Posted on 11/26/2005 6:01:11 PM PST by ncountylee
LONDON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Abuse of human rights in Iraq is as bad now as it was under Saddam Hussein, if not worse, former prime minister Iyad Allawi said in an interview published on Sunday.
"People are doing the same as (in) Saddam Hussein's time and worse. It is an appropriate comparison," Allawi told British newspaper The Observer.
"People are remembering the days of Saddam," said Allawi, a secular Shi'ite and former Baathist who is standing in elections scheduled for Dec. 15. "These are the precise reasons why we fought Saddam Hussein and now we are seeing the same things.
"We are hearing about secret police, secret bunkers where people are being interrogated," said Allawi in an apparent reference to the discovery of a bunker at the Shi'ite-run Interior Ministry where 170 men were held prisoner, beaten, half-starved and in some cases tortured.
"A lot of Iraqis are being tortured or killed in the course of interrogations."
Allawi said the Interior Ministry, which has tried to brush off the scandal over the bunker, was afflicted by a "disease".
If it is not cured, he said, it "will become contagious and spread to all ministries and structures of Iraq's government".
(Excerpt) Read more at alertnet.org ...
much of this is true. much of this is to be expected when an oppressive regime like the Sunnis are overthrown. its "payback".
but Allawi is right, there does have to be an end to this at some point.
Did the media believe the word of captured top Nazi officials after the war?
I wouldn't trust anything he said...
Um, people... Allawi lived in exile, and was anything but a friend of Saddam's.
Sometimes the Bush-bots can be real annoying. (And don't bother to flame me. I like Bush, but that does not mean I have to buy into everything he says and does. It is not a sin to disagree or criticize the president or his policies. In fact, we often provide him useful feedback, e.g. the Miers fiasco).
One might ask themselves the logical question, who were these 170 people. Well they might, but not the Guardian. No, it's best to get your source info from a Baathist.
Dear Gardian scandle sheet, the Iraqi people and the U.S. are trying to put down extremist terrorism. Those who explode themselves in the midst innocent people are not humans, they are sub-humans. Those who help them plan these events are themselves terrorists or sub-humans.
You can expect the U.S. and the Iraqis to capture and mistreat those who are intimate with the terrorist underworld.
This is hardly an abuse of human rights. The innocent people of Iraq and our military members ARE humans, and they are the ones being blown to bits in case you hadn't noticed. No, you evidently haven't, because I haven't seen one peep out of your pie-hole regarding that inhumanity to man.
F you and the pulp you road in on.
Wait a minute, I thought Allawi was our guy. Wasn't Washington rooting for him to win in last January's elections?
but Allawi is right, there does have to be an end to this at some point.
Exactly.
I caught a news report where an Iraqi official -- I can't remember who it was but he was high ranking -- said that torture had indeed occurred but that it was limited to only a handful of the 170 people that were being held (according to him, the rest had been treated humanely). He said it was regrettable and that it was being investigated, but he made the same point that you made, which is that these people weren't just average Joe Iraqis but known killers and torturers and beheaders.
It seems to me that the distinction between brutalizing the innocent, as Saddam did, and brutalizing the brutalizers is far from trivial. Neither is acceptable of course, even the latter, since a legitimate government has to work within the constraints of law and process and all that. But asserting a broad equivalence between the two looks like an attempt to score a cheap point.
Yeah I think he is probably right too./ Payback is hell.
When you think about it this seems to be the national sport, and the only thing these people understand. When the US was running things they wanted us out so I suppose this is what they want. Finish it up get a stable govt, there and get the hell out.
Why?
Saddam's regime is generally typical of what Middle Eastern regimes have been like throughout history. The primary difference is one of degree, not of kind.
"People are doing the same as (in) Saddam Hussein's time and worse. It is an appropriate comparison," Allawi told British newspaper The Observer.
And worse? What the heck is this guy talking about? What's worse than packing ten people in a meter square room for days at a time? What's worse than putting people through wood chippers feet first? What's worse than raping women at will, and if their husbands object, they are hanged? What's worse than forbidding female children to attend school?
The new government of Iraq, the Iraqi and US troops are not mistreating the Iraqis en mass. The Kurds went so far as to purchase air time in the U.S. and place thank you commercials on television.
I'll admit to having my doubts about how Allawi was treated, but you know what, this interview erased any that I might have had prior to this. He is one whacked out dude from my perspective.
I'm not sure we can get to a stable government there. At least not stability between the Sunni and Shia. We are certainly doing a lot of good and this article is a load of BS as far as comparing now to times under Saddam, but we are kind of herding alley cats there. Cats are cats, even with shiny new collars.
Unfortunately you have a good point.
That is a very good point. As to what Restorer said also.
Wolf
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