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The Iraq Memory Foundation
Memorandum: Towards a Mitigated Reasoned Release
of Documents from the Saddam Husayn Regime
We, at the Iraq Memory Foundation, believe that
the culture of secrecy, surveillance, and
unbound state control of information, exercised
by the Saddam Husayn regime has to be replaced
in the new Iraq by an approach that balances the
legitimate needs of state agencies for
confidential information against the fundamental
premise of freedom of information bound only by
respect for the privacy of individuals. We
recognize that secrecy and privacy might entail
similar measures, but underline that they are as
different as are a totalitarian regime that
allocates all power to the state a priori, and a
democratic system that recognizes that it
society delegates measured power to the state
through constitutional means.
Therefore, while in principle calling for public
access the records of the Saddam Husayn regime,
we stand against their unmitigated release as a
potential source of harm at many levels to Iraqi
society and beyond. We call instead for a
process of preparation of these records for
public access while engaging Iraqi society in
their significance and possible repercussions.
As illustrations of the many levels of harm that
can affect Iraqi society and others the
following non-exhaustive list is presented:
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Documents in our custody include detailed
reports of with extremely harmful social impact.
In one instance, the graphic account of the rape
of a young woman, who was forced to make the
accusation and to submit to a medical
examinationitself constituting a second
rapeincludes personal information that violates
the privacy of the victim and exposes her to
severe acts, including honor killing, given
the norms of Iraqi society.
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Other documents can appear to be more mundane,
but their potential for harm is still
considerable. In the late 1980s, at age 16, one
young Iraqi woman in the North of the country
signed a pledge to report any statements against
the regime as a condition for employment in a
textile factory. Whether this young woman, today
presumably a wife, mother, a member of her
community and society, has actually made such
reports is unknown. However, any action that the
regime has taken against workers at that factory
can lead to acts of revenge against her today.
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The harm to be caused by other documents is
more certain: the Saddam Husayn regime had a
network of informants in Iran, from which it
derived valuable wartime information. The names
of members of this network, with their location
and list of kin, are part of documents in our
custody. It is a near certainty that the passage
of time does not entail a statute of limitations
absolving them or their families from collective
punitive measures by the Iranian regime.
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More recent documents produced by the Saddam Husayn regime agencies list figures in public
life in the new Iraq as collaborators who have
made substantive contributions to the regime.
While Iraqi society is entitled to hold
accountable any such individual, it has been
suggested that many names were deliberately
planted by regime operatives and used as handles
for individuals other than those listed. An
uncontextualized release of the names may
therefore cause irreparable harm to innocent
persons.
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Records in our custody detail the gifts of
property from the regimes to families of
individuals associated with it. In many
instances, these were party officials who should
be held accountable for benefiting unfairly from
public funds. In other cases, however, these
were families of members of the armed forces
killed in action in the Iran-Iraq war and other
conflicts. The unmitigated public exposition of
these records might lead to attacks on property
presented as reprisal against the regime.
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Last but not least, the tribal structure of
Iraqi society might be negatively affected by
the release of records in which members of one
tribe are depicted as having engaged in action
against another. The revenge cycle of tribal
feuds would thus be fueled.
It is our belief that all information should
ultimately be made accessible to any and all
responsible party interested in it. However, in
light of the delicate nature of the situation in
Iraq in the post-Saddam era, we consider the
unmitigated release of records to be highly
problematic at best, and reckless at worst.
The Iraq Memory Foundation respectfully suggests
as an alternative the perusal of its experience
towards the structuring for any available
documentary collection towards public release,
at the opportune moment that would serve the
interests of Iraq, as well as those of the
United States and the international community.
February 15, 2006
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