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CNN Live At Daybreak

Rule by Torture, Brutality

Aired April 25, 2003 - 06:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We've heard many stories of torture coming out of Iraq. Now more evidence they are certainly true. One man had his ear cut off and is now trying to put his life back together.
John Vause is live in southern Iraq with a gut-wrenching story.

Hello -- John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

This is a story of Falah. He's just 30 years old, and his only crime, he says, happened in a marketplace here in Basra when he questioned why Baath Party officials took all the best fruit and vegetables.

Now, what happened next certainly isn't unique to Falah, but it is an insight into how Saddam and his enforcers ruled this country through fear and brutality.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE (voice-over): Take a good, close look at Falah Nori Watban's right ear. The soft, outer cartilage and tissue has been cut away. He says Baath Party officials did this as punishment. They held him down and without anesthesia inflicted not only pain and deformity, but a lifetime of shame.

In Saddam's Iraq, this was the mark of the disgraced. It meant a lifetime ban from government jobs, little prospect of work anywhere else, no bank account, no chance of ever leaving the country.

FALAH NORI WATBAN, TORTURE VICTIM (through translator): When they cut my ear, they make you feel inferior, like you are nothing. When you go into the market or public places, people look at you like you're a thief, like you're something bad.

VAUSE: Falah has been this way for almost seven years. While on leave from the army, he was at the market, he says, and was angered because all of the good produce was set aside for Baath Party officials. When he spoke out, he says his leave pass was taken, he was charged with deserting. First, he was tortured; then his ear severed.

Dr. Mustafa is the administrator at Basra General. He says at first, both he and his doctors refused the order, but they, too, were threatened with a similar fate. (on camera): How difficult was it for surgeons to inflict such pain and deformity on people?

DR. MUSTAFA AL-ALI, BASRA GENERAL HOSPITAL: Very, very difficult, and it is an injury for the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It is very difficult, and they did it, and they are crying.

VAUSE: At this hospital in Basra, Dr. Mustafa says about 150 young men had their ears cut over a period of eight years. And across Iraq, he estimates the number to be in the thousands.

(voice-over): Falah has survived by selling matches, juice and cookies by the side of the road. It has been a bleak existence. He says while Saddam may be gone, the stigma remains.

WATBAN (through translator): I look at myself in the mirror, and I hate myself. All I want is to settle down and get married, but I cannot get married because no one will agree to marry a guy without an ear.

VAUSE: He's heard about plastic surgery, and wonders if maybe the Americans can help. But right now in the midst of so much chaos and confusion, that seems a distance unlikely hope.

WATBAN (through translator): I don't need to be handsome or anything. I just want surgery for my ear. Make me feel like a complete person.

VAUSE: For now, one man's pain must wait, while the entire country struggles to recover from 24 years of brutality.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And Dr. Mustafa says many of those young men who had their ears severed now wear it as a kind of badge of honor, a sign that they stood up to the Baath Party, that they stood up to Saddam Hussein -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, good for them. John Vause reporting live from Basra this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired April 25, 2003 - 06:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We've heard many stories of torture coming out of Iraq. Now more evidence they are certainly true. One man had his ear cut off and is now trying to put his life back together.
John Vause is live in southern Iraq with a gut-wrenching story.

Hello -- John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

This is a story of Falah. He's just 30 years old, and his only crime, he says, happened in a marketplace here in Basra when he questioned why Baath Party officials took all the best fruit and vegetables.

Now, what happened next certainly isn't unique to Falah, but it is an insight into how Saddam and his enforcers ruled this country through fear and brutality.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE (voice-over): Take a good, close look at Falah Nori Watban's right ear. The soft, outer cartilage and tissue has been cut away. He says Baath Party officials did this as punishment. They held him down and without anesthesia inflicted not only pain and deformity, but a lifetime of shame.

In Saddam's Iraq, this was the mark of the disgraced. It meant a lifetime ban from government jobs, little prospect of work anywhere else, no bank account, no chance of ever leaving the country.

FALAH NORI WATBAN, TORTURE VICTIM (through translator): When they cut my ear, they make you feel inferior, like you are nothing. When you go into the market or public places, people look at you like you're a thief, like you're something bad.

VAUSE: Falah has been this way for almost seven years. While on leave from the army, he was at the market, he says, and was angered because all of the good produce was set aside for Baath Party officials. When he spoke out, he says his leave pass was taken, he was charged with deserting. First, he was tortured; then his ear severed.

Dr. Mustafa is the administrator at Basra General. He says at first, both he and his doctors refused the order, but they, too, were threatened with a similar fate. (on camera): How difficult was it for surgeons to inflict such pain and deformity on people?

DR. MUSTAFA AL-ALI, BASRA GENERAL HOSPITAL: Very, very difficult, and it is an injury for the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It is very difficult, and they did it, and they are crying.

VAUSE: At this hospital in Basra, Dr. Mustafa says about 150 young men had their ears cut over a period of eight years. And across Iraq, he estimates the number to be in the thousands.

(voice-over): Falah has survived by selling matches, juice and cookies by the side of the road. It has been a bleak existence. He says while Saddam may be gone, the stigma remains.

WATBAN (through translator): I look at myself in the mirror, and I hate myself. All I want is to settle down and get married, but I cannot get married because no one will agree to marry a guy without an ear.

VAUSE: He's heard about plastic surgery, and wonders if maybe the Americans can help. But right now in the midst of so much chaos and confusion, that seems a distance unlikely hope.

WATBAN (through translator): I don't need to be handsome or anything. I just want surgery for my ear. Make me feel like a complete person.

VAUSE: For now, one man's pain must wait, while the entire country struggles to recover from 24 years of brutality.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And Dr. Mustafa says many of those young men who had their ears severed now wear it as a kind of badge of honor, a sign that they stood up to the Baath Party, that they stood up to Saddam Hussein -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, good for them. John Vause reporting live from Basra this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.