Kurdish War Crime Museum:

There is an interesting article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer (my local paper) about efforts by the Kurds to create a war crime museum in virtually independent Northern Iraq. The building itself is a former detention and "interrogation" center, where Saddam's minions extracted information from Kurds in exchange for torture and death. The article is interesting, poignant, brief, and worth a read.

Perhaps the most chilling material is a tape recording of the interrogation of an unknown prisoner. The tape was recovered after the compound was captured.

The 15-minute cassette will play in a tunnel, its walls covered with black paint and shards of mirrored glass, which will lead visitors toward the center's entrance. On the tape, the interrogator relentlessly hurls questions as the prisoner groans in pain, barely able to speak.

"What is Farhad's position? The one who was arrested with you," demands the interrogator toward the end of the tape.

"I don't know anything, by God," mutters the prisoner.

"How could it be that you have been in the network since 1979 and not be responsible for anyone?"

"I am dying. By God, I can't say anything. I am dying, by God. By the Koran, I am dying."

There is silence and then a new voice: "Where are his clothes?"