Friday, October 06, 2006
Death squads turn hospitals into death traps
Security
CBS reports that Sunnis in Baghdad are too afraid to go to the morgue to collect the bodies of their loved ones because they are being watched and know they could be followed, kidnapped and murdered by Shiite militias. Even Sadr's Health Minister acknowledges that this is happening. What he denies is that the Mahdi Army are the people responsible. The bodies pile up in Baghdad morgues, and every couple of days lorries come to take the dead south to be buried in mass graves with no names, only a number. Four months ago, the "cemetery for the unknown" in the southern Shiite city of Kerbala did not even exist; now, there are more than 900 unclaimed bodies buried there.
The morgue itself is believed to be controlled by the Mahdi Army, founded and led by anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The takeover began after the last election in December when Sadr's political faction was given control of the Ministry of Health. The U.S. military has documented how Sadr's Mahdi Army has turned morgues and hospitals into places where death squads operate freely.
The chilling details are spelled out in an intelligence report seen by CBS News. Among some of the details of the report are: Hospitals have become command and control centers for the Mahdi Army militia. Sunni patients are being murdered; some are dragged from their beds. The militia is keeping hostages inside some hospitals, where they are tortured and executed. They're using ambulances to transport hostages and illegal weapons, and even to help their fighters escape from U.S. forces. A hospital worker says Mahdi Army spies are everywhere, and would only talk with both face and voice masked. More than 80 per cent of the original doctors and staff where she works are gone, replaced by Shiite supporters of the Mahdi Army.
