posted October 12, 2006 07:53 PM            

A witness in the trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has said her family was "buried alive" by government forces who attacked her village.

She gave evidence as the trial for alleged war crimes and genocide resumed in Baghdad after a two-week break.

It was suspended after Saddam Hussein was ejected for defying the judge's instructions to be quiet.

The seven defendants were present, but a key defence lawyer says his team will continue to boycott the trial.

The 31-year-old woman was 13 when her northern Kurdish village was raided.

Speaking from behind a curtain to conceal her identity, she said: "I know the fate of my family. They were buried alive."

Kurdish witness

Identity cards belonging to five of her sisters were found in a mass grave in Samawa, south Iraq, the court heard.

"I would like to ask Saddam a question: 'What was the guilt of women and children?" she said through a translator.

The defence says the attacks were legitimate strikes against Kurds who were siding with Iranian forces.

'Women bound'

The woman described how the Iraqi army burned her village in April 1988.

She was arrested with eight members of her family and held in prison.

She said one prison guard "used to drag women, their hands and feet shackled, and leave them in a scorching sun for several hours."

More than 100,000 Kurds are said to have died during the so-called Anfal operation in 1988.

Another witness, farmer Abdul-Hadi Abdullah Mohammed, said his pregnant wife, mother, two brothers and two sisters, and four of their children had been missing since Iraqi forces destroyed his village in 1988.

He told the court that he had learnt his mother had died in Nugrat Salman after becoming ill.

Identity cards of one sister and a brother had been found in the mass graves in Samawa.

"The fate of my family is still unknown up to now," he told the court.

Both witnesses spoke of a black dog that dug up remains of prisoners and ate them.

The judge adjourned the case until 10 October.

Claims of bias

The previous session of the current trial ended in chaos after Saddam Hussein and co-defendant, Ali Hassan al-Majid, were ejected.

The remaining five defendants rose to their feet, shouting at the judge.

The defence team of lawyers was also absent.

The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says the long break was clearly designed to calm things down and allow time for the defendants to consult their legal team.

The team met Saddam Hussein a week ago but leading defence counsel, Khalil al-Dulaimi, has said the defence will continue to boycott the trial.

The defence is protesting about the replacement of former chief judge, Abdullah al-Amiri, following accusations of bias towards the former president.

New Chief Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa has been much tougher on the defendants.

During the recess, the new judge's brother-in-law was murdered by gunmen in Baghdad.

Saddam Hussein has already been tried for the killing of 148 Shias in Dujail in 1982 and a judgement is awaited.

posted October 13, 2006 12:21 PM            

As in the past, Saddam supporters give the Butcher of Baghdad a pass, for his genocide and murders of Iraqi citizens, for his torture and rape of Iraqi citizens and for terrorizing the citizens of Iraq for about 30 years.

posted October 13, 2006 04:07 PM            

You Petron, along with others who never have a bad word to say about the Butcher of Baghdad are just blowing smoke out the wrong orifice.

posted October 13, 2006 04:57 PM              

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"a vote for saddam?? i did that too!"

Who armed Saddam?
Glen Rangwala

The US was well aware of the use of chemical weapons. The Secretary of State later acknowledged he had been aware of reports from 1983, and an expert team from the UN confirmed Iraqi chemical attacks in March 1984. Nevertheless, the US administration provided "crop-spraying" helicopters to Iraq, which were subsequently used in chemical attacks on the Kurds in 1988. It gave Iraq access to intelligence information that allowed Iraq to "calibrate" its mustard attacks on Iranian troops in 1984. It seconded its air force officers to work with their Iraqi counterparts from 1986. It approved technological exports to Iraq's missile procurement agency to extend the missiles' range in 1988, and blocked bills condemning Iraq in the House of Representatives (1985) and Senate (1988).

