February 21, 2004
SOCIALISTS TOLD
Kurdish leader Barham Salih addresses a socialist conference in Madrid:
Removal of Saddam tyranny was a seminal event in the history of the Iraq, and the Middle East. Most Iraqis see the moral and political imperative for the war of liberation as overwhelming. For many of us inside Iraq, who experienced first hand Saddam’s WMDs, the debate about lack of evidence of WMDs is difficult to understand.
15 years ago much the world doubted the evil of Saddam and refused to act in face of his weapons of mass destruction. I urge those who are seriously interested in evidence of Saddams WMDs to visit Halabja to witness the proof firsthand.
For us in Iraq, weapons of mass destruction are not about dry accounting; they have been conventional tools of repression by Saddam. Chemical weapons have been used against us more than 200 times.
Ethnic cleansing began in Iraq in 1963, when the Baath Party seized power. Around a million people have been displaced, mostly Kurds but also Turcoman and Assyrian Christians. The fascist regime of Saddam has cost the lives of at least two million Iraqis. Four million more have been forced to become refugees. So far more than 170 mass graves have been uncovered throughout Iraq. These mass graves should vindicate the morality of this war of liberation in Iraq.
Where there’s evidence of mass destruction, who needs to see the weapons?
(Via Harry’s place)
Posted by Tim Blair at February 21, 2004 01:44 PMEvidently in Saddam's Iraq a rock could be used as a weapon of mass destruction. Take rock. Crush skull of Saddam opponent or random innocent civilian. Repeat until destruction is mass. Surely by the time he had had 10,000 or so civilians killed by having their skulls crushed with a rock the rock would have become a WMD.
Posted by: JorgXMcKie at February 21, 2004 at 03:31 PMYeah, but where are the rocks, huh, HUH? Bush lied, no rocks tried!
Posted by: Quentin George at February 21, 2004 at 06:21 PMla la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la !!!!!
I am not listening, I am not listening, fingers are in my ears, war bad, la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la !!!!
Posted by: Andrew X at February 22, 2004 at 06:13 AMWhat is the surprise over the Left's pro-Saddam position. They also supported Mao, Stalin and a hodge podge of mass murderers; as far as I can see they are disappointed that he didn't kill enough. Hell it was only a few million people.
Posted by: Mark Rintoule at February 22, 2004 at 09:03 AMIt's not so much that the Left was (is) pro-Saddam than they are pro-statist, moral relativist, and anti-capitalist. Therefore, anything that the Western democracies do anywhere will always be unacceptable, especially if it's in their best interest. Apparently, it's the height of arrogance to presume that, just because Saddam was an evil bastard massacring his people by the thousands, that meant that the West is any better.
Posted by: Captain Ed at February 23, 2004 at 11:31 AM