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CNN Live Today

Mass Grave

Aired May 14, 2003 - 10:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: On to central Iraq now. A pilgrimage of grief, and hope, mystery and closure. Villagers throughout the region are converging on Mawahil. It's a newly discovered mass grave there that could surrender answers to the haunting disappearance of thousands of people after a failed 1991 Shia revolt against Saddam Hussein.
And these are some live pictures you're seeing from the scene right now, people who for many, many years have wondered what has happened to their loved ones, to their relatives, showing up, going through the graves, looking for their loved ones in desperation and in the complete sadness that they have had for so many years.

Our Jane Arraf is at the grave site right now, and tells us more about what is taking place there.

Jane, hello.

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Well, the bulldozer has gone. It's been digging all day. These piles of earth, as you can see around you, and they have turned up 150 bodies.

Now a lot of the relatives have left. They are trying to get home before sundown, because the area is still a bit unsettled. But, essentially, what we're seeing behind us are people who have come and continued to look for relatives. There's not really very much to go on. They're going through these tattered bits of clothing and piles of bones, and hoping to find something that's legible. A lot of them have Iraqi identification cards on them, but the names have been worn away. The only thing that's left is a number.

A lot of the women that you see have been crying, saying that what happened in 1991 was the fault of the U.S. Where was Bush, they have been saying? The reason is, a lot of these people appear to have disappeared just a few days after the Iraqi army pulled out of Kuwait, after the 1991 Gulf War, when Shias were encouraged to rise up. They did. No one came to their aid. And tens of thousands, perhaps a 100,000 at least, were killed. Many of these would have been -- that would have accounted for many of these people here.

Still, as you can see, there's a lot of mystery about who exactly these people are, and when they were killed. The only thing there's not much mystery about is how. Some of them have gunshot wounds to the head. Some of them have fractured skulls. Some have their hands tied behind their back. Most of them seem to have died in truly horrible ways -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Jane, you can certainly understand all of these years of questions, wondering what happened to their loved ones, understand why people want to come up and look through these great graves. There's a concern from human rights advocates by doing that and going through the graves they might actually be disturbing evidence in going after war criminals at a later time?

ARRAF: I think given the choice between going after war criminals and in some distant future and finding out what happened to people, they haven't been able to mourn for 13 years. Most people are going to rush right down there the way have on these buses and dig with their bare hands to see if they can find their relatives, and that's really what's happening here.

KAGAN: Yes, understandable. A very, very sad scene there in Iraq. Jane Arraf, thank you for that.

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Aired May 14, 2003 - 10:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: On to central Iraq now. A pilgrimage of grief, and hope, mystery and closure. Villagers throughout the region are converging on Mawahil. It's a newly discovered mass grave there that could surrender answers to the haunting disappearance of thousands of people after a failed 1991 Shia revolt against Saddam Hussein.
And these are some live pictures you're seeing from the scene right now, people who for many, many years have wondered what has happened to their loved ones, to their relatives, showing up, going through the graves, looking for their loved ones in desperation and in the complete sadness that they have had for so many years.

Our Jane Arraf is at the grave site right now, and tells us more about what is taking place there.

Jane, hello.

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Well, the bulldozer has gone. It's been digging all day. These piles of earth, as you can see around you, and they have turned up 150 bodies.

Now a lot of the relatives have left. They are trying to get home before sundown, because the area is still a bit unsettled. But, essentially, what we're seeing behind us are people who have come and continued to look for relatives. There's not really very much to go on. They're going through these tattered bits of clothing and piles of bones, and hoping to find something that's legible. A lot of them have Iraqi identification cards on them, but the names have been worn away. The only thing that's left is a number.

A lot of the women that you see have been crying, saying that what happened in 1991 was the fault of the U.S. Where was Bush, they have been saying? The reason is, a lot of these people appear to have disappeared just a few days after the Iraqi army pulled out of Kuwait, after the 1991 Gulf War, when Shias were encouraged to rise up. They did. No one came to their aid. And tens of thousands, perhaps a 100,000 at least, were killed. Many of these would have been -- that would have accounted for many of these people here.

Still, as you can see, there's a lot of mystery about who exactly these people are, and when they were killed. The only thing there's not much mystery about is how. Some of them have gunshot wounds to the head. Some of them have fractured skulls. Some have their hands tied behind their back. Most of them seem to have died in truly horrible ways -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Jane, you can certainly understand all of these years of questions, wondering what happened to their loved ones, understand why people want to come up and look through these great graves. There's a concern from human rights advocates by doing that and going through the graves they might actually be disturbing evidence in going after war criminals at a later time?

ARRAF: I think given the choice between going after war criminals and in some distant future and finding out what happened to people, they haven't been able to mourn for 13 years. Most people are going to rush right down there the way have on these buses and dig with their bare hands to see if they can find their relatives, and that's really what's happening here.

KAGAN: Yes, understandable. A very, very sad scene there in Iraq. Jane Arraf, thank you for that.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com