June 2004

Naming Names: The Torturers of Saddam's Abu Ghraib and Their Place in the New Iraq

For the last thirty  years, Iraqis inside Iraq had little knowledge of the full extent of Saddam Hussein's oppressive tactics. Many Iraqis who have documented his regime's history argue that Coalition authorities have not done enough to make this history known to the Iraqi people, and proponents of more stringent de-Baathification argue that until this education is completed, Saddam-era officials cannot be trusted with the rule of the new state. Under Saddam Hussein, some thirty thousand people were executed there, and countless more were tortured and mutilated. Seven of these victims were Baghdadi merchants whose right hands were amputated and presented to Saddam as proof of their punishment. Four of them spoke of their experiences and identified the torturers in a video shown at a June 8 AEI conference.

Sallah Heznon

The torturers seen in the video are enemies of Iraq and the United States. These are the same people that burned and mutilated the four Americans in Fallujah. The Iraqi people now fear that Saddam's torturers, the Baathists, are coming back. It is imperative that the Baathists not be allowed to regain power. They should be treated humanely, but not given positions of power in the new Iraq.

Bassam Slaymon Fadli

One of the most surprising phenomena in the new Iraq is that some of the men in this video are men that have been chosen to help rebuild Iraq. There is a man who committed horrific atrocities who now leads a workers' group in the green zone. But given their previous positions in security and intelligence, the Baathists find it very easy to change their identities, addresses, and anything else that would allude to their previous allegiances to Saddam.

Americans do not possess the same knowledge of our history and blindly hire Baathists who have committed atrocious crimes. Iraqis know these people and their crimes. Given the horrific nature of this video, you can imagine the fear that Iraqis feel when they see these Baathists coming back into positions of power.

Ali Shebhar

Every corner of Iraq bears scars from the oppressive rule of Saddam Hussein. It is a great tragedy that the perpetrators of Saddam's crimes are still running free on the streets of the new Iraq. While Iraq has been liberated from Saddam Hussein, it has not been liberated from his cronies; they still threaten people to prevent them from speaking out and expressing their opinions.

Abdul Rava Jhudi

Saddam's students are still alive. For these perpetrators, bloodshed is a part of their lives. They amputated and executed Iraqis and now they are killing American soldiers and civilians.

Hassam Ghadar Kavam

It is disappointing that the media is only just now showing Saddam's crimes against humanity. Why is it that his acts are only being seen in small conferences and not on the major television stations? I hope that one day soon the real Saddam, as seen in these videos, will be unveiled for the rest of the public to see.  

AEI staff assistant Kara Nichols prepared this summary.