What did Saddam do wrong?

Zeekater

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when reading a thread about how much better the Iraqis have it now, I was wondering,
What are the things Saddam did to his own people?
Yes I know of the gassing of the Kurds, but I'm looking for some more, about what he did to the Iraquis themself :)
Oh, and stick to the facts please, no bashing anyone :nono:
 
Hussein definitely ranks around Mussolini in terms of atrocities.

He order people to conduct mock (and definitely often real) executions frequently. He often would electrocute people in despicable ways. There are many horrid things he did that make he infamous. I have a book that describes more about him however it is not accessible right this moment.
 
He did what all military dictatorships do to their people:Illegal incarcerations, killing, torturing, raping and the rest.Kurds were his own people as well as the mars Arabs wich he gassed.It hapenned many times before. Chili, Guatemala,Nicaragua,Iran,Uganda,...and it is still happening Myanmar, N.Korea, Saudi arabia...
 
MarineCorps said:
I was refering to the fact that he seemed to think that Kurds are not Iraqies.
Yes yes, the Kurds are Iraqies, but I know that one already :p

About the rest; can anyone provide any data, everybody always says he tortured his own people, but what I'd like to know is whom, how much, how often and the such.
No I'm not a sadist :p
Well, maybe a little, but that's not why I want to know that stuff :p
 
He invaded Kuwait, and lots of the Iraqis in the army got screwed because of it.
 
h4ppy said:
He invaded Kuwait, and lots of the Iraqis in the army got screwed because of it.
That doesn't really have anything to do with civilians, but still, soldiers are Iraqies too :)
 
I think Zeekater is thinking of Iraqies which are of other ethnic groups than the Kurds.

I guess anarchywrksbest said it though, he killed, presecuted and tortured lots of people. Especially the Shia-muslims. But I believe Zeekater wanted specific events?

Of course, all I know is learned from newspapers, tv and such, so what I've heard can be exagurated, though I don't think it is.
Some episodes involved driving schoolbuses into the desert and burrying them with the children inside, arrested people on the street and beat them up, etc. He also asked his sons-in-law to return to Iraq (they had fled with their wives earlier, but the wives had come back) and told them they would not be harmed. When they returned they were taken away, tortured and shot...

Saddam wasn't good for the Iraqi people, but I don't think their situation has improved very much the last year.
 
The new government of Iraq calculates in 1 million the number of Iraqis killed by Saddam's regime.
 
you can find the reports of amnesty international here
http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/webmepcountries/IRAQ?OpenDocument

this is an extract of the 1997 report:

Hundreds of people were executed during the year. At least 96 members of the opposition Iraqi National Congress (inc) and four members of the Iraqi National Turkman Party were executed by government forces following their capture in Qoshtapa, near Arbil, in August. Among the victims were Lieutenant Ra'ad 'Umar al-Khalidi and Fahd Muhammad Sultan. Hundreds of suspected government opponents, including possible prisoners of conscience, were also arrested in Arbil. They included members of the inc and the Iraqi Communist Party, suspected members of Turkman and Islamist parties and other non-Kurdish political opponents. They were said to be detained in government-controlled areas but their fate and whereabouts remained unknown. At least 12 Iraqi army officers were reportedly executed for objecting to orders to intervene in the take-over of Arbil. They included Brigadier General Adham al-'Alwani, Major Jihad 'Abd al-'Aziz al-'Alwani and Major Faisal 'Abd al-Hamid al-'Issawi.

Several political prisoners were said to have been executed, among them Duraid Samir Jihad al-Khayali and Jihad Samir Jihad al-Khayali, executed in May in connection with anti-government demonstrations in al-Ramadi province in 1995 (see Amnesty International Report 1996). They were reportedly subjected to torture prior to execution.

More than 120 army officers believed to be connected to the opposition Iraqi National Accord, were executed following an alleged coup attempt against President Saddam Hussain in June. Among those executed were several high-ranking officers, including Major-General 'Abd Mutlaq al-Jibburi, Major Fawzi Karim al-Hamdani and Colonel Riyadh Talib Jassem. Up to 300 had been arrested but the fate and whereabouts of those detained remained unknown.

In February, Lieutenant-General Hussain Kamel al-Majid and his brother, Lieutenant-Colonel Saddam Kamel, both sons-in-law of President Saddam Hussein, who had fled to Jordan in August 1995 (see Amnesty International Report 1996), were killed within days of having returned to Iraq after reportedly being pardoned. Their father, a brother and three other relatives were also killed. The government announced that the killings constituted an act of revenge by other members of the al-Majid family, but it was widely believed that the killings had been carried out with the acquiescence of the President. There was no investigation into the killings and no one was brought to justice.

Hundreds of suspected government opponents, including possible prisoners of conscience, were arrested during the year and remained held without charge or trial. Relatives of detainees were arrested on the basis of family links. In some cases relatives of suspected political opponents who fled abroad were said to be under house arrest. About 2,000 people arrested in 1995 following demonstrations in al-Ramadi province (see Amnesty International Report 1996) continued to be held without charge or trial, as were tens of thousands more arrested in previous years. Following an assassination attempt in December on 'Uday Saddam Hussain, the President's eldest son, hundreds of arrests were reportedly carried out in Baghdad and other cities. The fate and whereabouts of those arrested remained unknown.

