In an article titled "What Price 'Freedom?'" the website of the major Iranian news agency Mehr News charged the U.S. Army with "committing systematic sexual abuse against Iraqi civilians," and directed readers to a website supposedly set up by the U.S. Armed Forces, www.rape.com, that contains a section on "Rape in Iraq" featuring "gory pictures of the atrocities committed by U.S. Armed Forces against Iraqi women and children." However, this is in fact the website of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), the largest domestic anti-sexual assault organization in the U.S., and which displays no such photos. The following are excerpts from the article: [1]
The Western Media Accuse Saddam and Ba'ath Regime of Atrocities, but Look at the U.S.
"The Western media told all in its wholehearted desperate dedication to bring us the 'truth' – that those opposed to Saddam's regime were shelled and bombed by land and air.
"[The Western media said] that civilian neighborhoods were raised [sic] to the ground by the Ba'athist regime's forces and that not even women, children, and the elderly were ever spared the onslaught.
"This was the other reason given for the invasion of Iraq following the U.S. failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq [–] that democracy would replace the tragic spectacle of the slaughter of the innocent by personality-cult dictatorships.
"The U.S. justification for the genocide of Iraqis seems to be that it wants to put an end to the genocide of Iraqis. Over a million Iraqi children died in the 1990s because of U.S. sanctions. An estimated 100,000 have been born with defects resulting from the parents' inhalation of depleted uranium dust…"
'U.S. Forces Committing Systematic Sexual Abuse Against Iraqi Civilians'
"To add insult to injury, a terrible atrocity that was inflicted on the people of Vietnam by the U.S. forces has made a return.
"U.S. forces are committing systematic sexual abuse against Iraqi civilians. They have even set up a website on the Internet to celebrate their despicable acts in Iraq. [The] 'RAPE.COM' website includes a section named 'RAPE IN IRAQ' – in which gory pictures of the atrocities committed by U.S. armed forces against Iraqi women and children are proudly displayed for all to see."
'Democracy Has Never Been Imposed So Brutally … by a Band of Fraudulent Genocidal Criminals'
"The U.S. occupation forces are currently involved in the indiscriminate bombing, shelling, and abuse of Iraqi civilians in Fallujah. The crimes committed by the U.S. forces are so severe that even members of the Iraqi Governing Council such as Mr. Pachachi are threatening to resign their posts in disgust.
"Little has changed for the people of Iraq. They used to be bombed and shelled by Saddam's henchmen for refusing to believe his lies – and are currently being bombed, shelled and abused by the coalition forces for refusing to toe the U.S. line.
"Democracy has never been imposed so brutally on any nation by a band of fraudulent genocidal criminals posing as the bleeding heart freedom lovers of Washington."
[1] Mehr News Agency (Iran), April 11, 2004.
