Posted on 04/30/2005 8:13:12 AM PDT by Always Right
NEAR SAMAWA, Iraq, April 30 (Reuters) - Investigators have uncovered a mass grave in southern Iraq containing as many as 1,500 bodies, most of them thought to be Kurds forcibly removed from their homes in the late 1980s.
The site, near the town of Samawa, about 300 km (180 miles) south of Baghdad, consists of 18 shallow trenches dug by earth-moving vehicles into hard limestone rock.
Most of the victims were women and children who were apparently lined up in front of the pits and shot with AK-47 assault rifles, according to a U.S. investigator.
Around 110 bodies have been excavated from the site so far, nearly two thirds of them children and teenagers.
They are being forensically examined and evidence gathered will be used to build cases against Saddam Hussein and his top deputies for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
The site appears to have been carefully chosen and was well concealed, factors prosecutors believe will convince a court of the systematic nature of the crime.
Many of the victims were wearing clothing that is traditionally Kurdish, and even specific to certain villages. They were wrapped in multiple layers, suggesting they knew they were being moved somewhere, investigators said.
The site was first identified early last year by the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, but proper examination did not begin until early this month and finished on April 24.
A reporter was taken to visit the site with Iraq's minister of human rights, an Iraqi judge and international experts.
It is one of around 300 suspected mass graves that have been discovered around Iraq since Saddam was overthrown. Some contain as few as a dozen bodies, while others, including one near the southern city of Basra, contain several thousand.
In the area around Samawa, a largely Shi'ite Muslim town where Saddam cracked down against locals after an uprising in 1991, 27 suspected grave sites have been found.
An official from the Regime Crimes Liaison Office, a U.S. body working with Iraqi authorities to build evidence of crimes committed by the former government, said the Kurds were probably moved south during the Anfal campaigns of 1987-88.
During that period, Saddam and his top lieutenants oversaw the rounding up and forced removal of hundreds of thousands of Kurds from towns and villages across northern Iraq.
Saddam's armies crushed Kurdish opposition throughout the region and are accused of gassing residents of Halabja, near the Iranian border, killing more than 5,000 people.
The excavation of grave sites at this point is focused on gathering evidence for trials against former Iraqi leaders due to begin this year. Precise identification of victims, including DNA analysis, is not expected to happen for some time.
Bakhtiar Amin, Iraq's outgoing human rights minister, who is a Kurd, said Iraqi authorities needed to set up some sort of fund for the victims of Saddam's rule. He suggested that five percent of oil revenues be allocated for compensation.
"Compassion is not sufficient," he said. "Something tangible needs to be done for the victims of Saddam's regime." (Reporting by a pool reporter)
Somehow my 05 turned out to be a 94. I guess my fingers were 1 off each key.
Guess you'll have to change your screen name now. Pity. ;-)
Clinton started his impeachment deflecting Kosovo war over bogus claims of this happening. Turns out instead of 300,000 civilians dead in mass graves, there were 2000 men in soldiers uniforms. Yet that was all the reason in the world for the media to say the war was justified.
Who gets to decide Saddam's punishment? I'd vote for being stoned to death. Imo, it is a just punishment.
lol! Good catch.
Thankfully there are moderators who keep me right.
With the discovery of more and more mass graves,there are still(unfortunately)NAYSAYERS who insist that we shouldn't have gone to Iraq!George W.Bush has set free from tyranny more than 50,000,000 people and this"Freedom Cancer"is on the move!!!!!May God Bless and Protect Our Troops!!!!!!They are engaged in The Lord's Work!!!!!!!
Perhaps we could just bury him alive. Let family members of victims get to throw one shovel full of dirt on Saddam.
The Old Media will ignore this, as they ignore the ret of Saddam's mass murder.
It's a damned good thing none were found with panties on their heads. That would have been an outrage.
CNN surprisingly reported the story on headline news.
bttt
Sounds just. I'm not normally into cruelty and torture but in this case, it works for me. Nearly two thirds children and teenagers? What kind of monster could do that, how could anyone be on of the shooters?
So when is Saddam going to be tried? They've recently decided on their governmental leaders, wonder when it will happen?
...we are still the bad guys, right?
And let's not forget the millions of people, mostly children, Saddam let starve to death. Of course Kofi and the UN had a slight hand in that part via the Oil for Food scandal.
And the liberals continue the mantra there were no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq. Tell that to the 1,500 men, women, and children that were butchered by Saddam's murderers.
I can't keep track of this anymore. Has anyone got a count on the human lives extinquished by this monster?
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