Hussein-Era Videos Released to Contrast Prison Scandal (WP)

Hussein-Era Videos Released to Contrast Prison Scandal

By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 21, 2004; Page A21


-snips-

Video images of brutal treatment of prisoners by Saddam Hussein's government resurfaced this week as part of an effort by some members of the Bush administration and Congress to remind viewers in Iraq and the United States of the previous horrors.

Scenes of floggings, forced amputations and a beheading were distributed to a small number of news organizations in the hope that viewers and readers would see the U.S. invasion of Iraq more favorably and draw a sharp contrast with abuses by American troops, said an administration official who described the publicity effort.


The administration has wanted to "demonstrate the true nature of Saddam's regime, but it's unknown through most of Western Europe and even in the United States," said the official, who requested anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity. "What's really surprising is it's even unknown in parts of Iraq."

The video reached news outlets, including The Washington Post, as senior spokesmen for the Bush administration began to express frustration that the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops had overshadowed well-documented human rights horrors of the Hussein era.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said last weekend there "should be a higher level of outrage" at the recent decapitation of American job-seeker Nicholas Berg by masked kidnappers in Iraq. He also said there should be closer scrutiny of torture in other Arab societies.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44064-2004May20.html

Released by whom?

Dammit! I want names! This is propaganda and if any member of the administration is engaging in it they need to be called out!

the video was provided courtesy by the 'liberating' forces shortly after the 'successful' invasion but prior to the 'mission' being acomplished.

peace

Besides being irrelevant to what our troops did as occupying forces, will we hold Bush just as responsible for the prioner abuses as we want to hold Saddam?

You know, Saddam was labeled an evil dictator and this is what one would expect of an evil dictator. What the hell is Bush's excuse?

cuz he still has some pull at the WH?? :eyes:

...he had Nick Berg "whacked" by the Russian Mafia?:grr:

:)

What the fucking fuck is wrong with our fucking country?

...this will only allow people to better "contrast and compare" Abu Ghraib, before and after the fall of Saddam.

What fucking AMATUERS! :eyes::eyes::eyes:

This has nothing whatsoever to do with friggin Saddam Hussein. This is about Americans violating the Geneva Conventions. Regardless of the politics of the situation this cannot be allowed in our society and those responsible for it must ALL[/b} be brought to justice, right up the chain of command as far as it friggin goes.

I can imagine them keeping this in reserve ever since the invasion and thinking, "We'll save this until we really, really need something to distract the proletariats."

It has become too easy to see through Bush & Co's clumsy attempts at psych-ops. First the Berg beheading and now this.

It's all terribly convenient, isn't it?

as an entertainment video

They must think we are soooooo dumb. :eyes:

it's ok to commit war crimes cause the crimes of the guy who we replaces were alot worse?

Since the "abuse" pictures surfaced, the comparison between Saddam's treatment of prisoners and ours seems to be the main justification for our "fraternity pranks." I guess if he killed 1000 people, we can kill 999 and that's still ok. If his torture sessions lasted 24 hours and ours only last 20 and involve fewer electric shocks, then we should all shut up and stop criticizing.

If we carry this logic to the extreme, I guess we can say Hitler was "OK" because he was only responsible for, what, 12 million murders while Stalin was, I believe, responsible for about 20 million. And I guess Pol Pot was just a prankster because his murders were in the single-digit millions.

How low the mightly have fallen.

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does not wash... at all

Nice man.

My first reaction is to laugh at the implication and absurdity of the situation but then again it really is a sad state of affairs.

Maybe that can be Bush's new campaign slogan.

Look at us - we're not as bad as Saddam Hussein! Well, at least not in the photos that have seen the light of day so far.

Was this when we were still supporting Mr. Hussein? And who are these folks that want the U.S. to see these videos?

Various human rights groups decried the brutality of the Saddam regime throughout the '80s, but Poppy and Jim Baker tightened our embrace.

turning a blind eye to the atrocities,...still wheeling and dealing with him.

