Another Mass Grave in Iraq

[Woodmonkey]

Another Mass Grave Unearthed in Iraq

By Leslie Wetzel

October 14, 2004

HATRA, IRAQ (Talon News) -- Hundreds of bodies, including those of pregnant women, children clutching toys, and men bound and blindfolded were exhumed at a mass grave site in Hatra, near Mosul. The dead are said to be Kurds shot by Iraqi forces in the late 1980s, during a campaign that included the chemical attack on the town of Halabia.

The evidence released Wednesday is expected to be used against Saddam and members of his regime at their trial next year. But the man heading the investigation, Greg Kehoe, an American human rights lawyer, said that searches for victims of other massacres in more than 40 sites in Iraq were being hampered because European experts were not joining in.

Mr. Kehoe, who had spent five years investigating war crimes in the Balkans alongside European colleagues, said that because of limited funds his team could only excavate one mass grave at a time.

But Europeans, vastly experienced in such inquiries, "don't want to help out because of the ramifications of the death penalty" Saddam and fellow defendants face if convicted. The twenty-five member states of the European Union have abolished capital punishment within its borders, and EU countries, including Britain, routinely refuse to extradite people to the U.S. and other nations unless they receive guarantees that the suspects will not be executed.

American officials also feel that some of the European experts are antagonistic to the U.S. position on Iraq, and there is also widespread concern about safety. The discovery, however, will help President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, both under fierce criticism over false claims of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. They can be expected to contend that this buttresses their argument that Iraq and the rest of the world is a better place without Saddam in power.

Saddam's regime has been accused by human rights organizations of being responsible for killing up to 300,000 Iraqi and Kurdish civilians, although the figures are disputed. The U.S. authorities and the Iraqi interim government claim that more than 40 mass graves have been identified so far.

The massacre site at Hatra, in Nineveh province, was found by U.S. forces a year ago. The victims, from the Dokan Lake area, near Sulaymaniyah, are said to have been killed during the Anfal (The Spoils of War) campaign launched by Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid between late 1987 and early 1988, in which there were large-scale summary executions, as well as the use of mustard gas and sarin on the population of 5,000 in Halabja in March 1988.

Excavation at Hatra began on 1 September, with the first details being disclosed now. Investigators found 300 bodies piled into two trenches. The women and children were killed by small arms fire. The men in the second trench -- many tied up and blindfolded -- appeared to have been killed with semi-automatic rifles. Among the bodies was that of a woman shot in the face. She was carrying a child, about two years old, who had been shot in the back of the head. A boy was clutching a red and white football when he died.

Mr. Kehoe said, "I've been doing gravesites for a long time, and I've never seen anything like it -- women and children executed for no reason."

http://www.gopusa.com/news/2004/octo...ssgraves.shtml

[82nd Airborne Dad]

At least their deaths were quick. I am distressed by those who were tortured for weeks or months on end to prolong their suffering. I hope the world views those innocent ones who died at hands of Saddam's orders. I would like to see all the body bags lined up and filmed . . .

Russia, France and Germany should be proud!!

[JohnRN]

I don't understand this European reluctance. It was ok to hang people at Nuerenburg about 60 years ago.

Have they forgotten already?

[AndJusticeForAll]

Saddam was a brutal despot and the ruler of a savage regime.

I'll never understand why in the buildup for war, the Bush Administration did not sell the war on this simple truth rather than using all the hyperbole about WMDs, 9/11, al-Quada, and the threat posed by Iraq to the United States.

[82nd Airborne Dad]

Originally Posted by John.

I don't understand this European reluctance. It was ok to hang people at Nuerenburg about 60 years ago.

Have they forgotten already?

So it would seem John. The memory span in Europe seems to be short-lived. I guess it is like the three monkeys (no pun intended Katey). See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil. What one doesn't know won't hurt them, but I really think that such attrocities as commited by Saddam should not be forgotten or hidden from view. The Iraqi people need to know, as does the rest of the world . . .

[sergej]

Originally Posted by John.

I don't understand this European reluctance. It was ok to hang people at Nuerenburg about 60 years ago.

Have they forgotten already?

What are you talking about? European reluctance? What about US reluctance during the eighties, and after the first gulf war, when saddam commited all his atrocities? I can`t remember the US government or americans were disturbed by that. By the way, the Bush government did not go to war because of these atrocities, give me a break!

[Woodmonkey]

Originally Posted by AndJusticeForAll

Saddam was a brutal despot and the ruler of a savage regime.

I'll never understand why in the buildup for war, the Bush Administration did not sell the war on this simple truth rather than using all the hyperbole about WMDs, 9/11, al-Quada, and the threat posed by Iraq to the United States.

You have a good point here, AFJA. This should have been emphasized.