CPTnet
November 21, 2003
IRAQ: Courage to Refuse--Conscientious Objectors under Saddam Hussein's
regime

by Allan Slater

On November 18th, CPT members Cliff Kindy and Allan Slater spent the
morning at a local Iraqi human rights organization. There they heard
stories told them by six Iraqi men who had refused to take up arms for
Saddam Hussein, one of which follows:

"My name is Sa'ad. I am a member of The Committee Who Refused the War.
There are about 2,500 of us in the Baghdad area. Many more are spread
throughout Iraq. We are young men who refused to join Saddam Hussein's
army in the years leading up to this war.

"When we refused to join the Iraqi army we were taken to prisons in remote
regions of Iraq near the borders with Syria, Iran and Jordan. As you can
see, we have all had pieces cut off our right ears. This was supposed to
identify us as cowards and enemies of the Iraqi nation for the rest of our
lives. Many of us also had our tongues cut. Here is a friend with me who
had his fingernails pulled out. We have lost all our identification and our
property. The conditions in these desert prisons were so bad that we
were frequently taken to hospitals to keep us alive. We were all sick and
many died. The Saddam Hussein regime was willing to rape our wives,
sisters and mothers just to punish us.

"Now we are out of jail but we are far from free. We cannot shake off the
mental trauma of years of torture. We have no identification so we can
neither find jobs nor leave the country in search of a new life. We have
nothing.

"The Iraqi Human Rights Association and the Ministry of Social Affairs are
helping us find some jobs and deal with the trauma. The Ministry of Health
is working with a local hospital to provide us with some badly needed
cosmetic surgery.

"We are people who have been declared cowards. But we were brave enough
to face certain torture to resist war. President Bush asked Iraqi soldiers
to throw down their arms. We never picked up arms. Surely the US forces
owe us some assistance for our resistance for peace."