BAGHDAD, Oct. 4, 2006
CBS: Death Squads In Iraqi Hospitals
Intelligence Seen By CBS News Says Hospitals Are Command Centers For Shiite Militia
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Play CBS Video Video Iraqi Hospitals Targeted Shiite death squads are now killing innocent civilians in Baghdad hospitals. Chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan has an exclusive report.
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Interactive Attacks Map Details on the insurgency and terrorism that has continued to take lives since the fall of Saddam.
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Who's Who Iraq Insurgency More on the militant groups behind the insurgency in Iraq and their motivations.
The bodies are only a fraction of the unidentified bodies sent from Baghdad every few days for mass burial in the southern Shiite city of Kerbala, CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reports.
They come from the main morgue that's overflowing, relatives too terrified to claim their dead because most are from Iraq's Sunni minority, murdered by Shiite death squads.
And the morgue itself is believed to be controlled by the same Shiite militia blamed for many of the killings: 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:Reporter's Notebook
Lara Logan writes on how she found the story of the hospital death squads.
Iraq's Health Minister, Ali al-Shameri, is a devoted follower of Moqtada al-Sadr. He disputes the report's claims.
"I am ready now, and in the future, to receive investigation teams and journalists to get into any place they want and see whether the Madhi Army are there or not," the Health Minister says. "They will find only doctors, nurses, pharmacy staff and labs and they would find nothing else."
But a hospital worker says Mahdi Army spies are everywhere, and would only talk with both face and voice masked.
"A man was bringing his murdered brother to the morgue. They asked him if he knew who the killers were and he said ‘yes.’ They shot him right there," she says.
More than 80 percent of the original doctors and staff where she works are gone, replaced by Shia supporters of the Mahdi Army.
"It's going to get worse because there is no control and no accountability," the hospital worker adds. "No one can stop them. They are terrified... No one will be safe. There will be destruction. Complete destruction is what we are watching with our own eyes, and it's getting worse."
In burial, the victims of Iraq's sectarian slaughter still have no names, only a number on an anonymous grave marker. And with neither the Iraqi government nor the U.S. willing to act, the numbers keep climbing.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Michelle Obama tells how her role as the First Lady has changed her perspective.
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See all 32 CommentsUnfortunately, she taints her excellent work and continues to fuel unnecessary hostility when she concludes the segment with, %u201CAnd with neither the Iraqi government nor the U.S. willing to act, the numbers keep climbing.%u201D On what basis does she makes some a claim?! Thirteen American soldiers and even more Iraqi soldiers have died this week alone in battles specifically targeting the Mahdi militias. The Coalition effort throughout most of 2006 has been dedicated to reigning in the militias. If her complaint is that they have not stopped the militia from using a specific hospital, than she has underestimated the problem with these militias even more than the Bush administration has been accused of.
The overall effect of the American & Iraqi Forces%u2019 operations have been questionable. To say, however, that these forces have been UNWILLING to take on the militia is a slap in the face to the thousands who are working tireless, and sometimes sacrificing everything, to put a stop these illegally armed groups.
I know Bush's big big Texas ego wouldn't allow him to consider it, but I say release Sadaam, put him back in charge and get the hell out of there !
one's ability to bring reconciliation. This is stark tribalism beyond even darkest Africa. The Americans can't stop this, not even with a soldier on every corner. This will not stop until there is a Sunni run safe haven. The Iraqi government is completely
infiltrated. I am sure behind closed doors, the Shia and Iranians are planning this out, seeking revenge and establishing complete
control.
Great story.
We are Americans. Americans are dying in a place we should not be.
How did we come to have this HUGE problem called IRAQ?
A member of my family is an officer in the Marines, and wants to know. He is in danger.
What can we tell him? It's too late? That he might die like the rest of the 2700+ US Service men and women because President Bush, "made a mistake"? Is that supposed to raise his moral?
This is the problem.
We will fight a war FOREVER, if we don't believe WHY we're doing it is right and worthy.
We NEED leaders who CAN keep us safe. Who will not cook up reasons for us to die.
Please, get centered, vote.
"Amongst you whoever is without sin cast the first stone" %u2013Gandhi
Various news reports in the past have suggested to me that the US military has tried several times without success to kill Sadr and still wishes to do so.
He has certainly been vilified in several stories originating from the US military. This story fits that pattern.
I'm not inclined to believe it all without independent corroberation.
As a student of history, you get an F for effort. Your remediation-- to acquire an understanding of what the Shah represented to a growing plurality of Iranians, which include the very attributes you assign Carter, weak-kneed, feeble and obstructive.
But it was not Carter who invaded the embassy, and it not his regime to give away. It *was* Carter who launched a rescue mission for which the Iranian revolutionaries never forgave him.
And speaking of weak-kneed pols, you also forget Reagan's crew was found trading arms to the Iranians to get a little cash to toss to the Contras. If political corruption is part of today's GOP watch, it certainly was then, as well.
Better button your cardigan, and review your history. It is a chilling reminder the GOP has a terrible history of corruption and incompetence merely "perfected" with Bush43.
I have one more thing to add. I read a partial translation of a speech by al-Sadr in which he made the statement "We threw out the British, we threw out Saddam, and now we'll throw out the Americans!". That infuriated me. I thought "No you didn't, you fat, nasty, snaggle-toothed son-of-a-b*tch. YOU didn't throw out Hussein. The AMERICAN MILITARY did. If the AMERICAN MILITARY hadn't thrown him out, you'd still be soiling your man-dress every time Hussein or one of his psychopathic sons looked your way.". Again, I don't agree with this war, but give credit where credit is due.
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=56761
1)To be in the Military; you have accepted the possibility and responsibility of being shipped somewhere/sometime to protect your country, so let%u2019s stop undermining our men and women in uniform and treating them like children who need our protection! It is their choice to be in uniform; it is not mandatory, and most of them are proud of what they do.
2)Some how the public blames bush after 6 months of being in house, without looking back at the previous 8 years %u201Cwasted%u201D under the Clinton administration! Terrorism existed years and years ago, no one did anything about it, and thank god that our president is stepping up to the plate and dealing with this whole mess over seas, instead of bringing the war home!
3) I%u2019ve seen, talked, worked, and lived with Iraqis, and most if not all of them are thankful for the liberation, although concerned in regards to security, but remain hopeful.
For everything there is a price, and for war there is a big price tag attached, for us to stop living in fear every time we get on a plane, train, or even the subway, and for Iraqis to finally be able to rebuild their country; we all have to pay that price.
We didn't start it, they did.
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