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Liberals are more than happy to use the false claim that life was better under Saddam Hussein when presenting their vociferous opposition to the War in Iraq. This allows them to take a moral stand while ignoring the evidence of the horrors under Saddam’s rule.

To be truthful, most of these people know full and well that Saddam was a murdering dictator. But all those facts are relegated to ancient history for the sake of something more important; namely the defeat of Republicans.

Currently Saddam Hussein is on trial for the genocide of ethnic Kurds in the late 80’s. In this trial we have heard testimony about the viscious chemical attacks that killed and maimed thousands as well as testimony of the crimes that go way beyond. Today we are reminded of just how evil this man was.

Two of the four witnesses to testify on Monday spoke about a black dog that dug up and ate the bodies of dead prisoners, and one told how prison guards forced women, including young girls, to bathe in front of them while shooting over their heads.

They were the latest to take the stand to testify about Saddam’s 1988 Anfal (Spoils of War) campaign against the Kurds in northern Iraq, in which prosecutors say tens of thousands were killed in poison gas attacks, bombings or executed.

“I know the fate of my family. They were buried alive,” one Kurdish woman told the court. “I would like to ask Saddam a question: ‘What was the guilt of women and children?.”‘

The court heard that identity cards belonging to five of her sisters had been found in mass graves in Samawa in south Iraq.

The woman did not say how she knew her family was buried alive, but U.S.-led forensic experts have said some victims unearthed from mass graves were still alive when they were buried, despite having been shot, most of them at close range.

Thousands of Kurds, including many women and children, were taken from their villages, executed and then dumped in mass graves in northern and southern Iraq, prosecutors say.

But that is all water under the bridge for liberals who suffer from Bush Derangement Syndrome. Forgive and forget is now the tune of the day. Bush is much worse.

David Corn, editor of The Nation, wrote an article for TomPaine.com that is typical of the talking points that speak of Saddam’s “transgressions” in terms of ancient history.

As we all are aware, pre-invasion Iraq was a nasty place in terms of human rights and political freedoms. But in the years prior to the invasion, there was not this level of slaughter. Amnesty International’s 2002 report (PDF here ) notes that “scores of people, including possible prisoners of conscience and armed forces officers suspected of planning to overthrow the government, were executed.” Scores of suspected government opponents were arrested, and their fates and whereabouts were unknown.

Scores of people killed—that’s what now happens on a daily, rather than annual, basis. Of course, there were brutal and horrific acts of mass murder during Saddam Hussein’s reign. The Anfal campaign of the late 1980s—which included chemical weapons attacks on Kurdish villages—led to the deaths of tens of thousands and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands. Saddam’s repression of the Shiite rebellion of 1991—which came at the end of the first Persian Gulf war after President George H.W. Bush called on Iraqis to overthrow the dictator and then did nothing to support the uprising—resulted in about 30,000 Shiite deaths. Since the invasion, the discovery of mass graves has reminded the world of these atrocities.

But the United States took no action at the time of these nightmares to stop the killings. And in the years since the Gulf War, a weakened Saddam had not repeated such genocidal acts. That is hardly praise. But let’s be blunt: Far many more Iraqis have died due to the war Bush started than were killed by Saddam in the years prior to the invasion. The total number of civilian Iraqi deaths may well be more than 100,000. (The equivalent loss for the United States would be more than 1 million people.) This is much more than the recent death counts in Lebanon and Israel—which spark justifiable outrage on each side.

Well I guess that makes it all better. Saddam had changed his ways. And after all, the United States didn’t do anything about it anyway! Of course there is no mention of what Bill clinton did or didn’t do other than the passing reference that mass genocide had ceased. Well, these things sort of happen once your enemies are dead or hiding in fear.

Unfortunately this canard ignores another 1 to 3 million deaths that are reported to be attributed to the reign of Saddam Hussein. Even if the United States didn’t do anything before, we have a President who actually did something now; and that is the rub. The one U.S. President who lifted a finger to remove the treacherous Butcher of Baghdad from power had the unfortunate audacity to be a Republican with the initials GW Bush. That is enough to make old time Iraq good enough for those who play the Iraq was better under Saddam game.

Even more appalling is that David Corn and others ignore a decade of known evil aggressions by Saddam Hussein by always falling back to 1991 when making the argument that the one time killer had somehow repented and now wished nobody any harm. History tells us that this is simply a lie.

Suddenly the deaths that occurred under the UN’s Oil for Food program which were once considered the fault of United States led sanctions are no longer mentioned. It is no longer politically expedient to remind people that Saddam Hussein was gaming the system and holding back the aid that was supposed to help Iraqi people. Those deaths are only significant if we can blame them on the United States.

Likewise, terrorist training programs and lavish rewards for the families of suicide bombers in Israel were simple slipups; perhaps habits that were hard to break.

The testimony of the current genocide trial should not provide a mere glimpse into the past of a now reformed madman. It should be one page from a resume filled with murder and torture for the very much alive and living Saddam Hussein; the left’s only answer to the Iraq problem.

Previous:

• Iraqi Mass Grave, Average Age 11, 123 Women and Children Shot in the Back of the Head
• Picture of the Day - Iraqi Mass Graves, Women and Children
• LA Times – Iraq - Victims in Mass Graves Hid Clues in Clothing
• Ramsey Clark says hanging Saddam would lead to “the end of Civilization”
• Head Judge in Genocide Trial Pals up to Saddam Hussein

Others:

• Robin Williams is an Idiot
• Captain’s Quarters
• Michelle Malkin: The Saddam Hussein show trial

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