The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Marketplace
    • Autos
    • Jobs
    • Real Estate
    • Classifieds
    • Shopping
    • Dining Out
    • Education
    • TWT Store
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • National

    Obama honors war veterans

  • Politics

    EXCLUSIVE: GOPer Cao: Health vote may end career

  • National

    HUTCHISON: Right must understand barriers to success

  • National

    WILLIAMS: Legislative malpractice practiced

  • Sports

    Redskins the ugliest show on Earth

  • Politics

    Obama: 'No faith justifies' Fort Hood attack

  • National

    Michigan farm expert opens Marijuana U.

Sunday, December 7, 2003

Teams to unearth the countrymen Saddam silenced

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos

More Stories

  • Obama wants Afghan war exit plan clarified
  • Lou Dobbs leaves CNN before contract ends
  • Report: Pollutants in D.C. area drinking water
  • Who knew of Hasan's radical contacts?

By

MAHAWEEL, Iraq -- The killers kept bankers' hours.

They showed up for work at the barley field at 9 a.m., trailed by backhoes and three buses filled with blindfolded men, women and children as young as 1.

Every day, witnesses say, the routine was the same: The backhoes dug a trench. About 50 people were led to the edge of the hole and shot, one by one, in the head. The backhoes covered them with dirt, then dug another hole for the next group.

At 5 p.m., the killers -- members of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party -- went home to rest up for another day of slaughter.

In this wind-swept field in the central town of Mahaweel, witnesses say, this went on without a break for 35 days in March and April of 1991, during a crackdown on a Shi'ite Muslim uprising that followed the Gulf war.

"I watched this with my own eyes," said Sayed Abbas Muhsen, 35, whose family farm was appropriated by Saddam's government for use as a killing field. "But we couldn't tell anyone. We didn't dare."

The mass grave at Mahaweel, with more than 3,100 sets of remains, is the largest of some 270 such sites across Iraq. They hold upwards of 300,000 bodies -- some Iraqi political parties estimate there are more than 1 million.

"It's as easy to find mass graves in Iraq as it once was to find oil," said Adnan Jabbar al-Saadi, a lawyer with Iraq's new Human Rights Ministry.

In the days after Saddam's fall on April 9, family members rushed to grave sites, digging for ID cards and clothing that could confirm their worst fears: The bones in the ground belonged to a son, a wife, a grandfather.

1234Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Commenting is disabled for this entry.
If you feel there is still something worth mentioning about this entry please contact the author or the site admin.

Ask a Question

You Report

Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

Top Stories

Most Read

  1. KELLNER: New Apple mouse really is 'Magic'
  2. EXCLUSIVE: Warner: Obama misplayed health care debate
  3. D.C. sniper executed in Virginia
  4. PRUDEN: Fatal reluctance to see evil
  5. Airport rules changed after Ron Paul aide detained
More Top Stories »
  1. EXCLUSIVE: Rare virus poses new threat to troops
  2. Families meet as sniper's execution nears
  3. Deer dies after leap into D.C. zoo lion exhibit
  4. Federal Reserve opposed as big bank savior by odd allies
  5. Michigan farm expert opens Marijuana U.

Most Shared

  1. KELLNER: New Apple mouse really is 'Magic'
  2. Michigan farm expert opens Marijuana U.
  3. EDITORIAL: End Clinton-era military base gun ban
  4. PRUDEN: Fatal reluctance to see evil
  5. Airport rules changed after Ron Paul aide detained
More Top Stories »
  1. DeMint tries to ban 'permanent politicians'
  2. Kennedy's disability plan could snag health bill
  3. EXCLUSIVE: Warner: Obama misplayed health care debate
  4. D.C. sniper executed in Virginia
  5. WWII Code Talkers assemble again

Most Commented

  1. PRUDEN: Fatal reluctance to see evil
  2. DeMint tries to ban 'permanent politicians'
  3. 'Fuzzy math' could drive health bill cost higher
  4. Obama: 'No faith justifies' Fort Hood attack
  5. Kennedy's disability plan could snag health bill
More Top Stories »
  1. Defense nominee won't reveal potential conflicts
  2. D.C. sniper executed in Virginia
  3. Airport rules changed after Ron Paul aide detained
  4. EXCLUSIVE: GOPer Cao: Health vote may end career
  5. EDITORIAL: Too scared to recognize terrorism

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

Blogs & Columns

  • POTUS Notes

    New Dem talking point on Obama approval doesn't wash

  • The Back Story

    12 arrested at Pelosi's office

  • Belief Blog

    New Vatican constitution released

  • Out of Context

    Foods that might kill libido

  • Technology

    Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

  • On the Fly

    United lifts some 'award' blocking

  • Redskins 360

    Veterans visit Redskins

  • Tara's Two Cents

    On their way to summer vacation..

  • SNOBlog

    Beyond 'Woody'

Videos

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.