News digest
04.08.2003Some news stories on the war that should give anyone pause to think:
US troops freed 150 children from an Iraqi prison. They'd been imprisoned - some as many as five years ago - for refusing to join the Baathist youth militias (like the Hitler Youth). Parents, of course, were overjoyed.
Even while the war continues, the 82nd Airborne is turning local control back over to Iraqi people at Samawah. A wide group of exiled (and internal) opposition leaders are already scheduled to meet 15 April to start forming an interim government. It seems we're not really interested in occupying the country.
Iraqi Baath party "recruiters" fired AK-47s at Basra civilians who refused to fight.
Hashim Hamin, an Iraqi teacher, recounts the story of his torture at the hand of Baathist officials. Including electric charges on his genitals. His crime? Refusing to join the Baath party. Here's a report of a torture room found at Abu al Khasib. Another one in Basra; it was next to a school. Here's a story from Abu Ghraib prison. One from Baghdad.
Here's four women's stories about systematic rape in Hussein's Iraq. It's the only regime on the planet to have "rapist" as an official, salaried occupation.
I hope someday the domestic morality we readily accept applies to international politics. We don't accept that a man may beat his wife or children w/ impunity in his own home, that it's none of our concern. Why do we accept it in international politics?
Posted by Miguel at 05:53 PM