Most crucially, the US and UK blocked condemnation of Iraq's known chemical weapons attacks at the UN Security Council. No resolution was passed during the war that specifically criticised Iraq's use of chemical weapons, despite the wishes of the majority. The only reproach from the Security Council was in the form of non-binding Presidential statements (over which no country has a veto). A statement in March 1986 recognised that "chemical weapons on many occasions have been used by Iraqi forces against Iranian forces". This statement was opposed by the US, the only country to vote against it in the Security Council. The UK abstained.

The second major dose of Saddam Hussein's chemicals was in the Anfal campaign against the Kurds, from February to September 1988. Up to 186,000 Kurds were killed in these attacks, over 1,200 Kurdish villages were destroyed, and 300,000 Kurds were displaced. The most infamous chemical assault was on the town of Halabja in March 1988, which killed 5,000 people.

During the Anfal campaign, the US escalated its support for Iraq. It joined in Iraq's attacks on Iranian facilities, blowing up two Iranian oil rigs and destroying an Iranian frigate a month after the Halabja attack. Within two months, senior US officials were encouraging corporate coordination through an Iraqi state-sponsored forum. The US administration opposed, and eventually blocked, a US Senate bill that cut off loans to Iraq. The US approved exports to Iraq of items with dual civilian and military use at double the rate in the aftermath of Halabja as it did before 1988. Iraqi written guarantees about civilian use were accepted by the US commerce department, which did not request licenses and reviews (as it did for many other countries). The Bush Administration approved $695,000 worth of advanced data transmission devices the day before Iraq invaded Kuwait.

As for the UK, ten days after the Foreign Office verbally condemned the Halabja massacre, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry rewarded Iraq by extending £400 million worth of credits to trade with Iraq.

http://middleeastreference.org.uk/llb020916a.html

posted October 13, 2006 05:30 PM            

I don't believe I've ever heard of helicopters being used as crop dusters Petron. In the first place there's entirely too much air turbulence coming off the rotor to direct the pesticide in a controlled manner.

Are you suggesting I referred to Saddam as "my friend"?

Face it, Saddam is a sorry excuse for a human being. Attempting to keep Saddam in power is a vote for his atrocities.

posted October 13, 2006 05:50 PM              

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1983
# Shortly after removing Iraq from the terrorism sponsorship list, the Reagan administration approved the sale of 60 Hughes helicopters.[9] Later, and despite some objections from the National Security Council (NSC), the Secretaries of Commerce and State (George Baldridge and George Shultz) lobbied the NSC advisor into agreeing to the sale to Iraq of 10 Bell helicopters,[10] officially for crop spraying. See "1988" for note on Iraq using U.S. Helicopters to spray Kurds with chemical weapons.
# Later in the year the Reagan Administration secretly began to allow Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt to transfer to Iraq U.S. howitzers, helicopters, bombs and other weapons.[11] Reagan personally asked Italy’s Prime Minister Guilio Andreotti to channel arms to Iraq.[12]
http://www.casi.org.uk/info/usdocs/usiraq80s90s.html

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you do have an internet connection dont you jwhop?? or do you just think you're an expert on any given subject??......ok i'll do the work for you, again.......it only takes a couple clicks.....

***********

Pacific Helicopters
We provide a full range of industrial helicopter services, such as power line installations, fire fighting, crop spraying, remote area transport, environmental clean-up, air rescues, and much more.
http://pacifichelicoptertours.com/

Crop-spraying helicopter crashes
2005-06-10 01:42:48

A Brantford-area man is lucky to be alive after the helicopter he was flying crashed yesterday morning. http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2005/06/10/1080072-sun.html

UShelicopters
Crop spraying and dusting, frost patrol and insect eradication are well-known uses of helicopters. http://www.ushelicopters.com/pages/jobs.htm

posted October 14, 2006 02:22 PM            

quote:

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I don't believe I've ever heard of helicopters being used as crop dusters Petron

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A true statement Petron, I never had heard of helicopters being used for crop dusters or crop sprayers and for the reason I stated.

