erole
03-06-2003, 10:27 PM
Not sure why we are going? Confused if it's worth it? Then read.
Reasons:
Near nuclear capabilities
Terrorist ties
A known secret terrorist training camp called Salman Pak in an area south of Baghdad. Training includes hijacking and kidnapping of airplanes, trains, public buses, and planting explosives in cities ... how to prepare for suicidal operations
Terrorized its own citizens by evading UN weapons' inspections and by diverting oil-for-food funds to the military.
Saddam Hussein has contravened a wide range of international laws, including the Geneva Conventions, the Nuremberg Charter and the 1951 Genocide Convention. His crimes against humanity include the deportation and extermination of Iraqi citizens, scientific experiments on human beings and the elimination of whole village populations in "reprisals".
Attacks against the Iraqi Kurds. The government's notorious attacks on the Iraqi Kurds have come in phases. Between 1977 and 1987, some 4,500-5,000 Kurdish villages were systematically destroyed and their inhabitants forcibly removed and made to live in resettlement camps.
Commencing in the spring of 1987, thousands of Iraqi Kurds were killed during chemical and conventional bombardments.
From February to September 1988, the Iraqi government launched the official Anfal campaign, during which Iraqi troops swept through the highlands of Iraqi Kurdistan rounding up everyone who remained in government-declared "prohibited zones." More than 100,000 Kurds, mostly men and boys, were trucked to remote sites and executed. Use of chemical weapons reached a peak in March 1988; in the town of Halabja alone, where a documented 3,200 people are believed to have died from chemical gas attacks, and the actual number may be more than 5,000. The killings constitute acts of genocide. The killings, forcible and arbitrary transfer of populations, and chemical weapons attacks amount to crimes against humanity.
Forced expulsion of ethnic minorities from Kirkuk. Since 1991, Iraqi authorities have forcibly expelled over 120,000 Kurds, Turcomans and Assyrians from their homes in the oil-rich region of Kirkuk and neighboring towns and villages. The systematic forcible transfer of the population, a process referred to by the authorities as Arabization, has been accompanied by the resettling of Arab families brought from southern Iraq to replace those evicted. This policy continues to be implemented.
Repression of the Marsh Arabs and other Shi`a. During the early years of the Iran-Iraq war, the Iraqi government arrested thousands of Shi`a Muslims on the charge of supporting the 1979 revolution in Iran. Many have disappeared or remain unaccounted for; others died under torture or were executed. This campaign was followed by the forced expulsion of over half a million Shi`a during the 1980s to Iran, after the separation out of many male family members. These men and boys, estimated to number between 50,000-70,000, were arrested and imprisoned indefinitely without charge; most remain unaccounted for.
After the Gulf War, in southern Iraq, members of the Shi`a majority rose up in revolt against the Iraqi leadership. In response, thousands of Shi`a including hundreds of clerics and their students, were imprisoned without charge or disappeared in state custody. Hundreds were summarily executed. Many Shi`a shrines and institutions were demolished by government forces. In the southeast, after tens of thousands of Shi`a Muslim civilians, army deserters, and rebels, primarily from the cities of Basra, al-Amara, and al-Nasiriyya, sought precarious shelter in remote areas of the marshes that straddle the Iranian border, Iraq's military and security forces shelled and launched military raids against them. The raids caused thousands of so-called Marsh Arabs to flee to Iran and many others to become internally displaced within Iraq. Many of these attacks against the Shi`a amount to crimes against humanity.
Iraqi people under Saddam Hussein have suffered a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally re
Reasons:
Near nuclear capabilities
Terrorist ties
A known secret terrorist training camp called Salman Pak in an area south of Baghdad. Training includes hijacking and kidnapping of airplanes, trains, public buses, and planting explosives in cities ... how to prepare for suicidal operations
Terrorized its own citizens by evading UN weapons' inspections and by diverting oil-for-food funds to the military.
Saddam Hussein has contravened a wide range of international laws, including the Geneva Conventions, the Nuremberg Charter and the 1951 Genocide Convention. His crimes against humanity include the deportation and extermination of Iraqi citizens, scientific experiments on human beings and the elimination of whole village populations in "reprisals".
Attacks against the Iraqi Kurds. The government's notorious attacks on the Iraqi Kurds have come in phases. Between 1977 and 1987, some 4,500-5,000 Kurdish villages were systematically destroyed and their inhabitants forcibly removed and made to live in resettlement camps.
Commencing in the spring of 1987, thousands of Iraqi Kurds were killed during chemical and conventional bombardments.
From February to September 1988, the Iraqi government launched the official Anfal campaign, during which Iraqi troops swept through the highlands of Iraqi Kurdistan rounding up everyone who remained in government-declared "prohibited zones." More than 100,000 Kurds, mostly men and boys, were trucked to remote sites and executed. Use of chemical weapons reached a peak in March 1988; in the town of Halabja alone, where a documented 3,200 people are believed to have died from chemical gas attacks, and the actual number may be more than 5,000. The killings constitute acts of genocide. The killings, forcible and arbitrary transfer of populations, and chemical weapons attacks amount to crimes against humanity.
Forced expulsion of ethnic minorities from Kirkuk. Since 1991, Iraqi authorities have forcibly expelled over 120,000 Kurds, Turcomans and Assyrians from their homes in the oil-rich region of Kirkuk and neighboring towns and villages. The systematic forcible transfer of the population, a process referred to by the authorities as Arabization, has been accompanied by the resettling of Arab families brought from southern Iraq to replace those evicted. This policy continues to be implemented.
Repression of the Marsh Arabs and other Shi`a. During the early years of the Iran-Iraq war, the Iraqi government arrested thousands of Shi`a Muslims on the charge of supporting the 1979 revolution in Iran. Many have disappeared or remain unaccounted for; others died under torture or were executed. This campaign was followed by the forced expulsion of over half a million Shi`a during the 1980s to Iran, after the separation out of many male family members. These men and boys, estimated to number between 50,000-70,000, were arrested and imprisoned indefinitely without charge; most remain unaccounted for.
After the Gulf War, in southern Iraq, members of the Shi`a majority rose up in revolt against the Iraqi leadership. In response, thousands of Shi`a including hundreds of clerics and their students, were imprisoned without charge or disappeared in state custody. Hundreds were summarily executed. Many Shi`a shrines and institutions were demolished by government forces. In the southeast, after tens of thousands of Shi`a Muslim civilians, army deserters, and rebels, primarily from the cities of Basra, al-Amara, and al-Nasiriyya, sought precarious shelter in remote areas of the marshes that straddle the Iranian border, Iraq's military and security forces shelled and launched military raids against them. The raids caused thousands of so-called Marsh Arabs to flee to Iran and many others to become internally displaced within Iraq. Many of these attacks against the Shi`a amount to crimes against humanity.
Iraqi people under Saddam Hussein have suffered a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally re