Our delegation meets with survivors of Saddam Hussein’s Anfal genocide campaign.
Posted on 11/09/2006 5:35:59 PM PST by Impeach98
Kristinn Taylor's 3rd Report from FREE IRAQ
We've had a jam packed two days. Yesterday we met with the Kurdistan Regional Government's Ministers of Finance, the Interior (security) and Martyrs and Victims. We also visited a former 'concentration camp for Kurds set up by Saddam as a weigh station to extermination. And we got to meet with more American troops.
Today we visited a school that gives a classical education starting from the first grade. The teachers and students were thrilled to meet us.
In fact, everywhere we've gone the children have been thrilled to see us. We don't have any candy to give them, just broad smiles, happy waves and the love in our hearts. But that's enough for them, because they know we are Americans and they know what Americans have done for them.
Later, we were in Suleymaniyah, a thriving metropolis, and were given a guided tour of one of Saddam's prison/torture centers by a former prisoner -- a hell on earth called the Red House.
After the Kurds stormed the prison in 1991 and drove out the Baathists, they decided to preserve it as a memorial and a witness to the Saddam regime's crimes against humanity. They have turned part of it into a birdhouse for 'doves of peace.'
The former prisoner took us through the prison, showing us where Kurds were imprisoned and tortured, and some of the methods of torture including those used on him in his seven months there.
The Kurds also have on display a gallows from Abu Ghraib.
Touring the prison cells, both the families and our Iraqi Kurd escorts got very choked up. Saddam Hussein and his henchmen were evil, and they practiced it on such a scale of brutality that the Iraqis call him their Hitler.
The Kurds have also preserved some of the Soviet military tanks, armored vehicles and mortars Saddam's regime used to wage war on the Iraqi people. They are parked on the prison grounds as a reminder.
Such was the oppression we were told, that in those day those passing by the prison on the main street were commanded to look away from it, lest they themselves be imprisoned there.
The former prisoner now has the keys to the prison, and the truth of the horrors perpetrated there can now be shown to the world.
Our journey to Suleymaniyah took about three hours from Erbil. We drove on new roads that were paralleled by new power lines and phone lines, crossed by new water lines, lined by new construction, farming and new stores.
The peshmerga (military/security force) maintain a strong security presence, but not overbearing. The police and peshmerga work hand in hand to protect northern Iraq from the terrorists -- and they are very successful. We felt very comfortable going about our day, including a stop at the town of Koya where we walked through its shopping bazaars and wandered its streets.
The Iraqi Kurds have been very friendly to us this entire trip. Even though they valiantly fought for their freedom, they know and acknowledge that their efforts could only have succeeded with the help and sacrifices of the American people. They do not want us to cut and run.
For me personally, this trip has made clear the success of the American-led effort in Iraq. That's right, I said success. None of what is happening in the northern part of Iraq would have been possible as long as Saddam and his goons ruled Iraq.
And because Saddam is gone from power, there is one less state sponsor of international terrorism in the world.
We have one more day before we go. This has been an exhilitaring, but emotionally draining trip for the Gold Star families. I am in awe of their strength of spirit and their desire to see the mission of their fallen sons succeed completely everywhere in Iraq.
Stay tuned for more... complete updates posted online at: www.MoveAmericaForward.org
Kristinn Taylor
Kristen's Report #2 from FREE IRAQ: CLICK HERE
Kristinn's third dispatch from FREE IRAQ. Spread the word - PING!!
FReeper Kristinn makes his 3rd report from FREE IRAQ. We cannot cut and run now - PING!!
Fellow FReeper Kristinn Taylor makes his 3rd report from FREE IRAQ - PING!
Check this out!
BE SAFE! See you soon.
I misspelled his name. Doh! Can you correct to read Kristinn's (before he sees this and kicks my @ss!!!!) LOL!
Free Iraq Kristinn BUMP!!
I think it's only fitting that Saddam be hanged with that very rope.
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Kristen's Report #1 from FREE IRAQ: CLICK HERE
Kristen's Report #2 from FREE IRAQ: CLICK HERE
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I can well imagine the importance of seeing the people for whom those Gold Star Families' children risked their lives and I pray they find a measure of peace and pride.
We're proud of all our military and their sacrifices will never, ever be forgotten.
The picture of the Kurdish woman and the Gold Star Mom reaching out for each other brought tears to my eyes.
It is a darn shame that all of the MSM are following them around and reporting on them every night.
Thanks for the ping. Iraqi freedom bump!
*Bump*
It is a darn shame that all of the MSM are following them around and reporting on them every night.
Bump for liberty, a tonic for the soul of a nation.
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