KHATUNIA, Iraq, May 14 (UPI) -- Three women in black hijabs rock back and forth in the dirt under a blistering sun, keening for their loved ones as a construction shovel digs for the dead buried several yards away.
Potential war crimes evidence is being destroyed by the shovel, says Human Rights Watch representative Peter Bouckert.
"This evidence is needed to prosecute the people of Saddam Hussein's regime," Bouckert says. "The United States ... response to this is absolutely too little. This is absolutely shameful."
But the families here who are waiting hope for remains, or even news, of their dead relatives don't care. All they want to see is that their people killed during the Baath Party's brutal retaliation for the 1991 uprising are properly laid to rest. Many have brought wooden coffins.
At the site, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, bits of bone, skulls, jewelry and pieces of clothing mingle together with the dirt in the shovel bucket. Men rush forward to scoop the jumble out of the bucket and lay it on the dirt.
"This is a crime against humanity. It's beyond comprehension," says Capt. David T. Bromley of the U.S. 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. "But we're trying to respect the rights of the families. They've asked that we allow them to excavate the site."
Human Rights Watch workers have estimated 200,000 missing people may lie in the 15-20 grave sites now identified around the country. Some villagers around this site say 50 percent of the people were taken away and executed in front of pre-dug graves as punishment for the Shiite uprising against Saddam after the 1991 Gulf War. Here they have not been allowed to go to the gravesite, which in the short distance is simply a high dirt mound in an open field.
"My son, my son," wails Kifana Omear, 50, as her brother holds a plastic bag with human remains in front of her. Elsewhere on the ground, hair still clings to some of the skulls, others show obvious bullet holes. Dirty but still laminated identification cards suggest many of the dead were university students.
Although emotions run high, most people in the crowd of 300-400 held back by a roll of barbed wire stand patiently, casting searching looks and trading information as the latest shovelful is brought forward. But it's been 12 years of not knowing what happened, and they want answers.
"Farmers saw some of the crimes and some of the people were brought from the hospital to the grave, where they were shot," says Azhar Kadum, 31, one of the crowd. "My two brothers were taken. I was also in the house, but I ran away."
Karim Qassam, 43, tells United Press International he has waited in the hot son for six days for word of his five brothers. He has not received any evidence yet from the gravesite.
"It must be a horrendous feeling to know your family member is here, but the reality is, most of these people will not be able to identify their relatives," says Bouckert. "We need a massive forensic response from around the world to help us."
Anecdotal evidence indicates many of the people at the site were executed. But some may also have been killed during the fighting with Iraqi forces in 1991, Bouckert points out.
Islamic law requires the bodies be buried in the "proper way" as soon as possible, says Rafid Fakhri, a coordinator of the excavation. At the rate of finding remains of 350 bodies per day in the past six days, it would take too long to do the necessary forensic work, he says.
"This would be unacceptable to the families and to our religion," Fakhri says. "We have eyewitnesses to what happened. That is enough for us."
