Posted on 10/12/2004 5:36:26 PM PDT by cgk
Wednesday 13 October 2004, 1:47 Makka Time, 22:47 GMTInvestigators probing mass graves in Iraq have conducted their first scientific exhumation of bodies.
Hoping to unearth crucial evidence that could help in convicting deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, investigators said nine trenches in a dry riverbed at the Hatra site in northern Iraq contained at least 300 bodies, and possibly thousands.
Those buried included children still clutching toys.
"It is my personal opinion that this is a killing field," said Greg Kehoe, a US lawyer appointed by the White House to work with the Iraqi Special Tribunal.
"Someone used this field on significant occasions over time to take bodies up there and to take people up there and execute them".
"I have been doing grave sites for a long time, but I have never seen anything like this, women and children executed for no apparent reason," Kehoe said. "It's a perfect place for execution".
Kurdish victims
The victims are believed to be minority Kurds killed during 1987-88. One trench contains only women and children, apparently killed by small arms. Another contains only men, apparently killed by automatic gunfire.
Some of the mothers died still holding their children. One young boy still held a ball in his tiny arms.
International organisations estimate more than 300,000 people died under Saddam's 24-year rule and Iraq's Human Rights ministry has identified 40 possible mass graves countrywide.
Authorities hope careful investigations of the site will provide enough evidence to convict Saddam and other senior members of his regime.
Though investigators have excavated smaller mass graves before, scientific exhumation is being done for the first time.
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Saddam (R) is likely to face trial |
Saddam is expected to face trial for crimes against humanity next year. Investigators are still pursuing evidence.
He is accused of widespread abuses against the Kurds, including a particularly gruesome campaign in 1988 when mustard gas was deployed against the population.
During his reign, Saddam pushed hundreds of thousands of Arabs into Kurdish areas to force the locals out. He is accused of widespread abuses against the Kurds, including the "Anfal" (The Spoils) campaign in 1988, during which thousands died in a mustard gas attack.
Human Rights Watch estimates that more than 50,000 Kurds were killed during the campaign.
Just imagine the Horror those innocent children went thru...hey, Lurch can you hear their screams while buried alive!
...and you claim it was the "wrong war, wrong time, wrong place"...you Sir, should be ashamed of your self of making such an asinine statement!
"The wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time."
First of all, you can tell them that it is Carter's fault for getting us into a position where we had to arm Iraq.
Then once they've howled over that for a while, tell them that Hussein, having been given the opportunity to become the foremost power in the Middle East, bring his country into the modern age, and be viewed as Iraq's greatest leader in history, instead tried to forcibly impose the Ba'ath party's Socialist agenda on his people, and then killed anyone who resisted. Tell them that you can understand why, being socialists just like Hussein's Ba'ath party, they try to excuse such murders since as socialists they think they are "the violence necessary to impose Socialism" (a direct quote from Mother Jones magazine). Tell them that while socialists like them see nothing wrong with killing hundreds of thousands or even millions of people in order to force "equality" on them, that most Americans can't stomach it, and so we had to go kick Hussein out, because HE had made the CHOICE to ABUSE the power we had given him.
If their two braincells haven't fried completely and caused them to degenerate into screaming obscenities in true Leftist fashion after you've fed them those arguments one at a time, come back here and reload.
And 'compassionate' liberals say "so?"
Radio Show Call In, Former Iraqi
Under Saddam he only knows fear. Fear can be a great motivator but after you've lived with fear Hope can be an even greater motivator. America provides Hope and he really knows nothing about America, except he knows what is most important about America. America provides Hope. Ernie De Bella.
9/11 made this cause both of our destinies, the people oppressed by regimes and the people of the US are bound together. We must win together to win this one. In a way we have become related by blood. Their freedom and our homeland security have been watered by the blood of those willing. It is no coincidence the name of the coalition is The Coalition Of The Willing. It is costing us the lives of our children that is a mighty bond. Luz C. Cintrón
Liberals chant it's all about the oil. They do not care about other human beings, only themselves. They are selfish little babies.
"If that dictator offers Universal Healthcare I like that dictator." /braindead leftist rant
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