Posted on 05/24/2004 11:44:31 AM PDT by quidnunc
Baghdad – Ibrahim al-Idrissi, 37, goes to work every day with a handgun in a holster on his hip. In most countries, the line of work Idrissi is in wouldn't require such firepower. But this is Iraq. Idrissi is the president of the Association for Free Prisoners, an Iraqi non-governmental organization that has been documenting the execution of political prisoners under the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Many of Saddam's torturers and executioners are still at large. There have been two attempts on Idrissi's life, and three on the organization's headquarters in Baghdad. "Fortunately, their aim hasn't been very good so far," Idrissi says.
One year ago, the organization was still called the Committee to Free Prisoners. In the hectic days after the fall of Baghdad, when people were digging holes all over the capital looking for secret prisons, there was still hope that some of the tens of thousands of political prisoners who disappeared under Saddam's regime were still alive somewhere. That hope has vanished, says Abdul Fatah al-Idrissi, 35, Ibrahim's younger brother. "Now, our work is not about releasing prisoners anymore."
Instead, it has become about documenting the horrors of the old regime. So far, the organization has been able to confirm the execution of 147,000 prisoners by Saddam. Last year, the garden of the group's headquarters, in a villa on the bank of the Tigris River in Kahdimiya, was filled with wailing and sobbing as hundreds of families came to check the names of their missing relatives against the lists being posted on a daily basis by the Idrissis and other volunteers. The lists were based on files recovered from Saddam's security apparatus. Behind the house, hundreds of now empty filing cabinets have begun to rust.
-snip-
"Amer's wife didn't lose the baby. So the guard took a knife, cut her belly open and took the baby out with his hands. The woman and child died minutes later. Then the guard used the same knife to cut Amer's throat." There is a moment of silence. Then Idrissi says: "What we have seen about the recent abuse at Abu Ghraib is a joke to us."
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at dailystar.com.lb ...
I'm getting ready to move and i am allowed to be half-baked!
;-)
I seem to remember that name as well.... didn't really know him/her.
Maybe got tired?
Finally.
Someone with the right experience said the very pregnant thing--it's a joke--comparatively.
I was just curious, as something about the conversation entres nous caused me to recall a bit of "jabberwock"
so I searched for the "frumious bandersnatch" and found one.
he isn't banned, but that's all I know.
A slice of reality for you to consider.
i just dimly recall the name....
Bad life.
Pretty much.
I quit counting ages ago.
You find that odd? Then you would really find the Childrens' Prison odd.
An atrocity of Biblical proportions. End times alert!
so, what you are saying is that you ar "18 years and some months" old? :)
I quit counting at age 29.. like most women!
:-)
( i am 43)
sensible.
34 here.
neenerneenerneeeeeenerrrrr!
LOL!
Figued so, ""Young Man!" LOL!
EVERYBODY is YOUNGER and TALLER than ME !
( Age 43, height, 4'11" )
Compare to that, the Iraq 'torture' is a prank.
geesh, what's it like to be so tiny?
at 5'11" I'm no giant, but... damn, it must be tough for you to get stuff off the top of your fridge!
It is nice to see the polls on the Arab websites are just as vague as the Western polls.
This needs to be shouted far and wide. I am watching Hardball at the moment(a weak one) and it is disgusting.
Smart Mouth!
;-)
I have a tall daughter! ( Evolution in Action! )
And I take her grocery shopping and she fetches stuff off of both the tall shelves, AND the fridge!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.