Wednesday, October 13, 2004
...unless we leave.
CNN.com - Mass grave unearthed in Iraq:
The bodies, believed to be Kurds killed during Saddam's crackdown in 1987-88, are buried in nine trenches in Hatra, according to Greg Kehoe, an American who works with the Iraqi Special Tribunal, which is preparing the trial of Saddam and his henchmen.
Kehoe said his team has removed 120 bodies from a trench believed to contain as many as 300 bodies.
He said that because of limited funds and resources, his team can excavate only one mass grave at a time. European teams who worked on Bosnian mass graves are not helping because of their concerns that Saddam could face the death penalty, he said...
God forbid.
"Unlike bodies that you've seen in many mass graves -- they look like cordwood -- all lined up," he said. "That didn't happen here. These bodies were just pushed in."
He said excavators found the body of a mother still clutching her baby. The infant was shot in the back of the head and the mother in the face.
Kehoe said that most mass graves in Bosnia largely contain men of fighting age. Graves near Hatra included many women and children, he said...
...Human rights organizations estimate that more than 300,000 people were killed during Saddam's 24-year rule, which ended when U.S.-led forces toppled his regime in 2003...
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From my MANY conversations with French friends (in Paris, where they feel less inhibited than they do here), I can certainly say that their concern for the life of poor, helpless and distant people is perfectly correlated with their anti-US propaganda value.
Like the great Isaac Newton, I do not make hypotheses as to why this correlation holds. I merely observe that it does.
I hear you. If the French were motivated in any way by altruism, they'd stop running around and sucking up to dictators for starters. You could argue we used to have an excuse - what with opposing the Soviet Union and all. They do it to oppose us.
Interesting that the French could claim it is the US that kisses up to dictators with Bush's support of Pakistan's strongman or his friendship with Saudi Arabia.
Personally, I would say that I'm glad the U.S. cuddles dictators less now than when it claimed to be fighting communism. Either way, it can do better to encourage freedom.