Iraq Slams US for Violating Human RightsIraq has again responded to the US human rights report on Thursday, saying the US had violated human rights in Iraq and other countries worldwide.An Iraqi Foreign Ministry statement concerning the US State Department human rights report, carried by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA), said that such a report "lacks truth" and was meant to press those countries who refuse to bow to US demands. On Wednesday an Iraqi Information Ministry spokesman has denounced the US human rights report. Thursday's statement condemned the US for launching the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq and maintaining the decade-old sanctions, which have killed more than 1 million people, mostly children and the elderly as claimed by Baghdad. The has been under crippling UN sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. US-led multinational coalition drove Iraqi occupation troops out of Kuwait in the Gulf War. Moreover, the statement accused the US of violating human rights in other countries such as Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The US report alleged that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein presides over one of the world's most repressive regimes. "The (Iraqi) government's human rights record remained extremely poor. The government restricts severely freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, religion and movement," the report said. |
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