Iraq Liberation Act: 10th anniversary celebration - 27

Ten years ago this month, President Bill Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act, which declared:

“It should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime.”

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of this landmark legislation, let’s flash back to the events that influenced and followed its passage.

FLASHBACK 27

Eason Jordan, CNN chief news executive, April 11, 2003, on the fall of Saddam:

“Then there were the events that were not unreported but that nonetheless still haunt me. A 31-year-old Kuwaiti woman, Asrar Qabandi, was captured by Iraqi secret police occupying her country in 1990 for ‘crimes,’ one of which included speaking with CNN on the phone. They beat her daily for two months, forcing her father to watch. In January 1991, on the eve of the American-led offensive, they smashed her skull and tore her body apart limb by limb. A plastic bag containing her body parts was left on the doorstep of her family’s home.

“I felt awful having these stories bottled up inside me. Now that Saddam Hussein's regime is gone, I suspect we will hear many, many more gut-wrenching tales from Iraqis about the decades of torment. At last, these stories can be told freely.

“In my opinion, even without chem or bio or nuke weapons, the atrocities in Iraq is justification to remove Saddam from power. It was reason enough with Milosovich and no one complained.”

Victory in Iraq. On Oct. 31, 1998, when President Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act, “regime change” and democracy in Iraq became official goals of American foreign policy. Five years later, President George W. Bush ordered the U.S.-led invasion that removed Saddam and allowed the Iraqi people to choose their first democratic government. Ten years after the Iraq Liberation Act, Iraq is liberated.

Frank Warner

* * *

The celebration continues tomorrow!

Gallery of Flashbacks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31.

Comments

[jj mollo]

Eason Jordon? I agree with this statement of course, but I think he is more responsible than anyone that these stories did not get wide distribution. When he could have been reporting Saddam's atrocities, he was currying favor with the regime in order to retain his "access". When Saddam was gone, no one was interested, least of all Eason Jordan. He should be "haunted" by these stories, and by his own role in suppressing them.

[Frank Warner]

Yep, but once Iraq was liberated, instead of asking Iraqis to reveal the horrors of Saddam's totalitarianism, the press decided instead decided to reveal the horrors of liberation.

Days after this honest Eason Jordan piece, the press was telling us that the Iraq National Museum had been totally looted as U.S. troops stood by doing nothing. Never mind that no more than 3 percent of the museum's contents were looted (and probably only 1 percent); the story now was that the evil occupiers had ruined everything.