Mass Graves Day in Iraq

Somehow, most of the news media missed Mass Graves Day, held yesterday in Kerbala, Iraq.

Here, on April 28, local residents reburied 64 loved ones whose remains were found dumped in a mass grave near a military base in Nassiriya, Iraq.

Hundreds of such mass graves dot the landscape of Iraq, and they contain an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 Iraqis.

Death of democrats. Some of the dead were killed in uprisings against Saddam Hussein, some were killed because they were suspected of democratic thoughts, and others were killed only because they were friends or relatives of those suspected of plotting against Saddam.

On top of these dead, Saddam was responsible for the deaths of up to 1 million more Iraqis because of the U.N. sanctions he brought on his nation by his failure to comply with U.N. resolutions. With shortages of food and medicine, many died.

Even when the U.N. tried to help sick and starving Iraqis with the Oil for Food Program, Saddam stole much of that oil money for himself, allowing 5,000 to 10,000 Iraqis to die each month.

Then there were Saddam’s wars. Hundreds of thousands more Iraqis and Iranians dead.

Imagine the cruelty. Outside Iraq, some selfishly callous people actually said we should leave Saddam in power to torture, starve and murder Iraqis forever, with no hope of liberation. Imagine.

Frank Warner