UN inspector paints bleak picture of Saddam's jail

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

Sunday May 22, 2005 - Dramatic details of conditions at Camp Cropper, the top-secret Baghdad prison where Saddam Hussein is being held, have been revealed by a senior UN weapons inspector.
Dr Rod Barton, former special adviser to the Iraq Survey Group and a leading expert in chemical and biological weapons, was involved in the interrogation of Iraqi scientists at Camp Cropper.

Barton, who gave an exclusive interview to The Observer, decided to speak out to highlight what he believes is the unjust detention of scientists at the Baghdad jail.

Camp Cropper leapt into the headlines last week when the Sun published photos of Saddam in his underpants. The newspaper also ran pictures of 'Chemical Ali' - Ali Hassan al-Majid - who ordered gas attacks against Kurdish Iraqis, and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, known as 'Chemical Sally', Saddam's biological weapons expert, both of whom are also at Camp Cropper.

Barton's testimony offers a remarkable insight into the conditions the former dictator and his most loyal lieutenants are being kept in. He said there were about 100 prisoners kept at the 'bleak' prison, which consists of three rows of single-story buildings with tiny two-metre square cells and no windows. The cells have steel doors with a metal flap a metre from the ground.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m11937&l=i&size=1&hd=0

[napi21]

1. So his cell is 6 1/2 feet square. I have no problem with that.

I have no problem that he doesn't have a window either.

I don't want them to physically torture him or the others, but being in a small cell is no big deal.

[bpilgrim]

4. Geneva Conventions are a stickler on treating prisoners humanely

"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." - Thomas Paine

peace

[merwin]

6. Turn it around the other way. What if you were detained in a 6 1/2 sq foot

cell for a few years (or more). Would you think that was humane then?

[napi21]

7. Well, the standard cell in the US is 6X9 I think.

If I were in a cell because I was guilty of some crime, I think I'd hate it, but I wouldn't consider it inhumane.

[merwin]

9. Looks like many have a min 40 sq feet regulation of free floor space.

A twin bed is just under 3' by 6'. 40 sq feet is around 6' by 6'. That would make the cell size 6x9.

6.5 by 6.5 is somewhere between the size of a king and queen mattress. Go stand on your bed, invision a toilet in the corner, and imagine how nice an extra 3 square feet would be :)

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. You'll have to do better than this.

It's not even entertaining.

BTW, what's a Geniva Convention? I've heard of the Geneva Convention.

[thebigidea]

5. "known as Chemical Sally" - by fucking WHO?

by the Pentagon, who can't be bothered to learn their real names?

and I'm still wondering when journalists started getting on a first-name basis with Hussein... you'd think that chumminess would carry over to Bush, and they can refer to him as "George" in headlines. I'd prefer "Asshole," but I doubt my preferences have much to do with naming conventions.

[daleo]

8. Bush and Blair should be in adjoining cells.

Since it is now beyond dispute that the invasion was a war crime, and tens of thousands (perhaps over 100,000) have died as a result.