Posted on 08/20/2004 7:29:03 AM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
A personal account of the discovery of one mass grave
SOUTHWEST ASIA — Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, there have been bone-chilling discoveries, almost on a daily basis, of the atrocities committed by the former Baath party. These grisly reminders come in the form of mass graves dotting the landscape in more numbers than anyone cares to imagine. At last count, there are more than 270 reported mass graves with more than 50 of them verified by international forensic teams.
I became involved with the Iraqi mass graves during my first stint of duty in Baghdad during 2003. I was a spectral analyst with the Coalition Provisional Authority space support cell. One of the agencies we supported was the Ministry of Human Rights, which had been given the daunting task of assessing and verifying reported Iraqi mass graves. We were initially tasked with providing high-resolution imagery and mapping support to the team for site survey planning.
On my second deployment with the team, we were doing a geologic analysis of a site. The forensic archeologists were performing their analysis consisting of a small trench dug across the suspected grave. Over the last 19 years in the Air Force, I’ve had a lot of odd jobs in some obscure places, but none of that prepared me for what I was about to see.
I volunteered to help dig the trench while taking detailed notes to support future analysis. As we got further in depth, we noticed a definite change in the color of the soil along with a discernable odor. Not a stench, just a stale metallic smell possibly caused by the high concentration of localized iron-oxidation.
At that point, the archaeologists took over the dig and uncovered small bones and brightly colored clothing. The results of their analysis came out as dry as a reading of the Sunday news, yet as clear as a bell to this day.
“One immature human femur, one immature human pelvis — estimate based on bone length approximately 5 to 6 years in age,” one archaeologist said.
“WHAT?” I replied with a huge lump in my throat “You mean a child?”
The answer came back as dry as the last. “Yes, and based on the clothing, I’d say it’s a female.”
My head was spinning. A little girl, in a bright, purple flowered dress with gold ribbon. Then more unwelcome information.
“Looks like they had her hands bound,” the archaeologist said while holding up what was probably her pink hair ribbon used as a makeshift binding.
That was it for me. I had to go for a walk. Luckily, they decided they wouldn’t disturb the site any further and started back- filling the trench. If I live to be a hundred years old, I’ll never forget my feelings or the scenarios that still run through my head.
I have a lifetime’s worth of experiences and memories from this deployment, from the places I’ve traveled and sights I’ve seen, to the people I’ve met and the lasting friendships I’ll savor. But the one memory I wish I could forget is that of the pretty little dress with the gold ribbon buried in one of the many killing fields of Iraq.
— Master Sgt. Richard Burch Spectral Operations Resource Center
I find it ironic that the liberals who don't give a flying crap about saving Iraqis (over 500,000 dead so far, and that is a very conservative estimate!) are crying that we need to "do something" in Sudan. They don't care about mass murder, they only care about saving lives when it serves their agenda and can be used as a forum to advance that agenda. They sure don't care about Bubba Klinton and the U.N. looking the other way at Rwanda and sitting idly by while 1.2 million people were slaughtered. They embrace communism at every turn even though the two largest powers under it, Russia and China, have each murdered over 100 million of their own citizens.
Our invasion of Iraq is now forcing the international community to stare into the face of over 50 Iraqi mass graves with over 400,000 dead people in them. Unfortunately, the international media at large refuses to acknowledge this, but the truth is getting out.
How many American news-gathering,fact-finding reporters were there covering this, did you see????
Oops, make that over 270 mass graves (the 50 being the ones that are internationally verified).
I'm not sure who in the media was covering this. Judging by the number of mainstream media reports, I'd have to give it a big fat zero.
Hey, we do need to do something in Sudan!
. . . One more story the mainstream press will never cover. (On NPR today they had several stories about Abu Ghraib.)
These stories are tough to read -- yet I'm still glad they get written, and I'm glad they're posted here at FR. Most of the country (and indeed most of the world) doesn't care about this -- but I do, and I know others here at FR care also.
Well, that is ecause Buah had no reason to go to war with Iraq. After all, he was only murdering his own people and not Americans. < /heavy disgusted sarcasm>
I first heard the terms "mass graves" referred to so often in relations to the Balkans Wars.
This is a central issue of the war of Iraq, being like I would opine what went on at Auschwitz etc. in WWII; but we only receive blurbs of this in the mainstream media.
I wonder if that will make the next Michael Moore film.
"'Local people would tell us of 10,000s of people buried at single grave sites and when we would get there they would be in multiple hundreds.' - http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1263830,00.html
Sigh, 10,000s of people to multiple hundreds, I mean from this other story I am quoting, where does one draw the line on serverity, from the 400,000 the story says Blair erred about and what would be the real figure? 200,000 or whatever it would turn out to be. If they were your friends or loved ones, what does the figure need to be? As the story alludes too, finding the pink ribbon and pink dress of the little girl. I can't find the correct words but I hope I am able to convey some of the severity these articles express.
BUMP to what you've said so well.
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