Saddam refuses to plead in genocide trial

[Barrett808]

Saddam refuses to plead in genocide trial
By Michael Georgy

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein refused to plead as he and six former army commanders went on trial in Baghdad on Monday for what prosecutors called a "barbarous" genocidal campaign that killed tens of thousands of Kurds in the 1980s.

Seeking to prove the campaign amounted to genocide of Iraq's Kurdish minority, prosecutors said villages had been razed in aerial and artillery bombardments, including poison gas attacks, and villagers deported to detention centers, tortured or raped.

"It is difficult to fathom the barbarity of such acts," Munqith al-Faroon, chief prosecutor in the trial, told the court of the seven-month operation in 1988 that was codenamed Anfal -- Spoils of War -- after the title of a chapter of the Koran.

"These crimes touch the conscience of all mankind," chief tribunal prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi told the court.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060821/ts_nm/iraq_saddam_dc

[ConcernedCanuk]

1. "It is difficult to fathom the barbarity of such acts," gee - ask the BFEE

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The "barbarity" of the US Military knows no bounds - only the USA electorate believes that the USA is the "Beacon of Freedom"

The rest of the world knows better

[daleo]

2. The U.S./U.K. invasion has killed over 100,000

Saddam was a piker next to Bush/Blair.

[FloridaPat]

3. Some estimates are 250,000.

[daleo]

4. I suppose that is an upper bound estimate

And I would consider 100,000 to be a lower bound estimate. Mind you, upper bounds can be correct, as can lower bounds.

Either way, it is an incredible amount of suffering.