-Caveat Lector- ---------------------- ------- ----------------------------- "Well, I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it"
Elwood P Dowd NEURONAUTIC INSTITUTE on-line: http://home.earthlink.net/~thew ------ Forwarded Message > From: mj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 11:24:08 -0500 > Subject: Britain supplied Iraq torture weapons / Sanitizing the news > > "the nyt is a liberal paper,the nyt is a liberal paper",no matter how > many times you say the LIE it still ain't true......... > > >> A wonderful example of the way news is sanitized for the tender eyes >> of US >> readers. >> >> 2 articles about the SAME press conference where the UK govt. released >> it's >> "dossier" of "Iraq's unique horror" in the UK's continuing attempts to >> rally forces against Iraq. The story in the British newspaper, The >> Telegraph, talks of the way this press conference turned into a public >> relations disaster when the star witness, an Iraqi scientist who had >> been >> tortured by Saddam Hussein, started talking of Britain having supplied >> the >> torture instruments. >> >> Next, I have the NYT on the same story. Here, we only find out about >> Iraq's >> torture. NOT A WORD about the embarrassing details regarding British >> complicity. The NYT even manages to quote the same Iraqi scientist >> without >> giving a single hint about the British help in the torture. >> >> ******************************************************* >> Britain accused of providing Saddam torture instruments >> By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 03/12/2002) >> The Telegraph, UK: Dec 03 / 2002 >> >> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ >> main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2002%2F12%2F03%2Fnirq03.xml >> >> The Government's attempt to present Iraq as a uniquely evil regime >> turned >> into a public relations flop yesterday when the Iraqi dissident chosen >> to >> present it denounced the threat of war with Saddam Hussein and said >> Baghdad >> officials used British-made equipment as instruments of torture. >> >> Amnesty International accused the Government of turning a blind eye to >> human rights abuses elsewhere in the world and seizing on the horrors >> in >> Iraq for political reasons. >> >> Hussain al-Shahristani, a former nuclear scientist who was tortured and >> jailed for 11 years for refusing to work on Saddam's secret nuclear >> programme, said: "When I was in jail I was held with British-made >> handcuffs. In the cells next door, I could hear the screams of people >> who >> were having holes drilled into their bones. Those drills were made in >> Britain." >> >> The Foreign Office's 23-page report is drawn mainly from open sources, >> such >> as reports by Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, with a sprinkling of >> newer >> information from the Government. >> >> Officials said that, despite the horrors it catalogues, no decision had >> been taken on whether to create a Yugoslavia-style war crimes tribunal >> for >> Iraqi atrocities. >> >> "This selective attention to human rights is nothing but a cold and >> calculated manipulation of the work of human rights activists," said >> Irene >> Khan, Amnesty's secretary general. >> >> "Let us not forget that these same governments turned a blind eye to >> Amnesty's reports of widespread human rights violations in Iraq before >> the >> Gulf war." >> >> At a briefing for journalists, the Foreign Office projected a video >> montage >> depicting Iraqi detainees being beaten and executed, and of the >> aftermath >> of the Iraqi gas attack on the Kurdish village of Halabja in 1988. >> >> Mr al-Shahristani quickly strayed from the script. He nodded >> approvingly >> when Foreign Office officials were confronted with a barrage of >> questions >> about Britain's silence at the time of the Halabja massacre, its >> support >> for Iraq in the 1980s and accusations that the Government was trying to >> build a case for war. >> >> He rejected the idea of another conflict: "I am extremely concerned >> about >> the consequences of this intervention on the Iraqi people. >> >> "I am particularly concerned that weapons of mass destruction could be >> used >> again by the Iraqi regime against the people if there should be any >> opposition or uprising." He added: "The Iraqi people could pay the >> price of >> this war, as they have paid the price of sanctions and all the >> previous wars." >> >> The Government dossier lists several methods of torture, including eye >> gouging, piercing of hands with electric drills, suspension from the >> ceiling, electric shock, sexual abuse, beating the soles of the feet, >> mock >> executions and acid baths. The report says: "Fear is Saddam's chosen >> method >> for staying in power." >> >> Some of the cases highlighted include: >> >> A husband and wife were tortured separately about the sale of a car >> which, investigators claimed, had been seized during a raid on Iraqi >> opposition activists. The woman was stripped, burnt with a lit >> cigarette >> and beaten while her children were forced to watch. Her husband's arms >> were >> tied behind his back and he was suspended from a hook. Later, he was >> shot >> at with a pistol and his feet and hands were mutilated with gunshots. >> Eventually the family paid a bribe and the couple was released and >> managed >> to flee the country. >> >> Saddam's son, Uday, maintains "a private torture chamber" in >> Baghdad, and >> "personally executed dissidents in Basra" during the 1991 uprising. He >> also >> "ordered the national football team to be caned on the soles of their >> feet >> after losing a World Cup qualifying match". >> >> Women are routinely beheaded on charges of prostitution. The identity >> card of one Iraqi militiaman, Aziz Salih Ahmed, is reproduced and >> describes >> his occupation as "violation of women's honour", that is, a >> professional >> rapist. >> >> Horrendous prison conditions, such as the "Casket Prison" in Baghdad, >> where "prisoners are kept in rows of steel boxes, as found in >> mortuaries, >> until they either confess to their crimes or die. There are around >> 100-150 >> boxes, which are opened