Red Cross visits Saddam Hussein

BBC News ^ | 2/21/04

[areafiftyone]

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has visited imprisoned former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein for the first time.

Spokesman Nada Dumani said two ICRC officials, including a doctor, visited him on Saturday and hope to conduct further visits.

They carried out a physical and mental evaluation of the former president, who is in US custody in Iraq.

They also took a letter from Saddam Hussein for his family.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Relax. It's SOP with prisoner's of war. He does have a couple of daughters and some grandkids if I recall correctly.

[Cap Huff]

Yes, I agree.

[Destro]

Stop with the ignorant Whats!!! Saddam is officially a POW (designated so by our gvt). Under the Geneva convention POWS can send and get mail to family members and his status as a POW must be checked by members of the RedCross.

[Lijahsbubbe]

He does have a couple of daughters and some grandkids if I recall correctly.

Who are widows and fatherless thanks to Saddam.

[Tommyjo]

"Where was the Red Cross when all the Iraqi's were being murdered by Saddam?"

==

EXACTLY!!!

Where was the Red Cross, when the Taliban were murdering their people in Afghanistan?

And is the Red Cross visiting the jailed prisoners in Iran, which the Mullah's arrest and probably murder?

Is the Red Cross visiting the political prisoners of Castro?

Is the Red Cross paying attention to the concentration camps in N. Korea?"

How the hell can a civilian organisation operate in countries that do not allow them to have access or full access to all regions of their countries? For example the Taliban banned the Red Cross from operating freely within Afghanistan. You might as well be saying why is the US not liberating by force the opressed of those nations that you list (less Afghanistan).

[Pharmboy]

Stop accusing me of saying the RC shouldn't have visited Saddam! I don't like the RC AT ALL. They love dictators and lefties. They can kiss Saddam's wounds and give him a haircut. I don't care.

[Destro]

I hate the Red Cross ever since that bitch Elizabeth Dole refused to send aid to Serbia to support the terrorist Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army to whom her husband Bob had whored himself out to.

[Destro]

I hate the Red Cross ever since that bitch Elizabeth Dole refused to send aid to Serbia (to punish the Serbs) because of her support the terrorist Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army to whom her husband Bob had whored himself out to.

[FairOpinion]

What is the real problem is that the Red Cros,leftists, and gullible people, keep trying to get moral equivalence between terrorists and murdering dictators with genuine POW-s.

[ducks1944]

Never give to Red Cross. They made our soldier pay for coffee when they came home from fighting. My family will never give to Red Cross.

[Pharmboy]

We agree!

[Mackey]

--OFF TOPIC--

FairOpinion, I clicked on the link you provided about the NK gas chamber. After reading that horrifying story I checked out some other links at the bottom of that page from The Guardian (UK):

In Pictures/Korean War

Pic #1 text:
South Korean napalm victim
The caption on this US army photo identified this man as a South Korean victim of a napalm bombing raid near Suwon, South Korea, on January 29 1951. Gasoline-gel napalm bombs were used extensively by US forces during the Korean war.

Pic #3 text:
Planes used during the war
An F-80 jet fighter-bomber and a T-6 Texan (foreground). Declassified air force reports of debriefings of F-80 pilots in 1950 indicate they sometimes strafed South Korean refugee groups, as alleged by Korean survivors of such attacks.

Pic #6 text:
Fleeing Yongdong
One Korean family in a long line of refugees fleeing Yongdong tries to save some furniture in this July 26 1950 photo. When communist North Korea invaded South Korea, tens of thousands of South Korean civilians fled south with retreating troops. On this day, eight miles down the road from Yongdong, hundreds of refugees came under fire from US troops, according to witnesses.

This is outrageous. Looks like we have "news agencies" like Guardian Unlimited to thank for the increasing anti-Americanism in Britain.

[FairOpinion]

First of all what we may or may have done, I hope you caught the "it's alleged" part, was in time of war.

What the N. Koreans have been doing is in time of peace, murdering their own people.

[sarasmom]

I am soooo proud to be a member of the last remaining country that actually abides by the Geneva Conventions!
The Red Cross has been an illegitimate NGO ignoring its narrow charter for years.
I used to work for them, over a decade ago.They have become "progressively" worse.
Yank their charter and tax-exempt status.
Along with the UNs.
Start over.

[TYVets]

I hope we moved ex president Sadam after their visit.

They probably had two GPS's with each of the red cross workers.

[Pharmboy]

Wow...I would probably lose to you in chess. Good thinkin'

[yonif]

The Red Cross provides cover for terrorists fighting Israel.

[Hank Rearden]

Considering how the Red Cross cannot be trusted, they may well deliberately or accidentally reveal Saddam's location, and the terrorists and Baathists may try to attack and free him.

I'm not the one guarding him, yet even I think it would be prudent to move him to a temporary holding location for this visit. It's common sense.

[FairOpinion]

The problem is that moving a dangerous prisoner is dangerous in itself. The Baathists may get wind of it -- it's easier to attack a moving convoy than a fortress.

I think they shouldn't have let the Red Cross see him, let them scream. But if because of them they get attacked and the Baathists are successful in releasing Saddam -- just think of the disaster that will create. Even if the chances are one in a million, and with the Red cross is more like 50-50, we shouldn't be taking chances like that.