Maybe I can help you out from a humanitarian perspective:
***Saddam Hussein's Repression of the Iraqi People***
UNSCR 688 (April 5, 1991) "condemns" Saddam Hussein's repression
of the Iraqi civilian population -- "the consequences of which
threaten international peace and security." UNSCR 688 also
requires Saddam Hussein to end his repression of the Iraqi
people and to allow immediate access to international
humanitarian organizations to help those in need of assistance.
Saddam Hussein has repeatedly violated these provisions and has:
expanded his violence against women and children; continued his
horrific torture and execution of innocent Iraqis; continued to
violate the basic human rights of the Iraqi people and has
continued to control all sources of information (including
killing more than 500 journalists and other opinion leaders in
the past decade). Saddam Hussein has also harassed humanitarian
aid workers; expanded his crimes against Muslims; he has
withheld food from families that fail to offer their children to
his regime; and he has continued to subject Iraqis to unfair
imprisonment.
*Refusal to Admit Human Rights Monitors*
The UN Commission on Human Rights and the UN General Assembly
issued a report that noted "with dismay" the lack of improvement
in the situation of human rights in Iraq. The report strongly
criticized the "systematic, widespread, and extremely grave
violations of human rights" and of international humanitarian
law by the Iraqi Government, which it stated resulted in "all-
pervasive repression and oppression sustained by broad-based
discrimination and widespread terror." The report called on the
Iraqi Government to fulfill its obligations under international
human rights treaties.
Saddam Hussein has repeatedly refused visits by human rights
monitors and the establishment of independent human rights
organizations. From 1992 until 2002, Saddam prevented the UN
Special Rapporteur from visiting Iraq.
In September 2001 the Government expelled six UN humanitarian
relief workers without providing any explanation.
*Violence Against Women*
Human rights organizations and opposition groups continued to
receive reports of women who suffered from severe psychological
trauma after being raped by Iraqi personnel while in custody.
Former Mukhabarat member Khalid Al-Janabi reported that a
Mukhabarat unit, the Technical Operations Directorate, used rape
and sexual assault in a systematic and institutionalized manner
for political purposes. The unit reportedly also videotaped the
rape of female relatives of suspected oppositionists and used
the videotapes for blackmail purposes and to ensure their future
cooperation.
In June 2000, a former Iraqi general reportedly received a
videotape of security forces raping a female family member. He
subsequently received a telephone call from an intelligence
agent who stated that another female relative was being held and
warned him to stop speaking out against the Iraqi Government.
Iraqi security forces allegedly raped women who were captured
during the Anfal Campaign and during the occupation of Kuwait.
Amnesty International reported that, in October 2000, the Iraqi
Government executed dozens of women accused of prostitution.
In May, the Iraqi Government reportedly tortured to death the
mother of three Iraqi defectors for her children's opposition
activities.
Iraqi security agents reportedly decapitated numerous women and
men in front of their family members. According to Amnesty
International, the victims' heads were displayed in front of
their homes for several days.
*Torture*
Iraqi security services routinely and systematically torture
detainees. According to former prisoners, torture techniques
included branding, electric shocks administered to the genitals
and other areas, beating, pulling out of fingernails, burning
with hot irons and blowtorches, suspension from rotating ceiling
fans, dripping acid on the skin, rape, breaking of limbs, denial
of food and water, extended solitary confinement in dark and
extremely small compartments, and threats to rape or otherwise
harm family members and relatives. Evidence of such torture
often was apparent when security forces returned the mutilated
bodies of torture victims to their families.
According to a report received by the UN Special Rapporteur in
1998, hundreds of Kurds and other detainees have been held
without charge for close to two decades in extremely harsh
conditions, and many of them have been used as subjects in
Iraq's illegal experimental chemical and biological weapons
programs.
In 2000, the authorities reportedly introduced tongue amputation
as a punishment for persons who criticize Saddam Hussein or his
family, and on July 17, government authorities reportedly
amputated the tongue of a person who allegedly criticized Saddam
Hussein. Authorities reportedly performed the amputation in
front of a large crowd. Similar tongue amputations also
reportedly occurred.
Refugees fleeing to Europe often reported instances of torture
to receiving governments, and displayed scars and mutilations to
substantiate their claims.
In August 2001 Amnesty International released a report entitled
Iraq -- Systematic Torture of Political Prisoners, which
detailed the systematic and routine use of torture against
suspected political opponents and, occasionally, other
prisoners. Amnesty International also reports "Detainees have
also been threatened with bringing in a female relative,
especially the wife or the mother, and raping her in front of
the detainee. Some of these threats have been carried out."
