Conjuring the Ghosts of Iraq’s Brutal Past
By TIM ARANGO, NYT
BAGHDAD — These days in Iraq, state-supported reminders of the horrors of Saddam Hussein’s rule are always close at hand.
One of Iraqi state television’s biggest recent hits was a dramatic series about the Baath Party’s crimes under Mr. Hussein. In the office of the human rights minister, glass-enclosed cases display soiled clothing recovered from mass graves. Soon, the government plans to open a museum that will memorialize victims of the former regime and chronicle past abuses.
It might all seem to be an admirable attempt to help Iraqis come to grips with their country’s painful past of sectarian violence — if so many similar, horrific actions weren’t taking place across the country this year, human rights advocates say.
As security has deteriorated, Iraqis say it has become clearer with each bombing attack, each spasm of vigilante violence, that Iraq’s American-trained security forces have been ineffective and, worse, a growing source of abuses themselves. And the hope for stability under Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who has vowed to be a leader for all Iraqis, is giving way to fears that his government is mimicking many of the repressive tactics that his Shiite constituency suffered under the past Sunni minority regime.
(More here.)
BAGHDAD — These days in Iraq, state-supported reminders of the horrors of Saddam Hussein’s rule are always close at hand.
One of Iraqi state television’s biggest recent hits was a dramatic series about the Baath Party’s crimes under Mr. Hussein. In the office of the human rights minister, glass-enclosed cases display soiled clothing recovered from mass graves. Soon, the government plans to open a museum that will memorialize victims of the former regime and chronicle past abuses.
It might all seem to be an admirable attempt to help Iraqis come to grips with their country’s painful past of sectarian violence — if so many similar, horrific actions weren’t taking place across the country this year, human rights advocates say.
As security has deteriorated, Iraqis say it has become clearer with each bombing attack, each spasm of vigilante violence, that Iraq’s American-trained security forces have been ineffective and, worse, a growing source of abuses themselves. And the hope for stability under Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who has vowed to be a leader for all Iraqis, is giving way to fears that his government is mimicking many of the repressive tactics that his Shiite constituency suffered under the past Sunni minority regime.
(More here.)
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