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Saddam's Chinese laborers: interred in prison they built
Hat tip: Lance in Iraq. Edited for brevity.FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq — It's a place that still terrifies the Iraqi people. Now home to the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, this base in eastern Baghdad was once the site of Iraq's General Security National Headquarters, an intelligence nerve center used with chilling effect by the Saddam Hussein regime. [US Army MAJ Steve] Rosson said Chinese laborers built all the facilities, including the prison. After construction, Saddam charged them with espionage and they became its first occupants. Cantonese is scribbled on the walls of many cells. "We have no idea when that took place and it's uncertain how many Chinese there were. It's believed they spent many years there and died in the prison," Rosson said. "Apparently, they knew too much to go back home." [Iraqi] Hayder Abdul-Nabi said two of his brothers were inmates. One spent seven years and then did 10 more at Abu Ghraib. His crime? He lost a pistol while serving in the Iraqi security forces. "We didn't know anything about [what happened to] him for seven years," Abdul-Nabi said, conceding he was hesitant to even go inside the prison during a recent tour. "The Iraqi people are very scared of this place. They'd kill people here by pouring acid on them." Posted by: Dar 2005-04-05 |
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