Director of Baghdad morgue flees Iraq after revealing 7,000 killed

[Benbow]

Guardian newspaper, 2 March 2006

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1721366,00.html

Faik Bakir, the director of the Baghdad morgue, has fled Iraq in fear of his life after reporting that more than 7,000 people have been killed by death squads in recent months, the outgoing head of the UN human rights office in Iraq has disclosed.

"The vast majority of bodies showed signs of summary execution - many with their hands tied behind their back. Some showed evidence of torture, with arms and leg joints broken by electric drills," said John Pace, the Maltese UN official. The killings had been happening long before the bloodshed after last week's bombing of the Shia shrine in Samarra.

Mr Pace, whose contract in Iraq ended last month, said many killings were carried out by Shia militias linked to the industry ministry run by Bayan Jabr, a leading figure in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Sciri).

Mr Pace said records, supported by photographs, came from Baghdad's forensic institute, which passed them to the UN. The Baghdad morgue has been receiving 700 or more bodies a month. The figures peaked at 1,100 last July - many showing signs of torture.

The British Government's official line is that this is what always happens when a dictator is deposed, and that the warring factions will have to find "an accommodation". Note, no acknowledgement of how the British Government helped - post the illegal invasion of Iraq - to create the conditions for the appalling violence and slaughter of Iraqi citizens.

[Skidmore]

1. Freedom is on the march.

I hope there is a special level in hell being prepared for * and Blair and the neocons. They have unleashed a neverending horror upon the world.

[havocmom]

9. On the march? It's running for its life!

And about on its last legs here in the US

[Zynx]

2. Don't you know that this is normal in the functioning of a democracy?

/sarcasm off

[Warren Stupidity]

3. Mr. Negroponte is hard at work.

Everywhere John Negroponte goes, people are tortured and killed.

[Hubert Flottz]

4. John Negroponte and Task Force 121...

Winning hearts and minds is "Hard Work!"

[Hubert Flottz]

5. K&R

I think this story should get another look!

[Kingshakabobo]

6. Freedom ain't free, baby.

:sarcasm:

[Benbow]

7. Please explain to a Brit what this organisation is -

Extraordinary underreporting of dead in Iraq.

http://www.wlbz2.com/home/article.asp?id=32157

[Wilms]

8. K&R n/t