Trials of political detainees continued to be held in camera, using procedures which did not meet internationally recognized standards for fair trial. Defendants had no access to defence counsel and appeared before special ad hoc security courts, usually headed by a military or security officer. It was not possible to ascertain the number of political detainees tried during the year.

Physical and psychological torture and ill-treatment of detainees and prisoners remained widespread. Methods of torture reported included beatings, electric shocks to the tongue and genitals, suspension from a rotating fan, burning the skin using heated metal implements or sulphuric acid, and rape. Some prisoners were said to have been flogged before their release.

The fate of thousands of people who had "disappeared" in previous years remained unknown (see previous Amnesty International Reports). Among the victims were seven brothers of the al-Hashimi family who "disappeared" following their arrest in Baghdad in October 1980. In May, the authorities released Nadia Muhammad al-'Anaizi, a Kuwaiti national who was among an estimated 625 Kuwaiti and other nationals arrested by Iraqi forces during the occupation of Kuwait in 1990 and 1991 and believed to remain held in Iraq. In September, the Iraqi Government announced that it had set up a committee to determine the fate of "Iraqis and Kuwaitis missing since the 1991 Gulf war". The committee, said to be composed of members of parliament, lawyers, members of an Iraqi human rights organization and the Iraqi Red Crescent, was to establish offices throughout Iraq to gather information about those missing. It was not known by the end of the year whether this took place.

Serious human rights abuses were carried out in the Kurdish-controlled provinces by the two main political groups, the kdp and puk. Members of smaller political groups were among those targeted for arrest, prolonged incommunicado detention and torture or ill-treatment. They included members of the Iraqi Workers' Communist Party, the Kurdistan Farmers' Movement and the Surchi clan (see below).

In May, two unarmed members of the Assyrian Democratic Movement (adm), Samir Moshi Murad and Peris Mirza Salyu, were killed in 'Ain Kawa, near Arbil, by Kurdish students allegedly associated with the puk. The adm members were reportedly intervening to settle a dispute between Kurdish and Assyrian students when they were deliberately shot. Although puk leaders condemned the killings, no one was brought to justice (see below). In June, at least 10 people were reportedly killed in armed clashes when kdp forces attacked members of the Surchi clan in the village of Kalakin, north of Arbil. Among the dead were two women and Hussain Agha Surchi, head of the Association of Kurdish Clans.

It was not known whether death sentences had been imposed by courts operated by the kdp and puk in Iraqi Kurdistan during the year, nor whether any passed between 1992 and 1994 had been carried out (see previous Amnesty International Reports). In October, 59 kdp members were reportedly executed in the town of Rania after their capture by the puk. They included Shukri Hussain Diab and Mustafa Hassan 'Uthman. In September, four puk members were said to have been executed in Sulaimaniya after their capture by the kdp. Among them were Amjad Haji Khaled and Fa'iq Tawfiq. Up to 17 other puk detainees were reportedly executed in October in various areas under kdp control.
 
luiz said:
The new government of Iraq calculates in 1 million the number of Iraqis killed by Saddam's regime.
Wow, that's a lot :crazyeye:
The source is a bit biased though :)
 
@Garbarsardar.jr; thx for your post, most enlightening :)

Still, all those that have been posted are soldiers and political people, nothing about the "normal" people, the average joe :)
And that didn't amount to a million either ;)
 
Soldiers, political people, ethnic groups that make up a large portion of your population, and all of the other groups mentioned are "normal" people. That is to say, they are all humans that were (and still are for those fortunate enough to not have been a casualty of the events in Iraq over the last few decades) part of Iraqi society. Even if Hussein's deplorable acts were restricted solely to these groups that you claim are not "average Iraqis," they would still be atrocious acts for which he should be punished.

Basically, I do not understand what you are looking to do with your question. Are you trying in some strange way to make his acts seem less horrible, or are you actually seeking information here? Just curious.
 
Zeekater said:
@Garbarsardar.jr; thx for your post, most enlightening :)

Still, all those that have been posted are soldiers and political people, nothing about the "normal" people, the average joe :)
And that didn't amount to a million either ;)


"Political People" are the average Joe with an opinion.
As for the harm caused to apolitical people, you should think about lack of freedom of expression, association or religion; complete absence of a fair trial in case of arrest; total lack of civil and political liberties, and so on.

And if you want to know where the one million of deaths come from, check the gassing of the kurds and the brutal supression of the shia rebellion, as well as the genocide of the "Marsh Arabs".
 
I think this is a trick question.

A very simple search on Google can offer countless stories and accounts of Saddam's atrocities.

Saddam's regime had officially sanctioned "rape rooms" for crying out loud!
 
SeleucusNicator said:
Planning ahead for your next exercise in Saddam apologetics, eh, Zeek?
Asking information about what he did to make a well funded judgement is called apologetics nowadays?
I only wanted information, this might as well be in the history forum actually :blush:

@yaype: I was just wondering, didn't know he did that much atrocities :)
I knew he was horrible, but never knew the real facts, that was the point :)
 
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