Carnal Reason

In honor of Saddam Hussien’s execution, I am running an old post:

There has been quite an outcry because some tabloids ran a photo of Saddam Hussein in his underwear. Critics bemoan the humiliation of the poor mass murderer. Color me unimpressed.

When some actress is caught topless on a remote beach, she’s fair game for press photographers. Sobbing parents at the scene of an accident? Run the tape. Saddam in his underwear? Oh, the inhumanity!

Where were these sob-sisters when it was Saddam taking the pictures? What pictures? Here’s a CNN account of one Baathist videotape:

On the tape, what appear to be Fedayeen Saddam members and Republican Guard troops are shown administering cruel punishments, including chopping off fingers, cutting off tongues, breaking a wrist with a heavy stick, and throwing people off a multi-story building.

Also depicted is a beheading by sword, which takes several attempts to complete.

At AEI.org you can download mpeg and wmv versions of Saddam produced torture videos. Here’s the accompanying description:

Much of the recent controversy surrounding Abu Ghraib has made only vague reference to the prison’s nightmarish past. Under Saddam Hussein, some thirty thousand people were executed there, and countless more were tortured and mutilated, returning to Iraqi society as visible evidence of the brutality of Baathist rule instead of being lost to the anonymity of mass graves.

Seven of these victims were Baghdadi merchants whose right hands were amputated and presented to Saddam as proof of their punishment.

US Senators watched some of Saddam’s handiwork, as here described by CBN News:

At first what you see are Saddam’s henchmen preparing to chop off a body part, presumably because of some crime against Saddam and his government.

The video continues. An Iraqi man is about to have his tongue cut off, and the pain is unbearable.

On the tape, verses from the Koran are quoted. There is a line about how this is being done in the name of Allah, and in another part, one of Saddam’s soldiers explains what is about to happen to the next victim, who is about to have his arm cut off.

Later in the tape, there is a beating that goes on for a while and then a beheading, with a mob standing around to watch.

The Washington Times describes more video, this time of Interior Minister Watban Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, Saddam’s half-brother, in action:

The video shows prisoners held in a small fenced courtyard. They at first move from side to side as blows rain down. Then, as their bodies and heads become increasingly bloodied and their flesh torn, most topple to the ground and curl up in a fetal position. As some try to stagger to their feet when blows are being inflicted on other prisoners, the police officers return, knocking them down again until many lie helplessly on their backs, motionless and apparently unconscious.

Each of two VHS tapes, in perfect color, runs continuously for about an hour. They appear to have been recorded professionally.

Ananova.com describes an account by Parisoula Lampsos, Saddam’s long-time mistress:

Ms Lampsos claims he [Saddam] enjoyed watching videos of his foes being tortured, sometimes wearing a cowboy hat for the occasion.

Posted on December 30th, 2006 by pwyll
Filed under: General