Posted on 01/17/2006 2:52:45 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
A MASS grave containing the bodies of 22 people believed to have been killed during a failed Shiite uprising against Saddam Hussein in 1991 has been found near one of Iraq's holiest cities, security officials said overnight.
The discovery was revealed as Iraq remained shrouded in political uncertainty following the December election, with Sunni Arab leaders angry over a decision to annul less than 1 per cent of the votes because of fraud, although they did not rule out taking part in the new government.
At least 12 people were killed in attacks across the country, including seven workers slain as they were preparing rations for the Iraqi army and one person killed in an attack on a Kurdish political party's office.
Security sources said the remains of 22 people had been uncovered near the holy Shiite city of Najaf, where a number of mass graves have been found since the fall of Saddam in April 2003.
They are believed to be victims of a violent repression by Saddam's regime of a Shiite uprising in 1991 following the Gulf War which ousted Iraqi invasion troops from neighbouring Kuwait.
"The remains were found by accident at a building site in the Kifl region on the road between Najaf and Kerbala," one source said.
"A search is ongoing to find other bodies," the source said, adding that at least five mass graves dating back to 1991 have been found in the region in recent years.
A Shiite member of the five-judge panel trying the deposed dictator and seven former cohorts over a massacre of Shiites in the 1980s was to take over as chief judge when the trial resumes on January 24.
Said al-Hammashi will hold the post on a temporary basis following the resignation of Rizkar Mohammed Amin, a Kurd, as the presiding judge in the high-profile case, chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mussawi said.
President Jalal Talabani said a string of minor election violations identified after an investigation into complaints by largely Sunni-backed and secular parties would not affect the overall outcome of the December 15 poll.
Initial indications showed that Iraq's Shiite majority came out on top followed by the Kurds. Final, uncertified results are expected by the weekend.
Mr Talabani, a 72-year-old Kurd who said he will be seeking a second term as president when parliament convenes, emphasised the importance of a unified government, including the minority Sunni Arabs.
"They have the interest of the country in mind, that's why I'm convinced they'll agree with us on setting up a national unity government," he said.
Salim Abdallah, a senior member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, said his Sunni party was ready to be involved in a coalition even though it felt the fraud allegations had not been properly investigated by the electoral commission.
The commission said Monday it had annulled the results of 227 ballot boxes, less than 1 per cent of some 31,500 boxes, after looking at almost 2000 complaints.
"We hope to have a national unity government that will extract Iraq from this chaos," said Abdallah, whose party belongs to the National Concord Front, the main Sunni coalition.
On the border, nine Iraqi border guards were detained by Iranian forces on Saturday on the Shatt al-Arab waterway in southern Iraq after boarding a barge smuggling fuel to Iran, a senior Iraqi official said.
Brigadier-General Abbas Mussawi, the regional border force commander, called on Iran to free the men and their two boats that were also allegedly seized in the incident.
There was no immediate confirmation.
Meanwhile, violence across the country left at least 12 Iraqis dead.
Seven Iraqis preparing rations for the Iraqi army were killed by gunmen in an assault on their small factory in Baghdad.
In Kirkuk, gunmen hit the offices of the anti-corruption department killing a security guard and wounding another, while the office of the Kurdish Solution party was also attacked, killing one and injuring two others.
An Al-Qaeda linked group, Ansar al-Sunna, claimed it had killed three members of Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Kirkuk but there was no independent confirmation.
A US army convoy just north of Karbala was also targeted by a roadside bomb wounding four soldiers and one civilian contractor, the US military said.
In Baghdad, another bomb wounded five civilians while a series of shootings resulted in the deaths of three policemen.
Now we can compare the kite flying Iraq of the Michael Moore propaganda next to the reality of mass graves. It would make quite the juxtaposition...the MSM would never do that to one of their darlings.
Do they have a "Michelin Travel Guide" to rate all of these "holy cities"?
5-Star ?
5-Heads ?
5-Baked Heads ?
#2 ?
#19 ?
Do they have any "unholy cities"?
What makes a city "one of the holiest" ?
How would Oprah rate them?
Now THERE is an idea.
We should immediately dispatch Oprah to Iraq to judge and rate these places.
How about a version of "America Idol" for Islamic cities?
Viewers call in a rate a cities calls to Allah 4-5 times a day -
"Islamic Super Holy City"
Women all dressed in black could have pep squads doing that "tongue warble" deal
Losers would be beheaded on live TV - just like el-Jazzi now -
That's one hell of a way to be voted out!
How many holy cities do they have over there?
From what I can see, if it's a city, chances are it's holy...
Seems to describe every city, town, village and hamlet in Iraq.
For example, the Sunni Triangle would have "disappeared" in a Stephen King homage to the Bermuda Triangle.
Falluja would have made Lidice a bustling metropolis by comparison.
Now that "insurgents" have kidnapped a CSM reporter and demanded release of certain detained "insurgents" I would invoke the KGB principle first demonstrated in Beirut.
You wish us to release those of your comrades whom we now detain? By the ounce, by the pound, by the kilo, by the limb, by the organ? Please specify and we shall be delighted to comply.
Hearts and minds--a pink mist going unreported on Aljazeera, its broadcast towers reduced to smoking craters--holey, holey, holey.
I've been hearing about this "holy city" thing since the Iranians lost their minds for Allah in the 70's.
LOL Phil, you are irreverent but I like your 'wordy' posts!!
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