This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Rei (talk | contribs) at 17:21, 11 March 2004 (No court marshals yet, despite extensive disappearences, widespread shooting of unarmed civilians, imprisonment/interrogation practices deemed torture by most human rights organizations, etc.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 17:21, 11 March 2004 by Rei (talk | contribs) (No court marshals yet, despite extensive disappearences, widespread shooting of unarmed civilians, imprisonment/interrogation practices deemed torture by most human rights organizations, etc.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Torture and murder in Iraq were a common means of state oppression undertaken to maintain the authoritarian rule of Saddam Hussein.
According to officials of the United States State Department, this was largely carried out by Saddam Hussein and eleven other people. However foreign powers have at times colluded in Iraqi state oppression, including the United States's and the Soviet Bloc's who armed the Baathist regime throughout the 1980s. For example Saddam's bloody purges of communists were undertaken with the help of the CIA (1a), (1b), (2), (3).Saddam Hussein may be responsible for the deaths of 1,131,000+ Iraqis and others in the region, (largely through the bloody Iran-Iraq war and not through torture and murder).
However, some allege that the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime has not ended the use of torture in Iraq. According to the Washington Post, the occupation forces regularly use "torture lite" methods during the interrogation of suspects. Such methods have reportedly been instrumental in the capture of Saddam Hussein. There have also been allegations of British troops torturing Iraqi prisoners of war. In one case, a British soldier of the Desert Rats was arrested after handing a film to a photograph developers shop. The pictures he took depict a gagged Iraqi POW suspended on a fork lift, as well as sexual acts by soldiers. In a different case, a US major alleged that British Colonel Tim Collins of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment mistreated Iraqis, for example pistol-whipping an Iraqi civil leader. Such misdeeds violate the US and Britain's official policies on combat and occupation, and soldiers who break the rules are theoretically subject to court martial.
The term "Saddam's Dirty Dozen" was coined in October 2002 and used by US officials to denote a group of alleged Iraqi torturers and murdererers led by Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Most members of the group held high positions in Iraq's regime and membership went all the way from Saddam's personal guard to Saddam's sons. One effect of the list was to support the Bush Administration's claim that the 2003 Iraq war is not against the Iraqi people, but against Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party leadership.
Ironically, the phrase "Dirty Dozen" comes from a novel by E.M. Richardson, later adapted as a film directed by Robert Aldrich, celebrating a group of heroic U.S. soldiers.
Members
- Saddam Hussein, Iraqi President, accused of many torturings, killings and of ordering the 1988 cleansing of Kurds in Northern Iraq.
- Qusay Hussein, son of the president, head of the elite republican guard, believed to be chosen by Saddam as his successor.
- Uday Hussein, son of the president, accused of having a private torture chamber and of the rapes and killings of many women. He was partially paralyzed after a 1996 attempt on his life, and is the leader of a paramilitary group named Fedayeen and of the Iraqi media.
- Taha Yassin Ramadan, Vice-President. He oversaw the mass killings of a Shi'a revolt in 1991, and he was born in Kurdistan, north Iraq.
- Tariq Aziz, Foreign minister of Iraq, supposedly backed up the executions by hanging of political opponents after the revolution of 1968.
- Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Hussein's half brother, leader of the Iraqi secret service, Mukhabarat. He was Iraq's representative to the United Nations in Geneva.
- Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Hussein's half brother, he was the leader of the Mukhabarat during the 1991 Gulf War. Director of Iraq's general security from 1991 to 1996. He was involved in the 1991 suppresion of Kurds.
- Watban Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Hussein's half brother, former senior Interior Minister who was also Saddam's presidencial adviser. Shot in the leg by Uday Hussein in 1995. He has allegedly ordered tortures, rapes, murders and deportations.
- Ali Hassan al-Majid, Chemical Ali, alleged mastermind behind Saddam's lethal gassing of rebel Kurds in 1988. A first cousin of Saddam Hussein Majid had vast scientifical knowledge.
- Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, military commander, vice-president of the Revolutionary Command Council and deputy commander in chief of the armed forces during various genocide campaigns.
- Aziz Saleh Nuhmah, appointed governor of Kuwait from November of 1990 to February of 1991, allegedly ordered looting of stores and rapes of Kuwaiti women during his tenure. Also ordered the destruction of Shi'a holy sites during the 1970s and 1980s as governor of two Iraqi provinces.
- Mohammed Amza Zubeidi, alias Saddam's shi'a thug, prime minister of Iraq from 1991 to 1993 - ordered many atrocities.