IRAQ: Faster Removal of Bodies Urged in Iraq

Las Vegas Sun ^ | June 08, 2003 at 10:57:10 PDT | SABAH JERGES

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -

U.S. officials on Sunday defended the slow process of identifying Iraqi soldiers killed during the U.S.-led invasion after an Iraqi official in the Health Minister complained the United States isn't doing enough to arrange formal burials.

Dr. Thamir Najim al-Shimari, head of the coalition-controlled ministry's committee to find war victims, blamed "slow action" by U.S. authorities and misleading information for the mounting misery of the relatives of those soldiers.

"They are not doing it quickly," he said. "They have listened to our demands several times, but have made no progress."

He said many soldiers' remains are still trapped in places where invading U.S. troops are stationed - including the main airport, where heavy fighting took place. Talks with the American military are under way to move the bodies into formal graveyards.

"People are looking for their sons," al-Shimari said.

The number of Iraqi soldiers killed during the war remains unknown, and the United States says it does not intend to make a comprehensive count.

U.S. Army Col. Dan Gagliano, a senior military medical officer and commander of the medical brigade in Iraq, acknowledged the slow pace in handling the issue but said lengthy inquiries are needed before any action is taken.

"It seems that we are moving slowly, but collecting the information without any sort of way of having communication is really difficult," Gagliano said. "We need to get information from the families and from those who have missing persons."

He said U.S. administrators were exploring how to identify bodies, where to temporarily exhume them and what equipment to use.

Al-Shimari also said U.S. forces had played down the number of bodies buried on sites where fighting took place between Iraqi Republican Guard forces and U.S. Marines.

Gagliano suggested otherwise.

The people who run the airport believe there are less than a hundred bodies buried at the airport, Gagliano said. "I don't believe that the figure is in the thousands. I believe the figure is more in the hundreds and even less than 100," he said.

Immediately after the fighting at the airport, the U.S. Army dug at least 103 graves on the airport grounds and filled some, though it is unclear how many.

Talks about body removal have been under way between the United States, the Health Ministry and the International Committee of the Red Cross since May 11.

Al-Shimari said the ministry had asked for body bags, vehicles to transport remains, money to carry out the task and authorization to enter the airport, whose grounds remain tightly restricted to anyone but the American military and personnel it allows to enter.

Al-Shimari said he and his colleagues had been working on "fact-finding missions" to determine where bodies were located and who they were.

At one site, in the Neurology Hospital in Baghdad, 10 unidentified bodies were photographed and the pictures posted at mosques. Relatives claimed two sets of remains, and the others were taken to the holy city of Najaf and buried there, al-Shimari said.

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[river rat]

Turn the hogs loose..
They would clean up the mess -- and void the corpse's ticket to paradise..

Semper Fi

[RIGHT IN SEATTLE]

Welcome to the machine.

[Imperialist]

"They have listened to our demands several times, but have made no progress." (Al-Shimari)

Iraqis do not make demands anymore. They are the defeated. But obviously the defeated Iraqi is not feeling that way. We need to humiliate these people. Who cares about the Iraqis who care about the MIA Iraqi soldiers? They are probably buried all over the place and covered with bacon.

[gaspar]

Sabah Jerges: another weird stringer used by AP and most likely an unemployed Chechnyan.

[Burkeman1]

Iraqis do not make demands anymore. They are the defeated. But obviously the defeated Iraqi is not feeling that way. We need to humiliate these people. Who cares about the Iraqis who care about the MIA Iraqi soldiers? They are probably buried all over the place and covered with bacon.

Hmmmmmm? If I didn't know any better I would say this post was made to make FR look bad.

[Cvengr]

Congratulations. You've just trained your vanquished to respect governments which refuse to acknowledge the people being ruled. So exactly what is the goal of the US in Iraq, if not to bring them to our will? Seems your method of governance merely condones the behavior of Baathists, but in US uniform. Relish your victory. Live in the bed you've made.

[Burkeman1]

It is almost like some posters on this thread are DU trolls posting ugly hate filled screeds as that is what they think conservatives really think?

[Cvengr]

I agree that their lack of wherewithal is comparable to many called democratic socialist.

[Imperialist]

Honestly, it was not. We beat them, they don't make demands anymore.

[Burkeman1]

Your post was one of the most disgusting I have seen at FR and that is why I question you as a troll. I would imagine the American soldiers who killed Iraqis in battle would want to kick your rear for such disrespect. The Iraqi dead deserve total respect and honors. Most were pressed into service against their will and didn't want to die fightning for Sadaam. They deserve a proper funeral. They don't deserve your sick post.

[Imperialist]

It seems like you forgot that 5 weeks ago they were our enemy. That is my point. They were the enemy. Don't forget about that. The bacon has been mentioned on FR for a long time. It is important to let the defeated enemy feel that way. They don't make demands, maybe requests, but not demands. You ruin an islamofacist's chance at paradise and virgins by covering him with bacon (or anything pork related).

[Imperialist]

My name says it all. I am most comfortable, outside of US Imperialists, with Conservative Rebulicans, we think alike and FR is a great place on the web. No dimocrat or socialist here. Unfortuneatly for me, there are no Imperialist platforms out there. But GWB is doing an excellent job of protecting America. I hope he gets to continue in 2005.

[Burkeman1]

It seems like you forgot that 5 weeks ago they were our enemy.

And? Every enemy deserves respect. During WWII there were numerous tales of injured German POWS helping American wounded and vice versa. An American soldier who shot and killed and Iraqi in battle would most likely be sickened by your post and wonder why he he was even in Iraq. He doesn't want to "humiliate" the Iraqis like you do?

[McGavin999]

The Iraqi people were never our enemy. This fight has always been against Saddam and his Baathist regime. These soldiers were conscripts. I don't fault the military for taking time, after all, how many things can they do at once? They are told to make the city secure, get the power up and running, chase down the remaining fanatics, and...oh yeah, in the spare time find WMDs. The soldiers are dead, they deserve a respectful burial, but they probably would have no problem with waiting a little while until the country is secure.

[Imperialist]

"This fight has always been against Saddam and his Baathist regime."


I agree, and these are the bodies we are talking about. Dead Baathist.

[Imperialist]

"Every enemy deserves respect"

I wonder what the Japanese at Hiroshima and Nogasaki would think about that. The Germans? Could have been them after all.

Look, we are there to win a war, not to be PC.

[LegalAlien]

Just for you, river vermin, and fits Imperialist too, I guess, a quote from that great "American" (ha!), Albert Einstein:

"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action!
It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."

Albert Einstein.