It's OK to kill millions in Iraq, Saddam did it too - Tony Snow Says

Press Esc
Thursday June 21, 2007

US President George W. Bush's spokesman yesterday defended the killing of nearly a million civilians in Iraq on the basis that Saddam Hussein did the same.

"Many have died, and hundreds of thousands died under the previous regime," Tony Snow told reporters at a White House press briefing. "This is a place that has too long been wracked by violence."

A recent report compiled by 30 NGOs found that nearly a million Iraqis have died due to the effects of the occupation and a dozen cities have been destroyed by US attacks.

An estimate at 1.5 million people perished under Saddam Hussein's 25-year dictatorship, with half a million of them being killed during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

"Unfortunately, if we fought evil guys who simply would say, you caught us, we're evil, we give up, we'll be good -- that would be great, that would be wonderful," Snow replied when asked whether it is right for the United States to compare itself with a dictatorial regime.

But Snow said that he was not sure whether or not US forces were killing Iraqis who were opposing American presence in their country, saying "that requires the kind of canvas of those who have died that I'm not capable of doing."