I am quite familiar with any number of fixed wing aircraft being used as crop dusters.

Just for the record Petron, a water tank truck, gas tanker or chemical tanker could also be used to dispense chemical or biological agent. I would almost bet some of those were also sold to Saddam.

The record and conclusions laid out by Nathaniel Hurd are more than a little suspect. Why is it Petron that it's always leftists who attack the United States and Israel or defend terrorists and/or support Saddam whom you choose to use for your sources?

Nathaniel Hurd, consultant to the Mennonite Central Committee, pro Palestinian terrorist
and racist anti-Semitic group.

"Nathaniel Hurd is a New York City-based consultant on United Nations Iraq policy for the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) UN Office." http://www.google.com/search?q=Nathaniel+Hurd

Further Petron, Hurd is so brain dead he wrote a piece stating Iraq had fulfilled all it's obligations under the ceasefire agreement Saddam signed with the UN...simply by signing the ceasefire agreement

He's a complete leftist loon. http://traprockpeace.org/scr1441hurd.doc

The thrust of the Mennonite Central Committee seems to be that the establishment of Israel as a nation was a violent imposition on the people of the area. Presumably, Israel should be removed..which is the exact goal of Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, and the little madman dictator of Iran and their loopy Ayatollah.
http://www.ngo-monitor.org/editions/v3n02/v3n02-1.htm
http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7106

So Petron, I wouldn't accept anything Hurd has to say as fact.

posted October 14, 2006 03:21 PM              

obviously you're ok with that......and with helicopter sales to the iraq ministry of defense.........as long as the helicopters werent already loaded with the chemical weapons.......

posted October 14, 2006 03:25 PM              

^ Phythian, p. 38. Phythian cites former NSC official Howard Teicher and Radley Gayle, Twin Pillars to Desert Storm: America's Flawed Vision in the Middle East from Nixon to Bush, (New York: William Morrow, 1993), p. 275.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq-Iran_War

Halabja: How Bush Sr. Continued to Support Saddam After the 1988 Gassing of Thousands And Bush Jr. Used it As a Pretext For War 15 Years Later

After the Halabja gassing President Bush I and Sen. Bob Dole fought sanctions against Iraq even though the gassing killed thousands and was reportedly carried out in part by U.S.-made helicopters. From 1989 to 1990 the gassing was mentioned about once a month in major press outlets, yet in the three weeks leading up to the 2003 invasion, the press mentioned it 150 times. In 15 years the gassing went from an untold story to a pretext for invasion.

In a 1991 Los Angeles Times piece about U.S. ties to Iraq, Henry Weinstein writes, “In 1982, the Reagan administration excused Iraq from the list of international terrorists that had been a barrier to virtually all trade Baghdad…First on Hussein’s shopping list was helicopters – he bought 60 Hughes helicopters and trainers with little notice. However, a second order of 10 twin-engine Bell “Huey” helicopter, like those used to carry combat troops in Vietnam, prompted congressional opposition in August, 1983.”

Weinstein continues: “In 1988, Kurdish civilians were attacked with poisonous gas from Iraqi helicopters and planes. U.S. intelligence sources say they believe that the American-built helicopters were among those dropping the deadly bombs.”
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/29/155243

1983

Secretary of Commerce Howard Baldridge and Secretary of State George Shultz successfully lobby the National Security Council (NSC) advisor to approve the sale of 10 Bell helicopters to Iraq in spite of objections from other NSC members. It is claimed that the helicopters will be used for crop spraying. These same helicopters are later used in 1988 to deploy poison gas against Iranians and possibly the Kurds.(see March 1988) [Washington Post, 3/11/1991; Phythian, 1997, pp. 37-38]
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=us_iraq_80s

posted October 15, 2006 10:17 AM            

quote:

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Well, what do you know? No comments from the supporters of Saddam here.

A vote against the Iraq war is a vote for Saddam. A vote for more murder, torture, rape, terror and genocide against Iraqi citizens.

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