Free Republic

WITH paintbrushes, forensic specialists are carefully brushing away dirt from a human skull covered with sandy soil, one of 1500 believed to be buried in seven mass graves uncovered in this desolate stretch of the Iraqi desert, now patrolled by Australian troops. In a nearby trench dug by US investigators, a mass of black tangled hair gives a second skull an almost life-like appearance. A third skull appears to be screaming, mouth wide open. Skulls and bones, clothing and other belongings found in shallow graves offer valuable clues to investigators gathering evidence against Saddam Hussein and others from the former...

The legacy of a mass murderer.A field outside Baghdad THE DEAD DON'T TALK in Iraq but their graves do. In northern Iraq, a grave was unearthed last July with several thousand bodies, mostly women and children. From the bullet holes in the top of the skulls, it was clear the deaths weren't natural. The victims had been shot from above while kneeling or after being forced into a mass grave. They had personal household items with them like baskets. They had their clothes on. These were clues that helped identify their hometown and led to the conclusion they'd been compelled...

Al-Majid was widely known in Iraq as "Chemical Ali" for his repeated use of outlawed chemical warfare, as documented in the Human Rights Watch book on that campaign, Genocide In Iraq: The Anfal Campaign Against the Kurds . He was later in charge of Iraq's brutal military occupation of Kuwait, and commanded Iraq's military forces in the south, where he was reportedly killed by U.S. and coalition forces. "Al-Majid was Saddam Hussein's hatchet man," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "He was involved in some of the worst crimes of the Iraqi government, including genocide and crimes...