Saad Keis Naoman, an Iraqi soccer player who defected to Europe,
reported that he and his teammates were beaten and humiliated at
the order of Uday Saddam Hussein for poor performances. He was
flogged until his back was bloody, forcing him to sleep on his
stomach in the tiny cell in Al-Radwaniya prison.
*Executions and Repression of Political Opposition*
Former UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur Max Van der Stoel's
report in April 1998 stated that Iraq had executed at least
1,500 people during the previous year for political reasons.
The government continues to execute summarily alleged political
opponents and leaders in the Shi'a religious community. Reports
suggest that persons were executed merely because of their
association with an opposition group or as part of a continuing
effort to reduce prison populations.
In February 2001, the Government reportedly executed 37
political detainees for opposition activity.
In June 2001, security forces killed a Shi'a cleric, Hussein
Bahar al-Uloom, for refusing to appear on television to
congratulate Qusay Saddam Hussein for his election to a Ba'th
Party position. Such killings continue an apparent government
policy of eliminating prominent Shi'a clerics who are suspected
of disloyalty to the government. In 1998 and 1999, the
Government killed a number of leading Shi'a clerics, prompting
the former Special Rapporteur in 1999 to express his concern to
the government that the killings might be part of a systematic
attack by government officials on the independent leadership of
the Shi'a Muslim community. The government did not respond to
the Special Rapporteur's letter.
There are persistent reports that families are made to pay for
the cost of executions.
Saddam Hussein destroyed the southern Iraqi town of Albu 'Aysh
sometime between September 1998 and December 1999.
Iraq has conducted a systematic "Arabization" campaign of ethnic
cleansing designed to harass and expel ethnic Kurds and Turkmen
from government-controlled areas. Non-Arab citizens are forced
to change their ethnicity or their identity documents and adopt
Arab names, or they are deprived of their homes, property and
food-ration cards, and expelled.
*Saddam Hussein's Abuse of Children*
Saddam Hussein has held 3-week training courses in weapons use,
hand-to-hand fighting, rappelling from helicopters, and infantry
tactics for children between 10 and 15 years of age. Camps for
these "Saddam Cubs" operated throughout the country. Senior
military officers who supervised the courses noted that the
children held up under the "physical and psychological strain"
of training that lasted for as long as 14 hours each day.
Sources in the opposition report that the army found it
difficult to recruit enough children to fill all of the
vacancies in the program. Families reportedly were threatened
with the loss of their food ration cards if they refused to
enroll their children in the course. The Supreme Council for the
Islamic Revolution in Iraq reported in October 1999 that
authorities were denying food ration cards to families that
failed to send their young sons to Saddam Cubs compulsory
weapons-training camps. Similarly, authorities reportedly
withheld school examination results to students unless they
registered in the Fedayeen Saddam organization.
Iraq often announces food ration cuts for the general
population, blaming US or UK actions. Among the most
controversial have been cuts in baby milk rations. Iraq has
blamed the shortages on US and UK contract rejections, although
the UN has approved all baby milk contracts submitted.
Child labor persists and there are instances of forced labor.
There are widespread reports that food and medicine that could
have been made available to the general public, including
children, have been stockpiled in warehouses or diverted for the
personal use of some government officials.
*Disappearances*
Amnesty International reported that Iraq has the world's worst
record for numbers of persons who have disappeared or remain
unaccounted for.
In 1999, the UN Special Rapporteur stated that Iraq remains the
country with the highest number of disappearances known to the
UN: over 16,000.
*Basic Freedoms: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press,
Freedom of Information*
In practice, Saddam Hussein does not permit freedom of speech or
of the press, and does not tolerate political dissent in areas
under its control. In November 2000, the UN General Assembly
criticized Saddam Hussein's "suppression of freedom of thought,
expression, information, association, and assembly." The Special
Rapporteur stated in October 1999 that citizens lived "in a
climate of fear," in which whatever they said or did,
particularly in the area of politics, involved "the risk of
arrest and interrogation by the police or military
intelligence." He noted that "the mere suggestion that someone
is not a supporter of the President carries the prospect of the
death penalty."
In June 2001, the Human Rights Alliance reported that Saddam
Hussein had killed more than 500 journalists and other
intellectuals in the past decade.
Saddam Hussein frequently infringes on citizens' constitutional
right to privacy. Saddam routinely ignores constitutional
provisions designed to protect the confidentiality of mail,
telegraphic correspondence, and telephone conversations. Iraq
periodically jams news broadcasts from outside the country,
including those of opposition groups. The security services and
the Ba'th Party maintain pervasive networks of informers to
deter dissident activity and instill fear in the public.
