Iraq row over fate of seized scientists

[Judi Lynn]

Iraq row over fate of seized scientists

Red Cross urges US to clarify status of three dozen prisoners held in unknown conditions near Baghdad

Jonathan Steele in Baghdad
Sunday July 20, 2003
The Observer

American efforts at finding top Iraqi scientists who can attest to Saddam Hussein hiding weapons of mass destruction have turned out to be as fruitless as the search for the weapons themselves.
The continued detention of leading Iraqi scientists and other officials by US forces is swiftly turning into a major human rights row.

Washington officials hoped that, with Saddam's removal, the people who had intimate knowledge of Iraq's secret arms industry would give a different story from the denials given while he still held sway.

But as pressure intensifies on President George Bush and Tony Blair to prove Iraq had WMD, the inability to produce a single scientist from the former regime to confirm the assertions about an alleged threat is becoming an embarrassment. (snip)

(snip) The International Committee of the Red Cross, with an internationally recognised mandate to inspect detention centres around the world, has been urging the US to clarify the status of the three dozen Iraqi scientists and officials it holds. The authorities have given no details of their whereabouts and, unlike Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay, the place where they are held has not been shown to journalists.

Some detainees are believed to be imprisoned in solitary cells or in swelteringly hot tents near the vast US base at Baghdad airport.
(snip/...)

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1001673,00.html

[w13rd0]

1. I'm sure torturing them...

...until they tell us what we want to hear is going to do SO MUCH to improve our security.

"YES! YES! WE HAD A WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION PROGRAM, BUT MY DOG ATE ALL THE RESEARCH, NOW PLEASE REMOVE THE RUSTY NAIL FROM MY SCROTUM!!!"

Post-war justification. Ain't it grand. Look! Look! Evidence of a weapons of mass destruction program (from 1989), oh, wait, look, REAMS and REAMS of documents. You just can't deny how imminent this threat was! If inspections would have found no evidence of actual weapons, the UN might have been pressured to lift sanctions, and THEN, Saddam would build a nuke in like 45 minutes and kaboomy, he woulda killed us all! </sarcasm>

[IndianaGreen]

9. Torture was taught in Fort Benning to Latin American officers

And torture has become acceptable MO for American troops, as the testimony of Pakistani prisoners released from Guantanamo indicates. They all claimed to have been beaten daily, and treated inhumanly.

I am sure that those beloved American troops that engage in torture and other human rights abuses, justify their actions on the basis of 9/11.

The American military actions bring shame and dishonor to the victims of 9/11!

[0007]

2. It indeed appears

that Saddam Hussein was the right man to put in power during the Iraq/Iran war. He not only ruled with an iron hand, but Saddam has outwitted this simple administration.

The intelligence sucked on 911 and WMD and on Saddam Hussein and bin Laden.

Is the CIA a self serving organization still run by poopie bush and the Carlyle thugs? I think so!

[PATRICK]

3. my main question may have been answered

What has Saddam been doing all these years? Nothing he could do could really guarantee a victory or even a modest fight, but he could survive and could undercut Bush. Apparently that ultimate revenge is working and one can only hope he really CAN'T come back to power.

[rook1]

7. Excuse me

The current head of the CIA is George Tenet. He was appointed by Bill Clinton. It is highly unlikely that he is working for the Bushies.
I see this latest snafu as way to get rid of him without causing a big stir.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

4. this is like a bad Austin Powers plot...

Stupid and evil ruler kidnaps scientists to fabricate evil raygun and control the world...

[Ernesto]

5. Sounds like

"Ming the Mercyless" from Flash Gordon.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

6. yep, that's about the level of sophistication of Smirko's imagery...

...I think that it's likely that the Smirko Regime really does think in that sort of imagery...

[ward919]

8. Why are these scientists being held? What is the charge against them?

Have they committed any crimes? Why isn't this against international law? When, in God's name, will people across the world rise up against this US totalitarian-fake democracy and bring the Bush regime to account?
When will the people of America rise up against the brutal regime that now rules it's nation and holds hostage millions of good and decent
people?