Frontline: Iraq

[Yomar]

After seeing that very brief but revealing look inside Iraq on Frontline, its clear that Iraq is everything America is not. Some Iraqi actually stood up at a meeting and proclaimed not to the camera but to the people there, "Iraq is Sadam Hussein, what Sadam wants, we want" Its a miserable place, and Hussein is a horrible tyrant, but I still don't know if I favor going in there with the intention of toppling the Iraqi regime...its a hard question, but if we do go in, I certainly won't object.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/iraq/index.html

[redman]

It's remarkable because every additional detail about Saddam and his regime is shocking. But it should be no surprise because Saddam's role model is Josef Stalin. From what I understand he's read extensively about him and has emulated him as much as possible. They even kind of look alike.

Our rhetoric is focused upon the threat that Saddam and his cronies pose to the world at large, but we all too easily ignore the great evil that's done just inside Iraq's borders. It's awful stuff.

Here's some more good information on what we're dealing with in Iraq, from fas.org:

Saddam's Martyrs ("Men of Sacrifice")

Fedayeen Saddam

The paramilitary Fedayeen Saddam (Saddam's `Men of Sacrifice') was founded by Saddam's son Uday in 1995. In September 1996 Uday was removed from command of the Fedayeen. Uday's removal may have stemmed from an incident in March 1996 when Uday transfered sophisticated weapons from Republican Guards to the Saddam Fedayeen without Saddam's knowledge. Control passed to Qusay, further consolidating his responsibility for the Iraqi security apparatus. The deputy commander is Staff Lieutenant General Mezahem Saab Al Hassan Al-Tikriti.

The Fedayeen, with a total strength reportedly between 30,000 and 40,000 troops, is composed of young soldiers recruited from regions loyal to Saddam. The unit reports directly to the Presidential Palace, rather than through the army command, and is responsible for patrol and anti-smuggling duties. Though at times improperly termed an "elite" unit, the Fedayeen is a politically reliable force that can be counted on to support Saddam against domestic opponents.

[redman]

An overview of Saddam's political and intelligence and military apparatus:

Introduction

Political power in Iraq is concentrated in a repressive one-party apparatus dominated by Saddam Hussein. The provisional Constitution of 1968 stipulates that the Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party (ABSP) governs Iraq through the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), which exercises both executive and legislative authority. The Revolution Command Council has the power to override the Provisional Constitution at any time and without judicial review. Parallel to the normal institutions of government the Baath Party enjoys special status pursuant to the Leading Party Act No. 142 of 1974. The Republic of Iraq is structured so as to concentrate enormous powers in extremely few hands, with all power ultimately situated in the person of the President of the Republic. President Saddam Hussein, who is also Prime Minister, Chairman of the RCC, and Secretary General of the Regional Command of the Baath Party , wields decisive power.

Iraq is a dictatorial, totalitarian State which allows no political dissent. Freedoms of opinion, expression, association and assembly do not exist in Iraq. Of vital importance to the maintenance of the present political regime in Iraq is the complex, vast and infamous security apparatus which the President controls directly, and through his youngest son Qusai Hussein. The position of power enjoyed by the President is subject to the most extreme abuse which continues to bear especially heavily upon any threat of opposition - real or perceived.

The Government's security apparatus includes militias attached to the President, the Ba'ath Party, and the Interior Ministry. They play a central role in maintaining the environment of intimidation and fear on which government power rests. Security forces have committed widespread, serious, and systematic human rights abuses.

The personal protection of Saddam Hussein is ensured by three mutually controlling units, called "protection units." The largest of these units is the Republican Guard led by Saddam Hussein’s son Qusai Hussein. The general office of the military intelligence service [the Istikhbarat] is directly responsible to the Office of the President of Iraq. The internal intelligence service is called the Mukhabarat. Both Saddam's younger son Qusai and elder son Uday are active in the management of these entitities.

The elevated and protected status both of the security apparatus and of the Baath Party extends the scope and effects of abuse of power throughout the country. A substantial increase in official corruption (essentially government tolerated, if not encouraged, by the Government) and criminality has only exacerbated the situation, rendering the whole population subject to the arbitrary, widespread and self-centred interests of a privileged class of government officials and Baath Party leaders. Impunity even for serious assaults and extrajudicial killings encourages the abuse of power.

The regime has a long record of executing perceived opponents allegedly involved in plotting against President Hussein, including high-ranking civilian, military, and tribal leaders, as well as members of his family and clan.

An attempted coup d’état in March 1995 was organized by Maj.-Gen. (retd) Wafiq al-Samaraii, the head of Iraqi military intelligence during the Gulf War, was followed by widescale executions, arrests and collective punishment.

After Saddam's daughters and his sons-in-law, Lieutenant-General Hussein Kamel [head of Iraq’s special weapons program] and Colonel Saddam Kamel al-Majid, defected to Jordan in August 1995, the Government reportedly arrested scores of midlevel military and civilian officials for their association with the defectors.

The two sons-in-law of President Saddam Hussein, Hussein Kamel and Saddam Kamel, were brutally murdered on 23 February 1996, just three days after they had returned to Iraq apparently believing the President's promise of pardon for their defection to Jordan in August 1995. Shortly after entering Iraq, the two and over 40 relatives, including women and children, were killed in whatthe official Iraqi press described as the spontaneous administration of tribal justice. Other members of the al-Majid clan were also arrested or disappeared.

A large number of military officers were arrested at the end of June 1996 on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the regime. Some 400 officers of various ranks were executed, including some senior Republican Guard officers, notably Brigadier General Ata Samaw'al who is said to have been the commander of the Special Communications Unit attached to the Office of the President. These executions were ordered directly by Saddam Hussein and supervised by his eldest son, Uday.

Iraqi troops executed 96 members of an Iraqi opposition group, the Iraqi National Congress (INC), in the Koshtape suburb of Arbil after capturing them on 31 August 1996. Following the withdrawal of Iraqi military troops from Arbil on 2 September 1996, members of the Iraqi intelligence forces stayed behind in the city where they rounded up suspected Iraqi opposition activists. In retaliation, US forces attacked southern Iraq with cruise missiles and expanded the southern flight-exclusion zone in Iraq from the 32nd to the 33rd parallel.

Mass arrests and many executions followed the attempted assassination of the President's eldest son, Uday Hussein, on 12 December 1996. Arrests and detentions without judicial orders numbered in the thousands cutting across all military forces and security services, the Baath Party, tribal leaders close to the President, and even extending to within the President's immediate family.

The security apparatus is responsible for maintaining an all-pervasive order of repression and oppression which is sustained by broad-based discrimination and widespread terror, including summary and arbitrary executions; the widespread routine practice of systematic torture; enforced or involuntary disappearances; suppression of freedom of thought, expression and association; and routinely practised arbitrary arrests and detention. Arbitrary arrest and detention remain widespread throughout the country, with people still being taken directly from their homes. Upon arrest, gross mistreatment and cruel torture occur. Tens of thousands of political killings and disappearances remain unresolved from previous years. As socioeconomic conditions have deteriorated, the regime has punished persons accused of economic crimes, military desertion, and a variety of other charges with torture and cruel and inhuman penalties, including the extensive use of amputation.