Top Saddam aide executed in Iraq [-A warning to Saddam Hun Xen's minions and aids]

Abed Hamoud, executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's presidential secretary and chief bodyguard, is shown at an Iraqi court July 1, 2004. (Karen Ballard / Pool/AFP - Getty Images)

Abed Hamoud handed down many of dictator's repressive orders

07 June 2012
By Raheem Salman
Reuters

BAGHDAD — One of Saddam Hussein's closest aides who handed down many of the dictator's repressive orders was executed in Iraq on Thursday, the justice ministry said.

Abed Hamoud, Saddam's private secretary, was regarded by many Iraqis as more influential than most ministers.

He was number four on the U.S. list of most-wanted Iraqi officials following the 2003 invasion, after the Sunni dictator and his sons.

He was sentenced to death in 2010 on charges of orchestrating a crackdown against rival political parties in Iraq in the 1980s and 1990s, including assassinations and unlawful detentions.

Samdach Quotes Saddam

In recent months, Mr. Hun Sen has heard people comparing his fate to that of Muammar Gaddafi; he quoted Saddam Hussein: "Don't provoke a snake unless you have the intention and power to cut off its head." He went on, quoting Saddam Hussein: "Yours is a society which cannot accept 10,000 dead in one battle."

The first quote is probably directed at Mr. Sam Rainsy and the second is probably a warning to the US as Mr. Hun Sen so certain of Mr. Sam Rainsy has no intention and power and the US values lives more than him.

Courts, Self-Censorship Hurting Expression: Pa Nguon Tieng on VOA

Hussein has Baghdad Bob ... HunSen has Phnom Penh Jack

Left: Baghdad Bob. Right: Phnom Penh Jack (aka Chea)

Saturday, April 10, 2010
Opinion by Anonymous Reader

Remember Baghdad Bob? Baghdad Bob was the guy who kept going on television during the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 to say that Saddam Hussein's government was winning the war. Nothing could have been further from the truth, that is ... until you meet Phnom Penh Jack (of all lies?)

Phnom Penh Jack:

“I am here to tell you all about our victory against the Thai soldiers on the battlefield. We are the winner, and we won both the battlefield and diplomatic fight under Samdech Hun Sen’s leadership,”

Baghdad Bob:

"We defeated them yesterday. God willing, I will provide you with more information. I swear by God, I swear by God, those who are staying in Washington and London have thrown these mercenaries in a crematorium."

Phnom Penh Jack:

"I warned Thai military commanders [that] if they disagreed, I was ready to attack."

Baghdad Bob:

"Surrender or be burned in their tanks."

Phnom Penh Jack:

He has also said that Cambodian troops have killed 88 Thai troops since tensions erupted after the listing of Preah Vihear temple as a UNESCO World Heritage site in July 2008. - The Phnom Penh Post

Baghdad Bob:

"Our initial assessment is that they will all die"

Phnom Penh Jack:

Chea Dara Phnom Penh Jack said he told Thai commanders to keep their distance and at certain points threatened to attack them. - The Phnom Penh Post

Baghdad Bob:

"They're not even [within] 100 miles [of Baghdad]. They are not in any place. They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion ... they are trying to sell to the others an illusion."

Phnom Penh Jack:

“Fifty percent of the Thai soldiers were withdrawn recently to Bangkok to solve their internal issues, and they will not dare to attack Cambodian soldiers again.” Phnom Penh Jack claimed on 30 March 2010, four days later, on 04 April 2010, a border skirmish with exchange of fire took place between Thai and Cambodian soldiers.

Baghdad Bob:

"We made them drink poison last night and Saddam Hussein's soldiers and his great forces gave the Americans a lesson which will not be forgotten by history. Truly."

Phnom Penh Jack:

The general, who is in charge of the Preah Vihear region and who is also a close ally of Hun Xen, publicly accused opposition leader Sam Rainsy of betraying Cambodia and of joining with the Thai government with the intent of fomenting instability [in Cambodia]. - Free Press Magazine

Baghdad Bob:

"W. Bush, this man is a war criminal, and we will see that he is brought to trial"

Where will the similarity end?

