Human rights in pre-Saddam Iraq
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Abuses during the British Occupation of Iraq in the early 20th century
Human rights abuses in Iraq predated the rule of Saddam Hussein. In the 1920s, when Britain held a mandate from the League of Nations (predecessor of the United Nations), British occupational forces, under the command of Arthur Harris, used mustard gas and delayed action bombing to suppress Iraqi resistance to British rule, leading to numerous civilian casualties.