From The Guardian, 3/2/06:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1721366,00.html

Baghdad official who exposed executions flees

B Jonathan Steele
The Guardian

Faik Bakir, the director of the Baghdad morgue, has fled Iraq in fear
of his life after reporting that more than 7,000 people have been
killed by death squads in recent months, the outgoing head of the UN
human rights office in Iraq has disclosed.

"The vast majority of bodies showed signs of summary execution - many
with their hands tied behind their back. Some showed evidence of
torture, with arms and leg joints broken by electric drills," said
John Pace, the Maltese UN official.

The killings had been happening long before the bloodshed after last
week's bombing of the Shia shrine in Samarra.

Mr Pace, whose contract in Iraq ended last month, said many killings
were carried out by Shia militias linked to the industry ministry run
by Bayan Jabr, a leading figure in the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq (Sciri).

Mr Pace said records, supported by photographs, came from Baghdad's
forensic institute, which passed them to the UN.

The Baghdad morgue has been receiving 700 or more bodies a month.

The figures peaked at 1,100 last July - many showing signs of torture.

Reports of government-sponsored death squads have sparked fear among
many prominent Iraqis, prompting a rise in the number leaving the
country.

Mr Pace said the morgue's director had received death threats after he
reported the murders.

"He's out of the country now," said Mr Pace, adding that the
attribution of the killings to government-linked militias did not come
from Dr Bakir.

"There are other sources for that. Some militias are integrated with
the police and wear police uniforms," he said.

"The Badr brigade [Sciri's armed wing] are in the police and are
mainly the ones doing the killing. They're the most notorious."

Some Iraqis accuse the Mahdi army militia, linked to the radical
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, of seizing and killing people.

But Mr Pace said:

"I'm not as sure of the Mahdi army as I am of the others."

---
Domino's Pizza: "Ketchup on burnt cardboard sprinkled with bacon bits
is not by any stretch of the imagination a culinary delight." -- Tag Heuer