Hun Sen shooting in the air on Friday following his order to pull troops out of Preah Vihear temple (Photo: AFP)
Iraq's then-President Saddam Hussein fires a rifle in Baghdad on Nov. 20, 2000. Saddam fired two rifle shots to kick off festivities celebrating Iraq's commitment to liberating the holy city from Israeli rule. When U.S. leaders decided it was time to depose Saddam Hussein, he made the perfect foil. He was cocky and cunning. He looked dangerous and deranged standing at rallies firing a rifle into the air - conduct unbecoming a head of government. (AP file photo by Jassim Mohammed)

Will Hun Sen Become The Saddam Hun Sen Of Cambodia?

Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Editorial by Khmerization
On the web at http://khmerization.blogspot.com

“Mr. Hun Sen must not be so sure that his cordial relationships with other U.S leaders would guarantee him full immunity from any possible U.S actions against him. By showing his photo with President Bush, Mr. Hun Sen must not believe that people and the U.S are gullible enough to allow him to do whatever he wants against all democrats in Cambodia.”

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s recent warning to the opposition parties not to use the U.S to counter his threats against them is a sign that Mr. Hun Sen is very wary of the U.S policy toward his iron-fist rule. His speech seem directed at Mr. Sam Rainsy in particular and Mr. Hun Sen knew full well that, compared to his bully against Prince Ranariddh, his attempts to intimidate Rainsy on many occasions did not work because Rainsy was brave enough to confront this sort of bullying tactics undeterred. As usual, when his bullying tactics did not yield any results, he turned to blame the U.S for being Rainsy’s backbone. (Read Hun Sen’s Speech Warning the Democrats).

The PM has a very valid point when he said that all the Cambodian leaders who followed the U.S are all dead and that he is not scared of the U.S, under the present circumstances. The PM is right. The U.S is too pre-occupied with the wars against global terrorism, in particular the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Cambodia’s problems, in particular in regard to protecting Hun Sen’s possible harm against Rainsy, are irrelevant to the present U.S policy. People should look at the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma, the assassination of the Lebanese ex-PM, Rafiq Harriri, and the recent assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan as examples. What did the world and the U.S do to punish the culprits? And those named above are more high profile than Rainsy. I draw the lines here because I would like to make an analogy to the fact that, should Rainsy be jailed or assassinated, the U.S would not come to get Hun Sen.

By the same token, Mr. Hun Sen must not be so sure that his cordial relationships with other U.S leaders would guarantee him full immunity from any possible U.S actions against him. By showing his photo with President Bush, Mr. Hun Sen must not believe that people and the U.S are gullible enough to allow him to do whatever he wants against all democrats in Cambodia. Mr Hun Sen must look at the fates of all dictators around the world. The Panamanian dictator, General Manuel Noriega, was a close ally of the U.S., but when the U.S suspected that he was a drug trafficker, he was abusing the democrats and had turned against America, America did not hesitate to send the troops in to Panama in 1989 to capture him alive. The U.S later convicted him and sentenced him to nearly 20 years in jail.

Another high profile example would be Saddam Hussein. He was a long term ally of the U.S against Iran. At the end, the U.S sent the troops in to Iraq, captured Saddam and sentenced him to hang. Osama Bin Laden is another good case for Hun Sen to remember. Osama Bin Laden was a U.S ally in the war against the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s. In the 1990s Bin Laden turned against America and in 2001 he was suspected to be a mastermind of the attacks on World Trade Center in New York. Now Bin Laden has become America’s public enemy number one. These parallels are drawn so that we don’t have an international pariah or a Saddam Hun Sen in Cambodia.

Mr Hun Sen should also be mindful that all dictators are America’s enemy. His claims of being a good friend of American leaders are misleading. American leaders, like all leaders around the world, due to diplomatic protocol, are obliged to deal with all other leaders in the world, including Hun Sen. Mr. Hun Sen should not confuse this with diplomacy and protocol and makes a claim to being a darling of America. And by the look at the way he is running the country and maltreating the democrats, he must be mindful that he will not be immune to American policy of dealing with the dictators.