.Mass graves in Iraq reveal fates of al-Qaida’s opponents
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, part of an al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold west of Baghdad.
Awad’s remains were discovered last week in a mass grave 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 is seen as the grisly legacy of al-Qaida control of Iraq’s western deserts before the group was ousted early this year in an uprising by local tribes.
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-Qaida and its backers.
The graves help explain the decision by Sunni tribal leaders to fight back. Of the 23 sets of remains in one grave, authorities were able to identify only Awad and two others. That is typical in Iraq, where officials usually lack such forensics aids as DNA and dental records.
An estimated 375,000 Iraqis have vanished as a result of checkpoint kidnappings and other violence by Sunni and Shiite extremists.
Kansascity
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, part of an al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold west of Baghdad.
Awad’s remains were discovered last week in a mass grave 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 is seen as the grisly legacy of al-Qaida control of Iraq’s western deserts before the group was ousted early this year in an uprising by local tribes.
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-Qaida and its backers.
The graves help explain the decision by Sunni tribal leaders to fight back. Of the 23 sets of remains in one grave, authorities were able to identify only Awad and two others. That is typical in Iraq, where officials usually lack such forensics aids as DNA and dental records.
An estimated 375,000 Iraqis have vanished as a result of checkpoint kidnappings and other violence by Sunni and Shiite extremists.
Kansascity
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