Iraqi Graffiti Was the Writing on the Wall

[Gimel]

BAGHDAD -- They were still young, and in the illusionary cocoon of their high school, they had not yet learned fear. When the secret police came for Ali Fouad Abdul Ridha, the 17-year-old glanced over his shoulder at his 10-year-old brother, Mohammed, before being hustled away.

<snip>

The students were accused of writing anti-government graffiti at their school as part of a broader campaign by a Shiite Muslim opposition group, the Dawa party, to overthrow President Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party.

"No one expected this would lead to execution," said Jamal Latif Ridha, whose 17-year-old brother, Sattar, was sent to the gallows at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad. "We thought Sattar would be imprisoned for just two or three months. They were just being students." The number of students executed could be as high as 35, but that could not be independently confirmed because of a lack of records and the scattering of families over the years. Former students and teachers said 37 students were arrested, and only two are known to have been released. A reporter was able to establish that 18 students from the school were killed.

The violent crackdown on student dissent at the school in the fall of 1981 was one of the most callous acts of the Hussein government.
<snip>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49117-2003Oct31.html

[Darranar]

1. And as all this happened...

the good ol' USA enthusiastically supported him.

[Melsky]

2. exactly

then we cry about how bad he was. Now we have found another dictator to be pals with. How long until he is a threat to the US?

Senior US Officials Cozy up to Dictator Who Boils People Alive
http://www.thememoryhole.org/pol/us-and-uz.htm