WHY THE FUCK WEREN'T THEY OUTRAGED WHEN IT HAPPENED?!!?!?!?!

I'll tell you why. Because these neocon oil-diggin' arms-dealin' scum of the earth were still PROFITTING off ole' tyrant, Saddam.

:argh:

Whew. They have GOT to be pissing-their-pants-scared if they have to resort to this!

I miss the big lug.

like the degenerate gambler he is.

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And next time, don't use such an obvious straw man. Who said we should prevent them from being shown?

We're all wondering, in fact, why they weren't shown earlier--you know, like in the days when Rummy was shaking Saddam's hand and he was our government's buddy.

in EXACTLY the same, comical way. Good catch, lolly.

:)

There is no excuse for either Saddam's behavior or ours. Isn't that the more important message?

AT THAT TIME,...the same ole' buttwipes who are "ruling" this country,...and how they made obscene profits while these atrocities were being committed. And, what did the BFEE and neocons do? NOTHING! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! Why? Because of their LOVE OF MONEY!!!!

SICK, SICK HUMAN BEINGS IN CHARGE OF THIS COUNTRY!!! The worst human evil scum on the face of the earth!!!!

Yeah, BRING IT ON!!! The horrible truth will be exposed!!!!

It can be a compare and contrast picture show:

- see, here is one with Saddam torturing a man by wiring him up and giving him electric shocks. Here is one where where we wire a man up, and only threaten to give him electric shocks. You do believe, hey, don't give me that raised eyebrow look.

- see, here is one with Saddam torturing a man by siccing an attack dog on him. Here is one where where we sic an attack dog on a man, but it is a quite a bit better groomed dog. Hey, don't give me that raised eyebrow look.

- see, here is one with Saddam's guard smiling over the corpse of a man they had just murdered. Here is one where where our guards smile over the corpse of a man who ...ahem... had just died. See how much prettier our guards are. Hey, don't give me that raised eyebrow look.

And so on.

you can do better than that.. what a pathetic attempt

intended to be read by some rightwing radio host as representing "democratunderground," no doubt.

Nice work, soldier. Godblessmerica.

Sigh! This is really sad.

for it....shows bush* inability to control press anymore...people can see clearly now....and it's time for bush* to go back to his bug-infested pig farm....

did we cause on innocent Iraqis?

and just as irrelevant. The desperation of the bush cabal is growing in leaps and bounds.

,...because the American people ARE NOT AS STUPID as they treat them.

I WANT them to continue believing that they can bullshit everyone all the time.

Keep up the good work,...assholes!!!

This is beyond comprehension! I'm speechless, and I'm NEVER speechless.

Pot calling kettle black

with neither time, place, or proof that these were trained by Hussein instead of us?
Dumsfeld was prancing about with 'em, then they dropped them faster than a hot rock.

Not slightly better than vicious dictators.

for fucks sake.

This tactic demonstrating once and for all that the * admin has no "moral clarity"

for clarification - not diminishing the horror of Saddam - but the horrors of Saddam do not have anything to do with the beatings, abuse, torture and cases of murder being meted out in our name.

So now Bush's claim to the moral high ground is that he's not Saddam Hussein?

Uh, what about all those guys who supported the contras in Nicaragua and the ARENA party in El Salvador?

Anyway, that dumb bastard Bush is running the place now, so all those prisoners with flashlights up their ass won't really care too much about Saddam.

Our excuse is that we're not QUITE as bad as the other guy?

We have surrendered our moral authority. We are shameful.

I once had a self loathing depressed fried who found solace strangely by saying:

"At least I am not a serial killer"

Who'd have thunk it my country would get just as psychotic? At least she was on medication....

Despite the snide dismissals of the sources who reported this story last weekend.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1609849

I can see the bumper stickers now.

This is like having the Nazi war criminals show pictures of Stalin's crimes to justify their role in the Holocaust.

Were we not supposed to be better them. It just shows we were equal to them. I really do not see how that helps.