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| Iraq |
| Iraqis observe a moment of silence to mark Mass Graves Day |
| 2007-05-17 |
| BAGHDAD: Traffic stopped in Baghdad's main streets and squares Wednesday as Iraqis observed a moment of silence to mark a new national day of remembrance for the victim's of Saddam Hussein's regime who were buried in mass graves. Human rights organizations estimate that more than 300,000 people, mainly Kurds and Shiite Muslims, were killed and buried in mass graves before Saddam was overthrown by U.S. forces in 2003. The Iraqi government declared May 16 as Mass Grave Day to commemorate the day when the first such grave was uncovered near the Shiite town of Mahaweel, about 56 kilometers (35 miles) south of Baghdad. "It is a lesson that we will never forget," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said. "We want to build a civilized society in which humanity is respected." Cars and pedestrians stopped in place at noon, while policemen and Iraqi soldiers conducted a military salute. During a conference held to commemorate the somber day, al-Maliki described the graves as one of "the ugly crimes" of Saddam's regime and drew a parallel with the current daily attacks against Iraqis. "The criminals are the same. In the past, they created the mass graves. Today, they explode, kill and behead innocent people," he said. Al-Maliki, accompanied by several Cabinet ministers, also stepped out of the building housing his office Wednesday to observe a minute of silence and offer a prayer. In the autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq, however, the day was not commemorated because the Kurds there were not notified, said Hutiyar Nouri, the deputy governor of the city of Sulaimaniyah, 260 kilometers (160 miles) northeast of Baghdad. Kurds annually mark the anniversary of the March 16, 1988 chemical attack on the northern Kurdish town of Halabja, which killed 5,000. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #9 I thought it was a 'shop first time I saw it too. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-05-17 18:09 |
| #8 PS: GREAT PHOTO, A5089! You really come up with some corkers. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-05-17 16:12 |
| #7 The Iraqis can bring their nation to a halt in mourning for all those who died at Saddam's hands but just cannot bring themselves to show some real gratitude over how we liberated them from from his murderous grasp. Fuck them all. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-05-17 16:11 |
| #6 I would like to see Hillary dust off her "Women Were Better Off Under Saddam Hussein" speech. I think the compassion and understanding would really comfort the Iraqis on this sorrowful day. |
| Posted by: BrerRabbit 2007-05-17 12:27 |
| #5 Why not use the Lancet methodology and move the total up to 10 million. You can use statistics with a variance of over 90% with the cited count being the low ball figure. /sarcasm off |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-05-17 08:46 |
| #4 Human rights organizations estimate that more than 300,000 people, mainly Kurds and Shiite Muslims, were killed and buried in mass graves before Saddam was overthrown by U.S. forces in 2003. Not to mention the uncounted more murdered individually and in small groups, buried separately. All for a man who wanted to hold the whole world as he held Iraq. Yitgadal v'yitkadash, Sh'mai rabbah. May their memories be a blessing for those from whom they were taken, and aid the living to repair their much-battered country. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-05-17 07:31 |
| #3 Tried and tried and finally gave up trying to post a photo here - don't know hot to put one in Comments. Upload it to a free pic hosting website like http://www.flickr.com/ or http://photobucket.com/; then, copy the file's url and type *<*img src="" align=right*>* (minus the asteriks), with the url betwenn the scare quotes, note you can change alignment by typing center or left instead. Hope that helps! Ohgawd, how I like lecturing people! Example  |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-05-17 05:04 |
| #2 Tried and tried and finally gave up trying to post a photo here - don't know hot to put one in Comments. I've uploaded it to the photo gallery - Iraqi Mass Grave - The Blue Man. Photo taken at a 1991 uprising mass grave site in south-central Iraq, and the inspiration for John Burns' great front-page NYT story on the subject back in June '06. Wire services carried a nearly identical shot, but this one's mine. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2007-05-17 02:51 |
| #1 Criminals are universal. Aquecience to adverse condition is not. life and limb is ALWAYS a DAILY issue. |
| Posted by: newc 2007-05-17 01:20 |