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Dear List, I have a backlog of mass graves stories to discuss, I will try and get through them in the next few days. This is one concerns the "I was shot and left to die in a mass grave, but crawled out under cover of darkness to tell all" variation, an old favourite in the mass grave atrocity genre. The LA Times story has been archived here. http://www.iraqfoundation.org/news/2003/emay/6_brutalpast.html It purports to tell of a mass grave near Najaf, containing "1000s" of remains of people shot. Also the story of Hussein Salar, who was alledgedly shot in this mass grave but escaped. Some quotes ................. "The burial ground was a longtime open secret in this city; it reportedly holds the bones of some of the thousands who disappeared in 1991, after most of Iraq's provinces rose up in a failed revolt against Saddam Hussein. "The families ought to know that people have been killed here," Safar said last week, standing over the graves. "They have to come to see the graves, because this has to be a part of history." " ................................. "Out in the desert, pits had been dug into the sand. Four at a time, the men were lined up along the rim. Four at a time, the rifles were fired, and the bodies dropped down. A bullet tore into Safar's shoulder, cut up through his neck and burst out his cheek. He landed atop dying men — their bodies were still moving. "I couldn't tell whether I was alive or dead," he said. Numb and bleeding, he played dead for a time, then crawled from the trench into the darkness. He still speaks as if he died that night. "When I got better I went to see a man whose father was killed with me," Safar said, fingering a bullet he's picked up from the sand. "I said to him, 'Your father died with me.' I thought he should know." " ..................................... There is only one photo to accompany the story, but its a beauty. Captioned "Hussein Safar digs in an area near Najaf where he says he was shot and left to die in a mass grave in 1991. May 6, 2003 Kevin P. Casey " http://www.latsi.com/latsipix/0506lat1.jpg In this photo a man is shown digging with his hand into a sand dune, that looks identical to all the other sand dunes in the area (in the article we are also told this area is prone to flooding!!!). There is nothing to suggest this is grave at all, not one body has excavated. It may be the site of thousands of Najaf townspeople, but clearly the place is completely unvisited, there are no footprints or any other sign of human presence here. The fact that thousands are buried here seems to be a matter of complete indifference to their friends and relatives. To call this a mass grave, and to write in a news story '"The families ought to know that people have been killed here," Safar said last week, standing over the graves', is propaganda at its most surreal. An entire atrocity story has been built around a harmless sand dune. Tom Young ____________________________________________________________ Get advanced SPAM filtering on Webmail or POP Mail ... Get Lycos Mail! http://login.mail.lycos.com/r/referral?aid=27005 _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk