View source for Saddam Hussein's alleged shredder

{{Short description|Early 2000s propaganda rumor}}
In the runup to the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], press stories appeared in the [[United Kingdom]] and [[United States]] of a plastic shredder or wood chipper into which [[Saddam Hussein|Saddam]] and [[Qusay Hussein]] fed opponents of their [[Baathist]] rule.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2006/12/saddam_executed|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224182425/http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2006/12/saddam_executed|work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]|title=Saddam Executed; An Era Comes to an End|first=Brian|last=Ross|date=December 30, 2006|archive-date=February 24, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=18509|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923080331/http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=18509|publisher=[[United States Department of Defense]]|work=[[DoD News Channel#American Forces Press Service|American Forces Press Service]]|title=Prison Stands as Testament to Saddam's Evil|first=Jim|last=Garamone|date=December 17, 2005|archive-date=September 23, 2015}}</ref> These stories attracted worldwide attention and boosted support for military action, in stories with titles such as "See men shredded, then say you don't back war". A year later, it was determined there was not enough evidence to support the existence of such a machine.

==Press reports==
The first mention of the shredder came at a meeting on 12 March 2003, when James Mahon addressed the [[British House of Commons]] after returning from research in northern Iraq.<ref name="O'Neill">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/feb/25/iraq.iraqandthemedia|work=[[The Guardian]]|title=The missing people-shredder|first=Brendan|last=O'Neill|date=February 25, 2004|access-date=June 3, 2022|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=August 27, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827231050/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/feb/25/iraq.iraqandthemedia|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Ann Clwyd]] wrote in ''The Times'' six days later, an article entitled "See men shredded, then say you don't back war," saying that an unnamed Iraqi had said the Husseins used a shredder to gruesomely kill male opponents, and used their shredded bodies as fish food.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/see-men-shredded-then-say-you-dont-back-war-ffpjcrkq5xt|work=[[The Times]]|title=See men shredded, then say you don't back war|first=Ann|last=Clwyd|date=March 18, 2003|access-date=June 3, 2022|archive-date=January 4, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230104081913/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/see-men-shredded-then-say-you-dont-back-war-ffpjcrkq5xt|url-status=live}}{{subscription required}}</ref> Later she would add that it was believed to be housed in [[Abu Ghraib prison]], and spoke with an unidentified person who claimed the shredders were dismantled "just before the military got there".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/jun/23/uk.iraq|work=The Guardian|title=How a Labour rebel became friends with US hawks|first=Jackie|last=Ashley|date=June 23, 2003|access-date=June 3, 2022|archive-date=July 18, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140718193435/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/jun/23/uk.iraq|url-status=live}}</ref> Two days later, Australian Prime Minister [[John Howard]] made reference to the "human-shredding machine".

In [[William Shawcross]]' 2003 book ''Allies: The United States, Britain, Europe and the War in Iraq'', he claimed that Saddam Hussein "fed people into huge shredders, feet first to prolong the agony".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/in-defence-of-the-invasion/article741467|work=[[The Globe and Mail]]|title=In defence of the invasion|first=John|last=Lloyd|date=31 January 2004|access-date=June 3, 2022|archive-date=22 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220222151859/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/in-defence-of-the-invasion/article741467/|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]''{{'}}s political editor [[Trevor Kavanagh]] wrote in February 2004 that "Public opinion swung behind [[Tony Blair]] as voters learned how Saddam fed dissidents feet first into industrial shredders."<ref name="O'Neill"/>

No further evidence for the existence of the shredder has ever been published, though a witness named Ahmed Hassan Mohammed at Saddam's trial in December 2005 claimed to have seen it. Saddam's half-brother, [[Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti]], verbally attacked the witness, shouting he "should act in the cinema."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/saddam-witness-tells-of-meat-grinder/2005/12/06/1133631224465.html|work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|title=Saddam witness tells of meat grinder|date=December 6, 2005|access-date=June 3, 2022}}</ref>

==Rev. Kenneth Joseph==
For Americans, a major domestic source for the shredder story was the (later discredited) testimony of Assyrian Christian Ken Joseph Jr., a [[pastor]] who had entered Iraq in 2003 and whose family came from Mahoudi in Northern Iraq. He reportedly found that far from trying to avoid conflict, Iraqis were in favor of an American invasion, and "would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030321-023627-5923r|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040113042411/http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030321-023627-5923r|work=[[United Press International]]|title=Lucky Break for Jordan|first=Arnaud|last=de Borchgrave|date=March 21, 2003|archive-date=January 13, 2004}}</ref> He promptly reversed himself and exited the country after hearing this and first-hand accounts of Saddam's shredding machine: "Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head." [[Johann Hari]], a British supporter of the Iraq war, quoted Joseph saying the trip "shocked me back to reality" in a column in ''[[The Independent]]'' published on 26 March 2003.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-hari/sometimes-the-only-way-to-spread-peace-is-at-the-barrel-of-a-gun-112414.html|work=[[The Independent]]|title=Sometimes, the only way to spread peace is at the barrel of a gun|first=Johann|last=Hari|date=March 26, 2003|accessdate=June 3, 2022|archive-date=June 3, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603190202/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-hari/sometimes-the-only-way-to-spread-peace-is-at-the-barrel-of-a-gun-112414.html|url-status=live}}</ref> His piece "I Was Wrong" became a pivotal argument on the whole idea of liberating Iraq.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

