Experts search mass graves for evidence against Saddam

Forensic experts unearthing the skeletons of Saddam Hussein’s alleged victims have found an unexpected wealth of identification cards in mass graves, investigators say.

As the ousted leader’s first trial winds down, the investigators say the discovery of the ID cards has been a pivotal development in a new case against Saddam – the 1980s military campaign that killed an estimated 100,000 Kurds.

The IDs showed that the bodies are those of Kurds and gave the investigators other crucial information such as the alleged victims’ home towns, where follow-up interviews could be conducted with survivors, they said.

“When we first started, we didn’t think we’d find any IDs,” Michael “Sonny” Trimble, a 53-year-old forensic archaeologist from Missouri who is the director of the Iraqi Mass Graves Team, said.

But “the focus changed. It was dramatic”, he said during a tour for reporters that offered the first glimpse of the forensic analysis facility on the outskirts of Baghdad.

“We went from ‘let’s do the clothes and forensic analysis’ to ‘let’s do the clothes, the bones can wait’,” Trimble said.

Trimble and his team work at a laboratory in nine large tents, piecing together the stories of the people buried in mass graves around the country to provide evidence for future trials.

The defence is preparing to sum up its case next month in the trial against Saddam and seven co-defendants in the deaths of 148 people during a crackdown on a Shiite village.

Iraq’s High Tribunal is also preparing for a second trial charging Saddam with genocide in a 1980s military campaign against the Kurds. An estimated 100,000 people were killed in the campaign, known as “Anfal”.

Saddam has remained defiant and chief defence lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi indicated his client believed he could bargain his way out of trials that could result in the death penalty.

Al-Dulaimi said the former leader was the key to stability in Iraq and that Saddam believed the US would have to seek his help to quell the uprising.

“He’s their last resort. They’re going to knock at his door eventually,” al-Dulaimi said. Saddam was “the only person who can stop the resistance against the US troops”.

There is no indication American officials have considered seeking Saddam’s help. While Sunni Arabs are the backbone of the uprising, the Shiite Muslim majority and Kurds repressed by Saddam's regime would be enraged if he were allowed to re-enter public life.

Michael Flowers of the US Regime Crimes Liaison Office said there were 180-222 grave sites around Iraq and that estimates of the number of people killed under Saddam ranged from 100,000 to 300,000. “It’s impossible to get to them all,” he said.

Flowers and Trimble said forensics experts had to limit the number of remains recovered because of security concerns and the need to concentrate on gathering evidence that could be used in court.

“It’s more a matter of, can we link this location to a specific event?,” Flowers said. “A lot of these sites have been disturbed.”

However, the investigators stressed the sites are marked for future humanitarian recovery.

“Anyone can look at a map later on and go and recover them for the families,” Trimble said. “That’s not my mission.”

When asked how many people were buried in mass graves, he said: “You won’t know that real answer until 25 years from now when human rights groups go out.”