Reply #3: Nice to see your concern

[DevilsAdvocate2]

For fellow human beings. It has been widely documented by groups such as Human Rights Watch that systematic human rights abuses were commonplace in Iraq under Saddam.

From the HRW.org website:

"The government of Saddam Hussein was responsible for systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law."

"Since the overthrow of that government in April 2003, evidence of atrocities in the center and south of the county has become widely available in the form of scores of mass graves containing thousands of victims..."

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/01/29/iraq7130.htm

And yes, it says that there have been problems with collection & custody of this evidence, but HRW is not saying the evidence is discredited.

Or you can view this article:

http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/mena/iraq031103.htm

Which says, in part, "This briefing paper examines Iraq's arbitrary and widespread use of the death penalty and extrajudicial executions. For more than three decades, the government of President Saddam Hussein has sanctioned the use of the death penalty and extrajudicial executions as a tool of political repression, both in order to eliminate real or suspected political opponents and to maintain a reign of terror over the population at large. The executions that have taken place over this period constitute an integral part of more systematic repression - characterized by widespread arbitrary arrests, indefinite detention without trial, death in custody under torture, and large-scale "disappearances" - through which the government has sustained its rule."

Yawn, indeed!