http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/12/16/clothing_ids _offer_clues_in_mass_grave/
Clothing, IDs offer clues in mass grave Items aid search for the missing relatives of Iraqis By Kim Gamel, Associated Press | December 16, 2007 BAGHDAD - The red-and-white identification card was faded. But the name was legible and the picture of the man with the necktie and tidy mustache was clear. Rashid Aboud Awad, who worked in a medicine storage facility in Ramadi, was last seen alive by his wife and children when he went off swimming in nearby Lake Tharthar, once Saddam Hussein's favorite fishing spot and more recently part of an Al Qaeda in Iraq stronghold west of Baghdad. Awad's remains were discovered earlier this month in a mass grave along with more than 20 other bodies near the man-made lake surrounded by rugged and sun-bleached scrubland. More than 150 bodies have been unearthed in recent months from mass graves around Lake Tharthar. It's seen as the grisly legacy of Al Qaeda's control of Iraq's western deserts until being ousted early this year in an uprising by local tribes. The revolt was spurred, at least in part, by their claims of extremist brutalities. Each mass grave uncovered around Tharthar and elsewhere in Iraq - so far at least 12 burial sites - appears to offer more evidence of the fate of Iraqis who challenged Al Qaeda and its backers. Al Qaeda is not alone in being accused of atrocities after the fall of Hussein. Shi'ite death squads and others have taken thousands of lives in Iraq's sectarian meltdown. But the mass graves now turning up in former Al Qaeda territory help explain the decision by Sunni tribal leaders to fight back. US and Iraqi commanders say the groundswell helped drive Al Qaeda from the belts around Baghdad and forced extremists to hunt for new havens in northern Iraq. Awad's Health Ministry ID card, which expired April 1, was a rare solid lead to confirm the name of a body found in a mass grave. His relatives recognized pieces of his clothing, a hospital official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. It was unclear when Awad died, but forensic specialists said it appeared to be less than a year ago, suggesting he was killed early in 2007. Whenever she hears that a mass grave has been found, Madiha al-Ani, a 75-year-old resident of Fallujah, dispatches relatives to the hospital to search for signs of her son who vanished en route home from Baghdad in February 2006. She always hopes they will come back empty-handed so that she can maintain the belief that he's alive. "I am an old woman and Ali was my only son. I have the feeling that someday he will return to his mother," she said. Iraqi security forces have taken advantage of recent security gains to step up patrols in areas previously considered no-go zones, leading to the discovery of bodies near Lake Tharthar and in the volatile Diyala Province and the Baghdad neighborhoods of Dora and Fadhl. The mass grave found Dec. 2 near Lake Tharthar was one of 12 unearthed since May containing the remains of at least 287 people, according to an Associated Press tally based on police and US military reports. <http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/File-Based_Image_Resource/dingbat_story_ end_icon.gif> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
