Mayada al askari wikipedia

THOSE who simultaneously see the war against Iraq as unjustified and the removal from office of Saddam Hussein as desirable are invited to reconcile these positions to Mayada al-Askari.

Presidential hopeful Wesley Clark should spend time with this woman as well. Television spots Clark is running in Oklahoma refer to cleaning up "the mess in Iraq." He should let al-Askari tell him about how George W. Bush and Tony Blair cleaned up the real mess in Iraq months ago.

For Mayada and thousands of other victims of Saddam's secret police, April 9 will forever be known as Iraqi Liberation Day. On that date in 2003, U.S. forces took control of Baghdad. Less than four years earlier, Mayada was arrested and thrown into a blood-smeared, stinking, eight-person cell with at least 17 other women.

Her story is told in "Mayada, Daughter of Iraq: One Woman's Survival under Saddam Hussein" by American author Jean Sasson. As a journalist and descendant of a beloved figure in Iraqi history, al-Aksari once mixed with the powerful Baathist party members and had several audiences with Saddam Hussein. She was charmed for a time by his charisma and power. He liked her magazine columns.

Little did this daughter of privilege know then that the infamous Iraqi torture machine would make her a target. On July 19, 1999, al-Askari was arrested on a trumped-up charge of sedition. She spent a month in the hell-hole Baladiyat prison. She was tortured only once and then with a relatively mild method. Her cell mates weren't so fortunate. Some were repeatedly tortured and raped. Several died.

Those with lingering doubts about the war are invited to read her story. It mirrors the story of thousands of Iraqis and their inhumane treatment by Saddam. One story al-Askari tells is not about a human at all but a Doberman pinscher named Mukhtar who had the misfortune of being Saddam's family pet.

When Mukhtar misbehaved, Saddam held a mock trial for the dog. Serving as judge and jury, the dictator sentenced it to die by starvation and dehydration. Mukhtar was chained to a pole near a swimming pool, bound so tightly he could not sit or lie down, close enough to smell the water but not to drink it.

After days of this treatment, with the dog near death, a physician took pity on him and convinced Saddam to let him take Mukhtar. Like Mayada al-Askari, he survived. Tens of thousands of Iraqis did not.

Saddam Hussein had to be removed from office. It didn't come soon enough for several of al-Askari's cell mates.

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