Originally Posted by SoB
HA "rather poor human rights record" Those are rather friendly words to describe one of the worlds greatest mass murderers dont you think? Look it up.
Greatest mass murder in history?
Look it up?
If your going to quote me quote me dont cherry pick my words trying to make your point it just looks bad. I embolded the quote you should of used to help you out. I can see you like info so heres alittle you mite like of course its not left leaning like Mrs. Powers but none the less good info.
In 1959, before Hussein was the leader of Iraq (before he had
completed high school, even), he participated in the assignation of
the then-current Iraqi leader. (?Crimes Against Iraq,?
)
In 1968, Hussein, actively engaged in ?purifying the government and
society of potential dissidents.? (?Biography of Saddam Hussein of
Tikrit,? Iraq Foundation:
)
In 1974, Hussein participated in the killing of five religious
leaders. (?Saddam?s Crimes,?
) Hundreds of other religious people were arrested and tortured.
In 1977, Hussein was responsible for the arrest of thousand of
religious people, and the killing of hundreds of them.
In 1978, Hussein participated in the assignation of former
Prime-Minister Abdul Razzaq Al naef in London. Between 1978-79,
Hussein helped ?eliminate? 7,000 communists in Iraq.
In 1979, Hussein ordered another purge to eliminate political
opponents. Hundreds of top ranking Ba'thists and army officers were
executed.
During the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), 730,000 Iranians died. You will
recall that Hussein was the aggressor in this war, because he wanted
full control of the Arvand/Shatt al-Arab waterway at the head of the
Persian Gulf. (For more information on the war, see ?Iran-Iraq War,?
at Encyclopedia.com:
) Approximately 1,000 Kuwaiti nationals were killed in the Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait. It?s estimated there were 1,500,000 refugees from
this war, displaced by Iraq?s occupation of Kuwait. 750,000 ?endured
brutalities, oppression, and torture.? Although the date for the end
of the war is usually given as 1988, the struggle continued, and
500,000 Iranians were late killed (the Iranians say it was closer to 1
million), 100,000 by Hussein?s chemical weapons. In one day, 5,000
men, women, and children were gassed. (?Sadaam?s Other Crime,? In The
National Interest:
and ?Charges Facing Saddam Hussein,? BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3320293.stm )
Between 1987-1988, 180,000 Kurds ?disappeared,? and 4,000 villages
were razed, in an effort at ?ethnic cleansing.?
In 1983, Hussein killed of 8,000 members of the Barzani clan. Also in
1983, Hussein arrested 90 members of Al Hakim family and executed 16
of them.
Between 1988 and 1999, Hussein killed 7,000 prisoners in what was
called ?prison cleansing.? (?NoBody Count,?
http://www.blogoram.com/000184.php )
We also know that Hussein killed and tortured many other ?enemies?
before the Gulf War. For example: Ayatollah Mohamad baqir Al Sadr and
his sister Amina Al Sadr (Bint Al Huda) were arrested, tortured, and
killed in 1980. In 1981, Haj Sahal Al Salman in UAE in 1981, Sami
Mahdi was killed. In 1987, Ni'ma Mohamad in Pakistan was killed. In
1988, Sayed Mahdi Al Hakim in Sudan was killed.
In addition, we know from Iraqi officials that Hussein put to death
?officers who did not agree to execute people in the street,?
religious leaders who didn?t lavish praise of Hussein, and Shiite
Muslims (for their religious views). (See, as an example, ?Officer's
tale: Iraq's web of assassination, ? Christian Science Monitor:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0424/p01s04-woiq.html ) Remember, too,
that mass graves were found during the FIRST Gulf War. (?Charges
Against Saddam,? TalkLeft:
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/004668.html )
In the 1990s, Hussein killed 40,000 Shia?s (or Shiite Muslims) for
their religious uprisings; among those who became prisoners,
approximately 2,000 were executed on November 1993 alone. (?Death
Tolls,?
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat5.htm#Iraq For more on
Shia?s, see ?Shiites,?
http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/shiites.htm ) As
further evidence that the Gulf War did not play a role in Shia deaths,
in 1980, before war with Iran, Hussein hanged two leading Shia
figures. (?Radical Shias Worry Bush as well as Sadaam,? Daily Times:
)
I leave you to draw your own conclusions. Would fewer people have been killed if the U.S. had not participated in the Gulf War? Or would Hussein have continued to kill, even without U.S. intervension?
Originally Posted by SoB
"Certainly kept a lid on all that terrorist shit" Sounds like an admission that he was harboring terrorists. Guess he wont be doing that anymore.
Cute.
He "kept a lid on that shit" because he wouldn't countenance some fanatical religious bullshit formenting in his own backyard. It would, if allowed to logically run its course, threaten his own power.
I dont know what you find cute about this and how exactaly does "Certainly kept a lid on all that terrorist shit" not sounds like an admission that he was harboring terrorists?
You speek like you are in the know. The fact is training camps where found but the left think Bush 1 and 2 flew airforce one over there in the middle of the night and stagged them HA.
Originally Posted by SoB
"He did drop some chemical weapons on his own citizens in the early 1990's" Fairly nonchalant statement about someone mass murdering his own people dont you think? Dont forget about the beheadings at your local soccer field or the rape rooms him and his sons visited nightly.
Originally Posted by Savanalona
when Saddam bombed the kurds (those who you claim are his own people, thats another discussion altogether though)
The Kurds lived northern regions of Iraq which was under nominal control of the Iraqi military. From a geopolitical standpoint, the Kurds were "his own people" - although quibbling here is somewhat understandable.
Call it nominal if you like but the Kurds we are talking about where under Saddams power.
SoB, your confusing Iraq and Afghanistan - Iraq had a rather fully fleshed out judicial system before the 2003 invasion and I can assure you, random beheadings were not practiced in Iraq save political interference with the Hussien regime. That was the Taliban.
Saddamn was a rather reserved dictator by these sorts of standards - it was Uday who had the raperooms - but he had been removed from the line of succession in favor of his more sensible younger brother, Qusay.
All three were involved but at the very least you have admitted Saddam allowed this to happen
Not defending rape rooms per se - but I'm not really concerned about every rape room the world over when it costs the lives of at least 100,000 civilians (some estimates are well above 1 million), 5000 American troops, and 3 trillion dollars.
You and I are very different I dont care how much money or how many lives are lost to stop evil.
Atrocities will continue to be visited upon mankind by other men - this is the way of this world - and all the American military might the country can muster isn't going to fix this.
But we sure can try.
The problem here seems to be the intractable way of mankind - not any particular dictator or military leader.
Originally Posted by SoB
"Make no mistake, had Saddam been a little friendlier to American business, he'd be in power today". Only if a Dem was in office because you can see what a Republican did to him.
Wow. What a dreadfully WRONG reading of history.
How is this a Wrong reading of history did a Republican pres not rid the world of Saddam? You are trying to redirect what I said but it wont work.
