Hundreds of human remains found in makeshift morgue

http://www.ananova.com ^ | Saturday 5th April 2003

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Hundreds of human remains found in makeshift morgue

Hundreds of human remains have been discovered in a "makeshift morgue" by British soldiers in southern Iraq.

The skulls, bundles of bone in strips of military uniform, were dumped in plastic bags and unsealed hardboard coffins in an abandoned Iraqi military base on the outskirts of Al Zubayr.

It was impossible to say how long the remains had lain there but the discovery will now be investigated by forensic specialists as possible evidence of atrocities perpetrated by the Iraqi regime.

The coffins were stacked five deep in a warehouse, and a neighbouring building contained apparent cells and catalogues of photographs of the dead, most of whom had died from gunshot wounds to the head.

Others were mutilated beyond recognition, their faces burned and swollen in the faded black and white photographs.

Outside stood what one soldier described as "a purpose-built shooting gallery".

A tiled foot-high plinth stood in a courtyard, with the brickwork behind it riddled with bullets.

Behind that lay a drainage ditch.

Inside the warehouse, one of the bags and coffins contained an identity card written in Arabic, while military webbing and boot soles were visible in others

[blam]

"Why go to all the trouble of putting them in coffins and then not bury them? Wouldn't it have been a lot less time and work to just have cremated them? Take up a lot less room."

Don't know. Doesn't make sense.

[judicial meanz]

Just looking at this from the pictures, I can make a few professional comments:

1) The cards with photos attached are obviously some type of reciept or tracking card denoting the individual was in police or regime custody. The photos are apparently of the person who was in custody.
2) The remains are old, dried, and definitely in an advanced stage of decay. It takes at least 9 months to several years for a body to decay to the point most of them appear to be.
3) The "shooting gallery" was an area reserved for executing prisoners.
4) Keeping the remains with proper documentation makes me speculate that the Fedayeen had to be able to prove the individuals death penalty was carried out by producing evidence.
5) read this from another post- many of them have gunshot wounds to the head, denoting execution.


This is a few things I gather from the photos and text.

[uglybiker]

Of course we are! We make the rest of 'em look bad!

[mware]

Not sure if it is cultural or not. I believe that Muslims require the body to be interred into the ground as quickly as possible.

[alnitak]

There's a previous thread here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/885649/posts

[alnitak]

That's true, preferably burial should occur on the day of the death. This is probably a pre-Islamic custom - a body would decompose very quickly in the desert heat.

[alnitak]

I saw some of the footage on ITV News Channel, the remains (seemed to be mainly just bones) were a dusty brown colour, roughly the same colour as the surrounding desert. Does that mean they could have been previously buried? What colour do bones go if they are just left?

[j_k_l]

"And these jackasses want to be in charge of Iraq following the war? What a joke."

I hope that this point has been driven home with the people in charge. North Korea is a very similar regime to Iraq. They have nukes and we do not have time to do the dance with the U.N. that we did with Iraq.

[MamaTexan]

Why go to all the trouble of putting them in coffins and then not bury them?

I read an account the other day from an Iraqi man that had escaped.
He said that Saddam's soldiers had recently executed his wife.
Not only did they force him to pay for the bullet that killed her, they also made him pay to get her body back so he could bury her.

I guess this is Sa-damn Insane's version of a 'bank'.

[alrea]

The American and British people are. Take a look at Blair and Bush's poll numbers. I am thrilled that we have Fox News, Talk Radio and the internet. Otherwise, these stories would be as good as in one of those boxes.

or blowing in the dust with the other million rubbed out by saddamacide

[FITZ]

This is the status quo the peaceniks are defending.

And the very useless UN.

[judicial meanz]

From my experience, bones do get a dusty look to them after a few years of drying. If they are in the sunlight, they bleach white. If not, they appear darker and musty. The bones being a dusty or sand color is (in my opinion) consistent with them being in the room there for a long time.

You can roughly determine the age of the corpses by looking at the suture lines of the skulls. Older peoples sutures are knitted really close, younger peoples sutures are wider apart. Some may have signs of arthritis, or other degenerative diseases. Good tips to age the corpse.

[sweetliberty]

"I guess they wanted people to see how they torture other humans."

These evil b*st*rds probably like to go in and admire their work from time to time.

[FITZ]

Why go to all the trouble of putting them in coffins and then not bury them? Wouldn't it have been a lot less time and work to just have cremated them? Take up a lot less room.

Maybe they put them in the boxes in case their families would come and pay to take them to bury back home but when they didn't come or couldn't afford it, they just left them there.

[alnitak]

Thanks for the insight.

[Rocko]

Bump.

[Zon]

Most of us at home are clueless that we are being taken out from the inside every day. And the domestic enemy is just as fanatical and closed to reason as the Iraqi Republican Guard.

Even when people get a glimpse of it they turn a blind eye into denial because it so upsets their vested interest in a certain degree of the status quo establishment. They fear taking responsibility for themselves being the highest valid authority. Instead, they chose an external "authority" while subverting their own nature as the highest valid authority.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Why were the bodies not buried?

Saddam's ego. And it would serve as a wonderful piece of "Iraqi Urban Legendry" amongst a people that Saddam would like to keep controlled and cowed.

[judicial meanz]

Its a pretty gruesome specialty. Forensic science is not
appealing to the average person....LOL

Have a good day Alnita

[Rocko]

The left is still not listening.

Like they didn't listen during Stalin's murder of twenty-plus million....not to mention others.