Some notable people have recently made comments that the Iraqis were better off under Saddam. It would seem some folks need to be reminded of the brutality that was daily life under the Saddam regime.
The Pentagon has released a video taken by the Saddam regime that shows the brutality of Saddam's justice. According to the translation that accompanies the video, these men were beaten for minor misdemeanors and insulting Saddam. To my knowledge, this is the first time this video has been released publicly.
The original video is lengthy with beating after beating and bodies piled on the floor. I have shortened the video to five minutes for intenet usage. The video is disturbing and viewer discretion is advised.
Here is the accompanying analysis:
Total Duration Video Tape
Start: 00:00:00 End: 00:48:05
This Video tape shows scenes of Iraqi officers torturing by beating approximately 20 individuals for ordinary misdemeanors or the cursing of Saddam Hussein. The uncounted minutes are blank. 00:00:15 – 00:11:23 the video tape displays scenes of Iraqi military individuals torturing several persons. The torturing takes place in an empty room where two officers, one of them is a Captain, receive the persons to be tortured, ask them about their charges that seemed to be related to ordinary misdemeanors, and push them into the middle of the room. Then three half naked men start hitting them with large sticks and beating them by hand until they fall to the floor. Eight persons were tortured in the room and some of them were tortured more than once.
00:11:27 – 00:21:24 the video tape displays four unconscious individuals lying on the
ground. The video then shows scenes of four half dressed men [same men as above]
hitting with sticks and punching the four above mentioned persons, in the presence of
five officers [Translator Comment (TC): three of them are Captains, one of whom was
the same Captain referred to above] and one civilian. After torturing them, the four
individuals are shown on the ground moaning. [TC: Based on unclear conversation between the officers and the civilian watching the beating of the four individuals, it seems to me that this civilian raised a claim against the four tortured men and that the officers were trying to get him satisfied by beating them]
00:21:28 – 00:25:47 the video shows scenes of four half dressed men beating a person
with sticks, in the presence of five officers and two civilians, a young man and an old
man who appears to start giving a beaten man advice after they stop beating him. While
beating him, the tortured person confesses that he is an Al-Da'wah Party member. Marks
of torture are clear on the back of the man especially at 00:24:42.
00:25:49 – 00:42:56 the video tape displays four unconscious individuals lying on the
ground. The video then shows scenes of six half naked men hitting with sticks and
punches the four above mentioned persons, in the presence of several officers. [TC: they
were possibly beaten for cursing Saddam as two of them starts praising Saddam while
being beaten]. Another three civilians were also beaten until they fall to the ground
unable to move, and seven persons were shown moaning on the ground.
Michelle Malkin has more on idiots who want to say we are no better than Saddam
Someone should also remind the Iraqis of the same!
Posted by: MQ | Sunday, October 29, 2006 at 06:14 AM