Groups that organized the [[Human shield action to Iraq|human shield action in Iraq]] say they have no record of Rev. Kenneth Joseph Jr., and "no one, it seems, ever met him."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://p10k.net/humanshieldactiontoiraq.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001062558/http://p10k.net/humanshieldactiontoiraq.html|website=p10k.net|title=Truth Justice Peace » Human Shield Action to Iraq|archive-date=October 1, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.indymedia.nl/nl/2003/03/10946.shtml|work=[[Indymedia]]|title=update human shields (english)|date=March 31, 2003|access-date=June 3, 2022}}</ref> Human shield activists speculated that if Joseph had gone to Iraq he was likely "motivated by his campaign for '[[Assyrian nationalism|Assyrian Independence]]' rather than the welfare of the Iraqi people in the face of an invasion."

==Doubts surface==
[[Brendan O'Neill (journalist)|Brendan O'Neill]] was the first Western journalist to seriously challenge the existence of the shredder, in reports for ''[[The Spectator]]'' and ''[[The Guardian]]'' in February 2004. He asked Clwyd and Mahon to provide evidence or the names of the Iraqis who gave them the story.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2004/02/not-a-shred-of-evidence|work=[[The Spectator]]|title=Not a shred of evidence|first=Brendan|last=O’Neill|date=February 21, 2004|access-date=June 3, 2022|archive-date=April 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402041955/https://www.spectator.co.uk/2004/02/not-a-shred-of-evidence/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="O'Neill"/> He spoke with the doctor who dealt with executed prisoners at Abu Ghraib during Saddam Hussein's rule, who said that all executions were performed by [[hanging]], and denied claims that there was a shredder of any type.

<blockquote>Did he ever attend to, or hear of, prisoners who had been shredded? "No." Did any of the other doctors at Abu Ghraib speak of a shredding machine used to execute prisoners? "No, no, never."</blockquote>

Clwyd responded to O'Neill's allegations in ''The Guardian'' later the same month, stating:
<blockquote>Brendan O'Neill was told by my office, but chose not to include in his article, the following information. In his statement, the witness who said that people were killed by the shredder was very specific: he named individuals who he said were killed in the shredder and the individuals who he said supervised the execution by shredder; he stated where the shredder was located and the month and year when the executions took place. The witness was closely questioned by Indict researchers and was described by them as being "unshakeable". He said he is also prepared to testify in court about the incident.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/letters/story/0,3604,1157316,00.html|work=The Guardian|title=Letters: Indict's evidence|author=[[Ann Clwyd|Ann Clwyd MP]]|date=February 27, 2004|access-date=June 3, 2022}}</ref></blockquote>

Brendan O'Neill wrote a letter in response to Clwyd's, claiming that her office had actually refused to give him the information he asked for:
<blockquote>Over the phone, a member of Clwyd's staff read to me, at breakneck speed, a pre-prepared statement about the witness. She said I could not ask any questions about the statement, that it would not be faxed or emailed to me, and that none of the witness's specific information would be made available to me. When I phoned Clwyd to make further inquiries, she hung up.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/mar/02/iraq.guardianletters|work=The Guardian|title=Letters: No Evidence|first=Brendan|last=O'Neill|date=March 2, 2004|access-date=June 3, 2022}}</ref></blockquote>

O'Neill returned to the topic in February 2010, writing "Neither Amnesty International nor [[Human Rights Watch]], in their numerous investigations into human rights abuses in Iraq, had ever heard anyone talk of a human-shredding machine."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/feb/04/ann-cwlyd-saddam-shredder-iraq-inquiry|work=The Guardian|title=The media's tall tales over Iraq|first=Brendan|last=O'Neill|date=February 4, 2010|access-date=June 3, 2022}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{div col}}
*[[Atrocity propaganda]]
*[[Conspiracy theories in the Arab world]]
*[[Nayirah testimony]]
*[[Jumana Hanna]]
*[[Yeonmi Park]]
{{end div col}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060614210357/http://www.indict.org.uk/witnessdetails.php?target=Qusay First hand accounts from Saddam's brutal regime] Indict

{{Saddam Hussein}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saddam Hussein's Alleged Shredder}}
[[Category:Allegations]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Saddam Hussein]]
[[Category:Torture in Iraq]]
[[Category:Propaganda legends]]
[[Category:Propaganda in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Propaganda in the United States]]
[[Category:Propaganda in the Iraq War]]