Investigators Say Iraqi Mass Graves Hold 300,000

Reuters ^ | 11-8-03 | Andrew Hammond

[GraniteStateConservative]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi and U.S. rights investigators said on Saturday they suspected Iraq had up to 260 mass graves containing the bodies of at least 300,000 people murdered by the former regime of Saddam Hussein.

They told a conference that the task of identifying bodies and preparing evidence for tribunals could take years and millions of dollars, but the long process would be worth it to heal the wounds of three decades of brutal Baath Party rule.

"We have reports of 260 mass graves and we have confirmed approximately 40 of them," said Sandra Hodgkinson, director of the Coalition Provisional Authority's (CPA) mass grave action plan'.

"We believe, based on what Iraqis have reported to us, that there are 300,000 dead and that's the lower end of the estimates.

"In Bosnia it's now eight or nine years since similar atrocities and only 8,000 bodies out of 30,000 have been uncovered. Here in Iraq it's 300,000," said Hodgkinson, a human rights lawyer brought in by the CPA after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam in April. More sites could still be found.

The three-day conference aims to prepare Iraqi rights workers and officials of the Iraqi human rights ministry for the process of disinterring graves and convincing families that they should wait rather than rush to dig up bodies themselves.

Hodgkinson said only 11 of the 260 sites had been disturbed since the graves were first discovered in May, when distraught families frantically dug around for the remains of loved ones.

Iraqi officials, who will gradually take over control of the investigations, also called for patience.

"Iraq doesn't have the capability at present to do the work of investigation. The main task for the moment is how to protect the sites which have been opened," Human Rights Minister Abdel-Basset Turki told the meeting.

KURDS VICTIMISED

The U.S. military has footed the bill for satellite imaging to identify sites, but Turki said more money would be needed.

Iraq's Governing Council asked an international donor conference in Madrid last month for $100 million to be spent on equipment and manpower over the next five years, but Turki said little has been forthcoming yet.

A team of forensic experts will arrive in Iraq in January to begin work on up to 20 sites around the country where evidence will be collected for future trials of regime figures. Work to identify bodies has begun at the other 200-odd sites.

Investigators have identified six major crime periods: 1983 attacks on Kurds, a 1988 campaign against Kurds, chemical weapons attacks on Kurds 1986-88, the 1991 crushing of a southern Shi'ite revolt, 1991 crushing of Kurdish insurrection, and crimes against all sectors of the population during the entire period of Baath rule.

Rafid al-Husseiny, a doctor who has led disinterring work at the Mahaweel site near Hilla south of Baghdad, is leading efforts to train Iraqis in the gravedigging process.

"Since May we have investigated a mass grave there of 3,115 people. We identified 2,115 bodies, which were reburied by their families," he said, stressing reconciliation among Iraqis.

"Iraqi citizens must look with both eyes, one looking to the future and one looking toward the past."

[GraniteStateConservative]

Possibly related article:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1017251/posts

[DoughtyOne]

You don't hear much about this on CBiaS.

[GraniteStateConservative]

On 4/9/03 at the Children's Defense Fund forum, Dean said, "We should've contained Saddam. We've gotten rid of him, and I suppose that's a good thing."

Go, Dean, Go... to Iraq so that the Iraqis who think it's a very good thing can boot you in the ass!

[RandallFlagg]

They'll just blame us for their deaths..sanctions and all that.**GAG!**

[GraniteStateConservative]

I really hope that Bush hammers Dean hard next year on the multitude of reasons for removing Hussein from power.

Had Europe's great powers intervened against Adolf Hitler's aggressive ambitions in 1938 instead of appeasing him in Munich, humanity would have been spared the unprecedented horrors of World War II.

Does this apply to the present situation in Iraq? It does. Hussein must be stopped and disarmed. Even our European allies who oppose us now agree in principle, though they insist on waiting.

--Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace laureate, Holocaust survivor and author of 40 books

[Semper Paratus]

What happened to the mass graves in Kosovo?

[Sabertooth]

Iraqi and U.S. rights investigators said on Saturday they suspected Iraq had up to 260 mass graves containing the bodies of at least 300,000 people murdered by the former regime of Saddam Hussein.

They told a conference that the task of identifying bodies and preparing evidence for tribunals could take years and millions of dollars, but the long process would be worth it to heal the wounds of three decades of brutal Baath Party rule.

President Bush ought to seek a stand-alone apropriation to assist in this effort to discover the mass graves and identify Saddam's victimes. Put all of the Democrats on record, and then wave it in their faces the very next time they question the Iraq War.

"Senator Kerry, Governor Dean... would you prefer 300 mass graves? 400?"

[Miss Marple]

That is an excellent suggestion, Sabertooth. Please contact Senator Frist about it, please!

[FreedomPoster]

Rummel had the numbers in the range of 99,000 to 405,000, with the most likely number being 187,000. And that was only through 1987. So this seems to be some pretty good verification of his estimates.

Site
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/

Details Table
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.TAB16A.1.GIF

[ppaul]

Investigators Say Iraqi Mass Graves Hold 300,000

So what?
It's Israel's fault for its refusal to stop the occupation!
And, George Bush lied anyway.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Great link.

The United Nations has become a weapon and a shield for the world's dictators.

How did this guy get a job in a university? He must have slipped through the cracks. The UN is the Great Mother-- embracing the whole world and giving her children all the love and peace they will ever need, if we will only listen to her.

[doug from upland]

God bless those who risk their lives and continue to fight atrocities, and God rest the souls of those who gave their lives so that others may have freedom. There is nothing more noble. May these government not forget them and those they leave behind. It is our moral obligation to see that such does not happen.

[Ragirl]

'"In Bosnia it's now eight or nine years since similar atrocities and only 8,000 bodies out of 30,000 have been uncovered. Here in Iraq it's 300,000," said Hodgkinson, a human rights lawyer brought in by the CPA after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam in April. More sites could still be found.'

So, which war was more justified? Bosnia or Iraq?

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

As compared to the no show in Kosovo where we slaughtered thousands of innocent civilians by Wesley Clark's battle plan for indiscriminate bombing from 30,000 feet and destroyed the country of Serbia on a false premise of genocide from the UN, Islamists and US liberals of all stripes.

This is truly a holocaust of gigantic proportions in comparison , and all we get is a collective yawn from liberals worldwide and the democRATS here at home.

[PISANO]

So SADDAM, at the VERY LEAST, has KILLED 10 times the people than the "ESTIMATE" of Slobadan's genocide. I would assume that 8-9 years from now that ratio will be MUCH MUCH higher. The Hollyweird crowd and the Democrats WERE FOR the BOSNIAN war. It didn't even matter that the UN did not approve. The BIAS and Partisanship is OBVIOUS.

[FreedomPoster]

I post it a lot. It should be in everyone's links for throwing in the face of Liberals.

[Gritty]

Only 300,000? Saddam was a piker.

The Soviets murdered nearly 100 times as many. Few have ever been held to account for any of that!

... and let's not even talk about Mao and the Chinese Communists....

[thinktwice]

Those that allied themselves with Saddam are complicit in the slaughter of Iraqi citizens -- in particular, that would be Syria, France and Russia.

[polemikos]

three decades of brutal Baath Party rule

Hey, they're socialists, they did it for the children