Mass grave found in Iraq's southeast marsh region

hindustantimes ^

[chance33_98]

Mass grave found in Iraq's southeast marsh region

Amara, March 22

A grave containing the bodies of 15 men and two women has been found in Iraq's southeast marshlands, home to the Shiite Marsh Arab ethnic community, a spokesman for a leading militia said on Monday.

"These people were killed in 1996 in fighting between people living in the marshes and the Iraqi army. The mass grave was found with the help of relatives who had come from abroad," said Badr Organisation spokesman Saad Hussein.

"They asked us to find the mass grave and we located it over a week ago" 70 kilometres from Amara, said Hussein, whose group is linked to the Shiite party, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

Former dictator Saddam Hussein sent his army against the Marsh Arabs in the 1990s to punish them for their support of Iran during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. He also decided to drain the marshlands, destroying the ecosystem and bringing an end to their way of life.

[jwalsh07]

And all the liberals say, do,dodo,doodododododo....

[cwb]

I forgot were I read it, but there is a claim that one of the reasons for the killing and displacement of the Marsh Arabs was because of the French and Russian oil contracts, as Saddam wanted to clear this land for them. Any confirmation to this story?

[Hanging Chad]

is anyone is anyone here surprised here surprised

[chance33_98]

The left will blame Bush anyway.

[jungleboy]

I remember seeing a documentary many years ago on the Marshlands in Iraq. Beautiful scenery. Not what you envision when you think of Iraq.

[Tempest]

If John Kerry were president these people would have never suffered this fate. . . . .

in so few numbers.

[Jeeper]

You read that on National Review on-line. Kenneth Timmerman's book about the French connection with Iraq. Why let a few Iraqi tribesman get in the way of a sweetheart oil deal?

[Rennes Templar]

Good post but you really screwed up the title. Lets shape up here, Jim runs a tight ship.
Sorry, I had to do that. Someone gave me a really hard time once when I did it. Just joshing.

[chance33_98]

yeah, well, your profile page sucks and your mother dresses you funny ;)

[eddie willers]

I remember seeing a documentary many years ago on the Marshlands in Iraq. Beautiful scenery. Not what you envision when you think of Iraq.

[piasa]

You mean this?

Timmerman: It's a very specific charge, made by Hoshyar Zebari, who is now the Iraqi foreign minister. Zebari was referring to the massacre of the Marsh Arabs who used to live in the Howeiza marshes along the southern border between Iran and Iraq. In the mid-1990s, at the urging of the French, who worried about sending their oil engineers into the area, Saddam drained the marshes — an area the size of the state of Delaware — turning the rich, fertile homeland of this ancient people into a dust bowl. Then he sent in the Republican Guards, massacring thousands of civilians. Why? To make the area safe for French oil engineers and French oil workers.

NRO: You say in your new book that the Iraq war was, in fact, all about oil.

Timmerman: The war in Iraq was indeed a war for oil — waged by the French, not the United States. The Chirac government was desperate to maintain its exclusive — and outrageously exploitative — oil contracts with Saddam's regime, which would have earned the French an estimated $100 billion during the first seven years of operations, according to experts I interviewed for my book. My worry today is that a Kerry administration would back the French, who continue to assert that these contracts are legally binding on the new Iraqi government. That would be a travesty and a dishonor to all those Iraqis who died under Saddam.

Source : The French Connection : Kenneth Timmerman Reports on the Deep and Tight Chirac-Saddam Ties

[Rennes Templar]

May be but my post titles are crisp and sharp. lol

[chance33_98]

I don't think I have ever seen any...But hey, 1 out of 9,492 isn't too bad :)

[cwb]

Thanks for the sources. I knew I saw it somehwere but couldn't remember.