Saddam Hussein's Crimes Against Political Opponents - 2003-01-06

In 1979, immediately after coming to power, Saddam Hussein suppressed all political opposition in Iraq. He also attempted to silence ethnic and religious minorities. During the Anfal operations in 1987 and 1988, the Iraqi regime destroyed more than four thousand Kurdish villages and forced the remaining Kurds into specific areas. Estimates of the number of Kurds killed suggest that the figure reached one hundred eighty-two thousand. Thousands of Kurds perished due to toxic gas. A report by the U.S. Department of State titled 'Iraq: A Repressed Population' documents what happened in a Kurdish settlement. In March 1988, the town of Halabja, with a population of eighty thousand, was attacked by the Iraqi Air Force. For three days, Iraqi forces dropped mustard gas, nerve agents, and the highly lethal VX toxin on civilians. At least five thousand civilians died within hours of the initial attacks. Thousands more died over the years from the effects of the toxic substances, suffering from various cancers, neurological damage, and psychological disorders. The Iraqi security apparatus, under Saddam Hussein's orders, systematically tortured individuals, including Kurds. Beatings, sexual assault, broken limbs, and deprivation of food and water were routine in Iraqi prisons. Balin Ahmad Saleh, a former Iraqi prisoner who now works for the Kurdish section of Voice of America, stated in a declaration submitted to the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Committee that he was arrested because he was one of the Kurdish students who protested against the Baghdad regime. Mr. Saleh said he and other imprisoned students were subjected to various forms of physical torture every day from eight in the evening until the next day, with their hands tied behind their backs and hung from the ceiling. They were given electric shocks, had lit cigarettes pressed against their flesh until they extinguished, and were beaten with wires until they lost consciousness. One night, according to Mr. Saleh, prison guards brought a dying man to his cell. The man's body had been burned with hot iron, his eyes had been gouged out, and his nose had been cut off. The head of security came to Mr. Saleh's cell and asked if he wanted to end up like that man. Balin Ahmad Saleh was eventually freed and managed to reach America. He underwent medical treatment for nine months due to physical and psychological injuries. This is the nature of the regime that the world is facing. The existence of the Iraqi regime is dangerous for its neighbors and for its own people.