i got this from the newspaper the other day...
"Saddam is a nightmare" by Katrin Michael who is a member of Women for a Free Iraq, a Washington based advocacy group.
"As an Iraqui woman who wages peace and has fought in war, I am compelled to supporta U.S.-led action to remove Saddam Hussein. After 26 years of resistance against Saddam, I have come to the conclusion that only forces from outside Iraq can bring an end to the nightmare of his rule.
The stories of Saddam's brutality are all true. Ethnic cleansing, summary imprisonment and execution, torture and rape are all part of the nightmare. I know this from personal experience.
My father founded an Iraqi peace movement, a crime for which he was murdered. Later, I joined the Kurdish resistance, even though I was, in their eyes, a mere woman and a Christian. I traveled in disguise to Baghadad and around the country to organize the opposition to Saddam. But when I was injured in one of his chemical bombardments against hundreds of Kurdish villages in 1987 and 1988, I was forced to flee to a refugee camp in Turkey, where I stayed until I recovered and finally reached freedom in the United States in 1997. I continue to suffer to this day from lung, nerve and eye damage caused by these weapons.
No one in Iraq is immune from Saddam's brutality-not even the closest members of his family. He even exectued two of his own sons-in law in 1996. But women are especially targeted as part of his broader policies of intimidation.
A commonly used form of torture is to bring in a detainee's female relative, preferably his wife, daughter or mother, and gang rape her in front of him.
Members of the Iraqi opposition in exile receive videotapes of their female relative in Iraq being raped. Women who criticize or merely offend Saddam are accused of being prostitues and regulary beheaded in public.
His son, Uday, often leads these beheadings. They occur in Baghadad, as well as in smaller viallages throughout Iraq. The heads of the executed women are hung on the doors of their houses for all to see.
I am saddened when I see people who sincerely care for the fate of the Iraqi pepole resist the American-led effort to remove Saddam and restore hope for the Iraqis. We cannot do it alone.
Iraqis had their closest brush with freedom in 1001, during Operation Desert Storm. I regret, as do most Iraqis, that the United States and its allies allowed Saddam to quash this resistance and remain in power. Those who care about peace and justice for the Iraqis should not make the same mistake again.
Saddam will never leave power willingly. He will never gibe up his weapons or allow the Iraqi people to live in freedom."

And some people are arguing that we should leave Saddam alone??? Are they THAT stupid?!


in other news of my day. i competely bombed my art history test. i went completely blank. my teacher's gonna think i didn't study AT ALL. *sigh* so much to do, so little time...and with such a busy weekend, i don't know what i'm gonna do. more all niters for mich...