05 April 2003
White House Report Calls Baghdad Regime Greatest Threat to Iraqis
("Life Under Saddam" describes repression, atrocities) (1160)
For the past two decades, the regime of Saddam Hussein has been the
greatest threat to the Iraqi people, according to a new report
released on April 4 by the White House.
The document, titled "Life Under Saddam Hussein: Past Repression and
Atrocities by Saddam Hussein's Regime," documents the many hundreds of
thousands of people -- the vast majority of them Muslims -- who have
been terrorized, raped, tortured and murdered by the regime for more
than 20 years.
"When Iraq is free, past crimes against humanity and war crimes
committed against Iraqis, will be accounted for, in a post-conflict
Iraqi-led process," the report promises. "The United States, members
of the coalition and international community will work with the Iraqi
people to build a strong and credible judicial process to address
these abuses."
"Life Under Saddam Hussein" cites the findings of major international
human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, Human
Rights Watch, and Refugees International, to document the systematic
use of torture, illegal imprisonment, and execution of Iraqis, as well
as chemical attacks with mustard gas and nerve agents on Iranians and
on Iraq's own citizens.
Since the current military campaign began, the report notes, coalition
forces have found military warehouses full of food, purchased under
the U.N. Oil-For-Food Program for civilian use, that has been diverted
to the military.
Among the report's findings:
-- The terror campaign against the Kurds in northern Iraq killed
between 50,000 and 100,000 people and destroyed more than 2,000
villages and towns.
-- Iraqi officials themselves have privately acknowledged that the
regime slaughtered as many as 200,000 Shi'a during the 1991 uprisings
against the regime following the Gulf War.
-- Estimates that the regime's policies have resulted in the internal
displacement of as many as 900,000 people, encompassing virtually
every ethnic and religious group in the country -- Shi'a, Kurds,
Assyrians, Turkomans, and the southern marsh peoples.
-- The deaths of as many as 400,000 children due to malnutrition and
disease directly attributable to the regime's neglect and brutality.
-- Systematic and mass executions of prisoners, and the beheading of
at least 130 women.
Following is the text of the April 4 White House report, "Life Under
Saddam Hussein: Past Repression and Atrocities by Saddam Hussein's
Regime":
(begin text)
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
April 4, 2003
Life Under Saddam Hussein
Past Repression and Atrocities by Saddam Hussein's Regime
For over 20 years, the greatest threat to Iraqis has been Saddam
Hussein's regime -- he has killed, tortured, raped and terrorized the
Iraqi people and his neighbors for over two decades.
When Iraq is free, past crimes against humanity and war crimes
committed against Iraqis, will be accounted for, in a post-conflict
Iraqi-led process. The United States, members of the coalition and
international community will work with the Iraqi people to build a
strong and credible judicial process to address these abuses.
Under Saddam's regime many hundreds of thousands of people have died
as a result of his actions -- the vast majority of them Muslims.
According to a 2001 Amnesty International report, "victims of torture
in Iraq are subjected to a wide range of forms of torture, including
the gouging out of eyes, severe beatings and electric shocks ... some
victims have died as a result and many have been left with permanent
physical and psychological damage." Saddam has had approximately 40 of
his own relatives murdered.
Allegations of prostitution used to intimidate opponents of the
regime, have been used by the regime to justify the barbaric beheading
of women. Documented chemical attacks by the regime, from 1983 to
1988, resulted in some 30,000 Iraqi and Iranian deaths.
Human Rights Watch estimates that Saddam's 1987-1988 campaign of
terror against the Kurds killed at least 50,000 and possibly as many
as 100,000 Kurds.
-- The Iraqi regime used chemical agents to include mustard gas and
nerve agents in attacks against at least 40 Kurdish villages between
1987-1988. The largest was the attack on Halabja which resulted in
approximately 5,000 deaths.
-- 2,000 Kurdish villages were destroyed during the campaign of
terror.
Iraq's 13 million Shi'a Muslims, the majority of Iraq's population of
approximately 22 million, face severe restrictions on their religious
practice, including a ban on communal Friday prayer, and restriction
on funeral processions.
According to Human Rights Watch, "senior Arab diplomats told the
London-based Arabic daily newspaper al-Hayat in October [1991] that
Iraqi leaders were privately acknowledging that 250,000 people were
killed during the uprisings, with most of the casualties in the
south."
Refugees International reports that the "Oppressive government
policies have led to the internal displacement of 900,000 Iraqis,
primarily Kurds who have fled to the north to escape Saddam Hussein's
Arabization campaigns (which involve forcing Kurds to renounce their
Kurdish identity or lose their property) and Marsh Arabs, who fled the
government's campaign to dry up the southern marshes for agricultural
use. More than 200,000 Iraqis continue to live as refugees in Iran."
The U.S. Committee for Refugees, in 2002, estimated that nearly
100,000 Kurds, Assyrians and Turkomans had previously been expelled,
by the regime, from the "central-government-controlled Kirkuk and
surrounding districts in the oil-rich region bordering the Kurdish
controlled north."
"Over the past five years, 400,000 Iraqi children under the age of
five died of malnutrition and disease, preventively, but died because
of the nature of the regime under which they are living." (Prime
Minister Tony Blair, March 27, 2003)
-- Under the oil-for-food program, the international community sought
to make available to the Iraqi people adequate supplies of food and
medicine, but the regime blocked sufficient access for international
workers to ensure proper distribution of these supplies.
-- Since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, coalition forces
have discovered military warehouses filled with food supplies meant
for the Iraqi people that had been diverted by Iraqi military forces.
The Iraqi regime has repeatedly refused visits by human rights
monitors. From 1992 until 2002, Saddam prevented the U.N. Special
Rapporteur from visiting Iraq. The U.N. Special Rapporteur's September
2001, report criticized the regime for "the sheer number of
executions," the number of "extrajudicial executions on political
grounds," and "the absence of a due process of the law."
Executions: Saddam Hussein's regime has carried out frequent summary
executions, including:
-- 4,000 prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in 1984,
-- 3,000 prisoners at the Mahjar prison from 1993-1998,
-- 2,500 prisoners were executed between 1997-1999 in a "prison
cleansing campaign,"
-- 122 political prisoners were executed at Abu Ghraib prison in
February/March 2000,
-- 23 political prisoners were executed at Abu Ghraib prison in
October 2001,
-- At least 130 Iraqi women were beheaded between June 2000 and April
2001.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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