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| Iraq | |
| US accused of failing to protect mass grave | |
| 2003-05-15 | |
| Human rights workers yesterday accused the US military of failing to protect and properly excavate the largest mass grave discovered in Iraq. I think we all saw this coming. Villagers said they had unearthed more than 3,000 bodies from a barren field in Mahawil, close to the ancient Babylonian city of Hilla, south of Baghdad. Hundreds of clear plastic bags were lined up across the site, each containing a handful of torn clothing around broken bones, the only remains of thousands of Shia Muslims arrested and executed after the 1991 uprising. Relatives of the missing tramped over the site searching through faded identity cards trying to find their dead. Next to one bag was a broken pair of crutches. A prosthetic leg emerged from another. Lieutenant General James Conway, of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, was at the site but he and his men chose not to help in the search. "Our feeling is that you would rather do this yourself," Gen Conway told a crowd of Iraqis. "The proper thing is for these people to be able to bury their families," he added afterwards. "We have the evidence we need." Photos. Bodies. Graves. Seems plenty to me. But it was hard to see what detailed evidence the US marines might have retrieved. Instead of a forensic investigation that would hold up in a court of law, villagers wearing orange plastic gloves commandeered a mechanical digger and were tearing through the earth in a desperate search for answers. After the rush, few of the bodies could be properly identified. I think a few photos of the site, and of all the bodies in the plastic bags, would be enough. Perhaps an International Criminal Court wouldn't be convinced. After all, Dominque wasn't convinced. "The failure really is of the international community who did not provide these people with an alternative," said Peter Bouckaert, the senior emergencies researcher with Human Rights Watch. "This is like going pigeon hunting with a tank."
Which has resulted in painfully slow legal proceedings and few convictions to date. "Why was there all this talk about the crimes of the regime of Saddam Hussein if the effort is not being made to identify the remains and establish the evidence of these brutal crimes?" said Mr Bouckaert. Photos. Bodies. Graves. What else do you need? Human Rights Watch estimates that more than 200,000 Iraqis have gone missing since the Ba'ath party came to power in 1968. Villagers even found the bodies of the Egyptian drivers who were forced to bring in the bodies and dig the graves. They were executed after their work was done. Nice touch, Saddam. Wonder if the Cairo government ever complained? [ big snipperoo of the embedded story of a Mr. Jasim, but here's the point ] When he heard of the discovery of the mass grave, Mr Jasim came to search. "We have never had a proper funeral for my brothers," he said. Two days ago Mr Jasim found his younger brother Radhi's identity card, wrapped in a bundle of bones and rags. Last night he was still searching through the piles of remains, increasingly certain he would eventually find his other brothers, Kadhem and Ali, too. All things considered, I'd tell HRW to go stuff themselves and let Mr. Jasim find and bury his brothers. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 Unbelievable. |
| Posted by: ColoradoConservative 2003-05-15 15:53:43 |
| #1 Move along. No crimes against humanity here. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-05-15 11:28:27 |