Foreign journalists must work from offices located within the
Iraqi ministry building and are accompanied everywhere they go
by ministry officers, who reportedly restrict their movements
and make it impossible for them to interact freely with citizens.
The Iraqi Government, the Ba'th Party, or persons close to
Saddam Hussein own all print and broadcast media, and operate
them as propaganda outlets. They generally do not report
opposing points of view that are expressed either domestically
or abroad.
In September 1999, Hashem Hasan, a journalist and Baghdad
University professor, was arrested after declining an
appointment as editor of one of Uday Hussein's publications. The
Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) sent a letter of
appeal to Uday Hussein; however, Hassan's fate and whereabouts
remained unknown at year's end.
Saddam Hussein regularly jams foreign news broadcasts. Satellite
dishes, modems, and fax machines are banned, although some
restrictions reportedly were lifted in 1999.
In government-operated Internet cafes, users only are permitted
to view web sites provided by the Ministry of Culture and
Information.
In 1999, Uday Hussein reportedly dismissed hundreds of members
of the Iraqi Union of Journalists for not praising Saddam
Hussein and the Government sufficiently.
*Withholding of Food*
Relatives who do not report deserters may lose their ration
cards for purchasing government-controlled food supplies, be
evicted from their residences, or face the arrest of other
family members. The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution
in Iraq reported in October and December 1999 that authorities
denied food ration cards to families that failed to send their
young sons to the "Saddam's Cubs" compulsory weapons training
camps.
*Crimes Against Muslims*
The Government consistently politicizes and interferes with
religious pilgrimages, both of Iraqi Muslims who wish to make
the Hajj to Mecca and Medina and of Iraqi and non-Iraqi Muslim
pilgrims who travel to holy sites within the country. For
example, in 1998 the UN Sanctions Committee offered to disburse
vouchers for travel and expenses to pilgrims making the Hajj;
however, the Government rejected this offer. In 1999 the
Sanctions Committee offered to disburse funds to cover Hajj-
related expenses via a neutral third party; the Government again
rejected the offer. Following the December 1999 passage of UN
Security Council Resolution 1284, the Sanctions Committee again
sought to devise a protocol to facilitate the payment for
individuals making the journey. The Sanctions Committee proposed
to issue $250 in cash and $1,750 in travelers checks to each
individual pilgrim to be distributed at the U.N. office in
Baghdad in the presence of both U.N. and Iraqi officials. The
Government again declined and, consequently, no Iraqi pilgrims
were able to take advantage of the available funds or, in 2000,
of the permitted flights. The Government continued to insist
that these funds would be accepted only if they were paid in
cash to the government-controlled central bank, not to the Hajj
pilgrims.
More than 95 percent of the population of Iraq are Muslim. The
(predominantly Arab) Shi'a Muslims constitute a 60 to 65 percent
majority:
The Iraqi government has for decades conducted a brutal campaign
of murder, summary execution, and protracted arbitrary arrest
against the religious leaders and followers of the majority
Shi'a Muslim population. Despite nominal legal protection of
religious equality, the Government has repressed severely the
Shi'a clergy and those who follow the Shi'a faith.
Forces from the Mukhabarat, General Security (Amn Al-Amm), the
Military Bureau, Saddam's Commandos (Fedayeen Saddam), and the
Ba'th Party have killed senior Shi'a clerics, desecrated Shi'a
mosques and holy sites, and interfered with Shi'a religious
education. Security agents reportedly are stationed at all the
major Shi'a mosques and shrines, where they search, harass, and
arbitrarily arrest worshipers.
The following government restrictions on religious rights
remained in effect during 2001: restrictions and outright bans
on communal Friday prayer by Shi'a Muslims; restrictions on the
loaning of books by Shi'a mosque libraries; a ban on the
broadcast of Shi'a programs on government-controlled radio or
television; a ban on the publication of Shi'a books, including
prayer books and guides; a ban on funeral processions other than
those organized by the Government; a ban on other Shi'a funeral
observances such as gatherings for Koran reading; and the
prohibition of certain processions and public meetings that
commemorate Shi'a holy days. Shi'a groups report that they
captured documents from the security services during the 1991
uprising that listed thousands of forbidden Shi'a religious
writings.
In June 1999, several Shi'a opposition groups reported that the
Government instituted a program in the predominantly Shi'a
districts of Baghdad that used food ration cards to restrict
where individuals could pray. The ration cards, part of the UN
oil-for-food program, reportedly are checked when the bearer
enters a mosque and are printed with a notice of severe
penalties for those who attempt to pray at an unauthorized
location.
