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[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ] At last a topic that has everyone coming out to comment on. As is Peter, I too am convinced there are a myriad of mass graves, mostly due to sanctions and many due to the US provocation (1991) as in the Bay of Pigs and of course under US cover and support in Halabja et al. ([For M of Hackney-SH is not a nice man, I don't personally care for him, I believe he has lead the people of Iraq through decades of brutality and is hated by many in Iraq. I for one would not have given him gold spurs (rumsfeld) or billions in ag credits (reagan) or millions in dual use items including biological and chemical pre cursors (bush 1) or run interference for him at the UN (US government) or shaken his hand or kissed his face as some in the North seem to have done when it suited them.)) Frankly, given the technology that is possible in Anthropology and that has been successfully utilized in Latin America on just such US supported atrocities, I am as surprised as any that we don't know exactly how many human beings were killed and what the exact causes of their deaths are. In fact, considering the incredible amount of US taxpayer money that has been and continues to be funneled into the destruction of Iraq, I would think that it would make perfect sense to locate and exhume these mass graves for propaganda purposes. The fact that it hasn't been done, to any extent, would certainly lead a skeptic to question just what is going on. We know why SH and OBL will never go on trial, too many connections to the US government. Are the graves left undisturbed for similar reasons, especially the trenches in the South? I think Tom raises legitimate points, although I for one disagree with the analysis and understand Colin's perspective, but I must say it looks as if he has looked into this more than some. As has been noted before on this list, by me, we are all emotionally damaged from our work. We are here because we, like Felicity, love the people of Iraq and are horrified at what the US/uk has done to them. Horrified that our governments interfered in their governments for so long and created a climate where a man like SH could rise to power, horrified that it was allowed to continue and horrified at the millions who have died in support of US/uk power grabs. To reduce this to "Us and Them" "good and evil" as is often done, "apologists and loonies," is a disservice to the good people who are doing what they can to end the suffering in Iraq and around the world. As to mass graves, post on Tom, I think it is great that the topic is up and open and perhaps one that we should jump on. Of course recognizing the sensitivity of the topic. I have contacts to Snow, who is perhaps "the" man when it comes to such issues and will see if I can get him to comment. Cheers Roger Stroope Northern Arizona University Graduate Department- Anthropology Flagstaff USA _______________________________________________ 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