WP: Official Says Shiite Party Suppressed Body Count

[Pirate Smile]

Official Says Shiite Party Suppressed Body Count

By Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, March 9, 2006; Page A01

BAGHDAD, March 8 -- Days after the bombing of a Shiite shrine unleashed a wave of retaliatory killings of Sunnis, the leading Shiite party in Iraq's governing coalition directed the Health Ministry to stop tabulating execution-style shootings, according to a ministry official familiar with the recording of deaths.

The official, who spoke on the condition that he not be named because he feared for his safety, said a representative of the Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, ordered that government hospitals and morgues catalogue deaths caused by bombings or clashes with insurgents, but not by execution-style shootings.

A statement this week by the U.N. human rights department in Baghdad appeared to support the account of the Health Ministry official. The agency said it had received information about Baghdad's main morgue -- where victims of fatal shootings are taken -- that indicated "the current acting director is under pressure by the Interior Ministry in order not to reveal such information and to minimize the number of casualties."

The U.N. office said it had not confirmed the information about the morgue and had been unable so far to obtain an accounting of the toll from Iraqi authorities.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/08/AR2006030802692.html

[Pirate Smile]

1. more

"Abductions and killings of Sunni Arab men, usually by gunshots to the back of the head, have occurred with increasing frequency over the past year and are widely blamed on government-allied Shiite religious militias and death squads alleged to be operating from inside the SCIRI-dominated Interior Ministry. In particular, Shiite militias have been accused of abducting and executing large numbers of Sunni men in the days immediately following the Feb. 22 destruction of the Askariya mosque, a revered Shiite shrine in the northern city of Samarra.

After a lull in recent days, abductions and killings flared again in Baghdad on Wednesday. Police in west Baghdad found a minibus that contained the bodies of 18 bound and strangled men, and 50 employees of an Iraqi security firm were kidnapped on the east side of the city.

The Washington Post reported on Feb. 28 that more than 1,300 shooting victims had been brought to the morgue in the first six days after the Samarra bombing. The figure was provided by a morgue worker who refused to be identified by name.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari denied the account, saying Shiite-Sunni violence had claimed 379 lives in the week following the attack on the shrine. Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the U.S. commander in Iraq, called The Post's report exaggerated and inaccurate. An e-mail sent to U.S. military officials this week seeking updated casualty figures went unanswered.
But during the past week, various government ministries declined to give a breakdown of the 379 total, or said they were unable to, and several inconsistencies in their accounts appeared to call the government's tally into question."

[NYC]

4. More than 1,300 in 6 days.

...more than 1,300 shooting victims had been brought to the morgue in the first six days after the Samarra bombing...

[spacelady]

2. Supressing body count... sounds familiar,,, Katrina anyone?

[Auntie Bush]

10. Who said bush wasn't a fast learner? Which

came first...the chicken or the egg? Who learned this tactic from who?

Hint....since bush, cheney and rummy have been chickens for a long time...........

[ShockediSay]

3. It only gets deeper

this quagmire in Iraq

time to admit our mistakes (like following Bush's NeoCon lead) pull out and start working on our losses

[Pirate Smile]

5. kick

[M155Y_A1CH]

6. Kick n/t

:kick:

[cain_7777]

7. What's New?

Bushco and the Repukes are completely predictable. Just think of the stupidest, most corrupt possibility and there you have it. Could it have been the U.S. who informed them to minimize the numbers? It is in Bushco's best interest to mislead the public both in Iraq and here at home. Iraq civil war? No, that's impossible. The situation is getting better. We're making progress, or atleast thats what Bushco says and who doesn't believe our honest christian president. Civil war is the only outcome for Iraq and no amount of politics nor muscle from America will change that fact. When our country fell to its knees after 9/11 we did exactly what Bin Laden wanted. We changed our way of life drastically by giving up our freedoms in order to fight terroism so we don't have to live in fear anymore, but then again Bush uses scare tactics developed by Karl Rove to achieve the same results as Bin Laden.

If we take the November elections we need to investigate everything that Bushco has done and then we will truly see the massive pile of crap they have left for the American people to clean up.

[Wetzelbill]

8. unfortunately that's something that's expected

we don't tabulate the number of casualties and deaths our miltitary has inflicted in Iraq against Iraqis. Usually, governments or groups don't do that unless, it benefits them in some way. Like Hamas or Islamic Jihad for example, they like spectacular death tolls for political purposes. In this case, morally what the Shiites are doing covering it up is just as wrong. I'd like to say this stuff came as a surprise, but I'd be more surprised if it didn't occur. The world can be a screwed up place, for sure.

[Wetzelbill]

9. The Artist Formerly Known As Dupe

[sablefish]

11. The Salvador option?

Hit squads paid for by you and me. No wonder they don't want the numbers known.. And this is just the morgue in Baghdad.

[Wetzelbill]

12. yeah, hide the numbers, hide the political problems

it doesn't mean that it's not there though. Ugly strategy for sure. Deeply immoral.

[ClintonTyree]

13. Ahhh...the sweet smell of freedom!

Or is that the pungent stench of death? Mission accomplished! Freedom is on the march! Bush, the monster, has succeeded in taking a country that was relatively contained and turning it into the largest terrorist training camp in the world. This "civil" war will spread throughout the region and destabilize it for decades to come.

Nice job, Georgie Boy! This is what happens when elections are fixed and people with room temperature IQs are appointed as President. George couldn't successfully manage a 7-11 Convenience Store, he's a complete and utter failure.