress on either side for most of the 8 years — it resulted in heavy losses on both sides with 600,000 Iranian and 400,000 Iraqis dead, HISTORY 1975: Settlement on frontiers between Iran and Iraq that involved increased territory for Iran compared to the borders prior to 1971. 1980 September 22: Iraq invades Iran, and has early victories. 1982: Iraq has been driven out of Iran. 1982-87: The war enters a phase where Iranian soldiers try to invade Iraq, while Iraqi air crafts bomb Iranian cities and oil installations. Both nations started attacking oil tankers on the Persian Gulf, in reciprocal retaliation. Few territorial advances are made on either side. 1987 July 20: Iran accepts a UN resolution on ending the fightings. 1988: Peace is achieved between the two countries, even if fightings ceased months earlier. 2 Civil Wars: In 1988, Saddam Hussein began the bloody massacre of his own people in his own civil war to prevent the Kurds from becoming independent. He reportedly killed thousands of people (news reports range between 3,500 to 30,000 to 50,000 to 100,000) between that period until the aftermath of the Gulf War in 1991. The mass graves discovered in Iraq by the US forces over the past year have supported the higher end estimates of these deaths. Murders: abcnews.go.com Dec. 15 — U.S. officials say evidence of the atrocities that Saddam Hussein committed against his people will be found in his regime's own records, and documented by videotapes made by the Iraqi security services. "Mass killers do turn out to be bureaucrats," said Peter Galbraith, a former U.S. diplomat. "Nazi Germany kept its records. Saddam Hussein kept his records." Executions and acts of brutality that occurred during the former Iraqi dictator's rule were regularly taped or documented, leaving a huge trail that leads directly to Saddam, officials say. For example, there are thousands of documents corresponding to the recently discovered mass graves across Iraq, according to Kanan Makiya, an exile who founded the Iraqi Memory Foundation. "This is the material that will indict Saddam Hussein in his own words, so to speak, and will leave no shadow of a doubt of what kind of an extraordinary regime this was," Makiya said. "I would say he is responsible for just under two million deaths." Poison Gas Used on Kurds The records date back to at least the 1980s, when Saddam allegedly gave the orders to use chemical weapons against 250 Kurdish villages in northern Iraq. The victims were left lying in the streets where they died fleeing from the clouds of poison gas. It is stark evidence of what U.S. officials say are Nazi-like crimes against humanity. "They were experimenting with the lethality of different kinds of chemical weapons, mustard gas, cyanide, nerve agents," Galbraith said. "Women, children, men, they were the guinea pigs in these experiments." Such mass murders were allegedly carried out by Saddam's top generals, including Ali Hassan Majid, who was captured by U.S. troops in August. He was one of the most notorious members of Saddam Hussein's regime, and was also known as "Chemical Ali" for his role in the gas attacks on Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s. Officials say some of the generals who may have been involved in mass murders have been captured and are now cooperating with U.S. investigators. worldhistory.com Saddam launched the Anfal Campaign against the Kurds. 180,000 Kurds disappeared and 4,000 villages were destroyed.28 March 1988 The Kurdish town, Halabaja, was gassed. 5,000 people were killed and 10,000 were injured.August 1988 Many Kurdish villages on the Turkish border were gassed. Thousands of people died.