for half an hour a day to allow the prisoners >> some >> light and air". >> >> A commander's letter chastising a subordinate, saying: "There is no >> objection to cutting off the heads of traitors. But it would have been >> preferable had you also sent them to security for the purpose of >> interrogating them." >> >> A decree passed in 2000 allowing the amputation of the tongue as a >> penalty for insulting the president or his family. >> >> :********************************************************************** >> ********************** >> Britain Issues File on Iraq's 'Unique Horror' >> By WARREN HOGE >> NYT: December 3, 2002 >> http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/03/international/europe/03BRIT.html >> >> LONDON, Dec. 2 Britain released a dossier of evidence today arguing >> that >> systematic rape, torture, gassing, public beheadings and mass >> executions of >> Iraqis by Saddam Hussein were the deliberate policy of his "regime of >> unique horror." >> >> Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the document, which the government >> said >> was based on intelligence material, victims' first-hand accounts and >> reports by nongovernmental organizations, set out a powerful human >> rights >> case in addition to the international security argument for disarming >> Mr. >> Hussein. >> >> "We not only help those countries in the region which are subject to >> Iraqi >> threats and intimidations," Mr. Straw said. "We also deprive Saddam of >> his >> most powerful tools for keeping the Iraqi people living in fear and >> subjugation." >> >> Some rights groups and antiwar politicians expressed fears that the >> government had other motives than protesting human rights abuses for >> releasing the file. >> >> "I think that this highly unusual, indeed unprecedented, publication is >> cranking up for war," said Tam Dalyell of Labor, the longest-serving >> member >> of Parliament and a persistent critic of current policy toward Iraq. >> >> Amnesty International accused Mr. Straw of a "cold and calculated >> manipulation" of the human rights situation in Iraq to back up the >> American >> and British governments' case for military moves against Baghdad. >> >> "Let us not forget that these same governments turned a blind eye to >> Amnesty International's reports of widespread human rights violations >> in >> Iraq before the gulf war," said the secretary general of the group, >> Irene Khan. >> >> A senior official, speaking under the Foreign Office practice of >> anonymity, >> said the bulk of the report was from reports by academic and human >> rights >> groups about incidents in the 1980's and 90's. >> >> The release is the third time since the Sept. 11 attacks that Britain >> has >> come forth with compilations of published reports and intelligence >> findings >> to bolster tough joint American and British positions against terror >> and Iraq. >> >> Mr. Straw made the dossier public at a breakfast meeting of the >> Atlantic >> Partnership, a group that aims to improve relations between Europe and >> North America. >> >> Mr. Straw told the breakfast gathering that the aim of the disclosures >> was >> "to remind the world that the abuses of the Iraqi regime extend far >> beyond >> its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction in violation of its >> international obligations." >> >> The document listed what it said were Mr. Hussein's favored methods of >> torture. They included eye gouging; piercing hands with an electric >> drill, >> stubbing out cigarettes on skin, mock execution, suspension from >> ceilings, >> electric shocks to the genitals, rape, finger- and toenail extraction, >> beating the soles of the feet and acid baths. >> >> The report said that since mid-2000 the punishment for slandering or >> making >> abusive comments about the president or his family has been amputating >> the >> tongue. "Iraqi television has broadcast pictures of these punishments >> as a >> warning for others," the file said. >> >> A copy of a government personnel card in the report, credited to the >> Iraq >> Research and Documentation Project at Harvard, described a state >> employee, >> Aziz Salih Ahmed, as a "fighter in the popular army." The report said >> his >> assigned "activity" was "violation of women's honor." >> >> A graphic video that supplemented the 23-page document was played at a >> Foreign Office briefing and made available to television stations. It >> showed government opponents being kicked and beaten after an uprising >> in >> 1991 and the bodies of women and children after a chemical weapons >> attack >> in 1998 on Halabja, a Kurdish town in northern Iraq. >> >> The senior official denied that the purpose of the presentation was to >> rally support for possible military moves against Iraq. >> >> "This dossier itself is not attempting to provide a justification for >> military action," he said. >> >> The former head of the Iraqi nuclear energy agency, Dr. Hussain >> al-Shahristani was at the briefing to relate his experiences of being >> imprisoned and tortured in Iraq. Like Amnesty International, Dr. >> Hussain >> noted that the British and American governments had not been so >> concerned >> about human rights in Iraq in the past. "However," he said, "later is >> better than never." >> >> Dr. Hussain escaped Iraq in 1991 after 12 years in jail, 11 of them in >> solitary confinement, for his refusal to be involved in the nuclear >> program >> after it was diverted in 1979 to weapons development. He said he >> doubted >> that the current inspections would succeed in turning up weapons of >> mass >> destruction. >> >> "Saddam is the master at hiding, concealing and moving around >> weapons," he >> said. >> >> Dr. H >> >> >> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to >> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ >> >> >> > "The ultimate measure of a person is not > where s/he stands in moments of comfort > and convenience, but where s/he stands > at times of challenge and controversy." > > Martin Luther King Jr. > > ------ End of Forwarded Message <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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