Not Important Enough
John Pace, an obscure human rights official who has recently retired from the UN, has condemned the US occupation as being worse than life under Saddam. He made the wild allegation that at least 1000 people a month were tortured to death. He said this to an equally obscure Maltese newspaper:

In a frank interview with The Times, Dr Pace says photos and forensic records have proved that torture was rife inside detention centres. Though the process of release has been speeded up, there are an estimated 23,000 people in detention, of whom 80 to 90 per cent are innocent.

He says the Baghdad morgue received 1,100 bodies in July alone, about 900 of whom bore evidence of torture or summary execution. That continued throughout the year and last December there were 780 bodies, including 400 having gunshot wounds or wounds as those caused by electric drills.

Quoted by the AP:

"Under Saddam, if you agreed to forgo your basic right to freedom of expression and thought, you were physically more or less OK," Pace said in an interview with The Associated Press. "But now, no. Here, you have a primitive, chaotic situation where anybody can do anything they want to anyone."

Which all begs the question--what were you doing about this when you actually worked for the UN? Apparently nothing. Since the UN takes human rights so seriously that they appoint nations like Cuba, Sudan and Libya to the Human Rights Commission, it is hard to take Mr. Pace's statements seriously either.
- posted by Base10 @ 8:18 AM