http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/iraq/crimestext3.htm
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Since some of you wish to defend Saddam... (some pictures were too graphic to post here -- real photos not comics) from US government links.
Saddam's Brutality Against the Iraqi People
Saddam Hussein's Anfal Campaign in the 1980s against the predominantly Kurdish civilians in northern Iraq was characterized by gross violations of human rights. It included the worst ever chemical weapons attack against a civilian population, mass summary executions, disappearances, arbitrary jailing and warehousing, forced displacement, and destruction of some 2,000 villages (4,000 destroyed since 1975), including schools, mosques, farms, and power stations. The campaign resulted in the death of at least 50,000 to 100,000 Iraqi Kurds, according to Human Rights Watch reports. During the 1991 Iraqi repression of the post-Gulf war Kurdish insurrection, thousands of Iraqi Kurds died, 500,000 became refugees along northern Iraq's "no-fly zone" bordering Turkey, and 1.2 to 1.4 million other refugees fled to Iran.
Saddam Hussein launched about 40 gas attacks against Iraqi Kurdish villages and targets in 1987-88 with thousands killed, including the largest attack in March 1988 on Halabjah, a Kurdish town of 45,000 in northern Iraq, causing 3,500 to 5,000 deaths, according to Human Rights Watch. Chemical agents used were a "cocktail" of Mustard gas (which affects skin, eyes, and the membranes of the nose, throat, and lungs), and the nerve gases Sarin, Tabun, and VX.
Gas bombing of the town of Halabjah in 1988, seen from a distance.
An excerpt of a quarterly report (shown below) indicates Iraqi aircraft bombed the headquarters of the "sabotage bands" (Iraqi code word for Kurdish resistance) in Iraq's Kurdish villages of Sayw Sanan (Saywan) and Balakajar in a chemical strike on 22 March 1988, killing 50 and wounding 20 others. This Iraqi state document contains the first official direct reference to a chemical attack carried out by Iraqi forces. http://usembassy.state.gov/tokyo/wwwhse0040.html
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Pentagon Briefing
September 30, 2002
Saddam's No-Fly Zone Attacks
Saddam Continues to Fire on American & British Pilots in Iraq's No-Fly Zones
O To protect Iraqi Kurds and Shi'a Muslims from Saddam's chemical attacks, executions and forced relocations -- and to conduct aerial surveillance in accordance with U.N. resolutions banning Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction -- American and British forces under U.S. command began Operation Southern Watch in 1992 and Operation Northern Watch in 1997. Forces patrolling the northern and southern no-fly zones include:
E 45 aircraft and 1,400 personnel (Northern Watch)
E 150 aircraft and 6,000 personnel (Southern Watch)
O Almost as soon as the no-fly zones were created, pilots enforcing them came under attack from Iraqi missiles and artillery.
O Since 2000, Iraqi forces have fired on U.S. and British pilots 1,600 times.
O In 2002, Iraqi forces have fired on U.S. and British pilots 406 times.
Despite Saddam's recent pledge to abide by U.N. resolutions -- which he immediately reversed -- Iraq continues to attack no-fly zone pilots.
O American and British pilots have been fired on 67 times since September 18, just hours after Saddam promised to "allow the return of the United Nations inspectors without conditions" and expressed his desire "to remove any doubts that Iraq still possesses weapons of mass destruction."
O Iraq continues to express contempt for U.N. resolutions calling for the dismantling of its weapons of mass destruction, and Saddam demonstrates considerable cleverness at playing the international community and the world's media -- when it's useful to lean forward, they do so. When they can get away with it, they lean back.
O The U.S. is interested in Saddam's compliance with the U.N. resolutions and Iraq's disarmament. The President has challenged the U.N. to enforce its resolutions. It is an important moment for the credibility of the United Nations.
For a transcript of Secretary Rumsfeld's no-fly zone briefing & accompanying images, please go to: www.defendamerica.mil or www.defenselink.mil
