Brisk business for burial shrouds in Iraq holy city (Najaf)

[Cocoa]

Laura Bush will appreciate this positive news from Iraq. :thumbsup:


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061216/ts_afp/iraqshiitereligion_061216195043

AFP

Brisk market for burial shrouds in Iraq holy city

by Hassan Abdel Zahra 1 hour, 45 minutes ago

NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Najaf, home to the golden domed shrine of the Imam Ali, is
Iraq's holiest Shiite city and has long lived off a constant flow of pilgrims.

Now, with Iraq engulfed in a vicious sectarian war, it also prospers from a never-ending flow of bodies that are brought for burial in one of the largest cemeteries in the world.

Every day fleets of minibuses ferry Shiite corpses to Najaf and the massive Wadi al-Salam (Valley of Peace) cemetery that stretches out from the old city to fill six square kilometers (about two square miles) with some five million graves.

Never has the business of death been more prosperous in Najaf than in the three-and-a-half years since the US-led invasion of Iraq.

more...

[originalpckelly]

1. WOW!

if they're getting 150-200 Iraqis a day, then in one year that equals 54750-73000 Iraqis dying.

This doesn't include Iraqis whom are not buried in Najaf.

That means the figure in the ISG report (1,100), which might refer to either attacks on civilians in general, or deaths because of attacks on civilians, is more likely to be actual deaths of civilians.

This is giving good insight into the actual death toll in the Iraq war, and it is yet another piece of evidence to support the Lancet figure of 655,000 dead Iraqis.

[originalpckelly]

2. That would be like 586607 Americans died each year...

That's higher than the death rate for cancer in America, and remember these are the dead only going to one city, not the whole country. If these deaths are not disease or old age related, they are a significantly higher murder rate than America. (Our murder rate is 15-17,000 for an entire year.)

[MADem]

3. If you are shi'a, that is one of "the" places to be buried. Thus, I would not expect

all of the dead to be 'war related.' It's a hugely holy shrine, so I would anticipate that many of the dead are simply very religious people, lifetime pilgrims, who died of natural causes. However, the war no doubt contributed to the rapid filling of the cemetery and the necessity to open up an additional one in Karbala.

[originalpckelly]

4. I know...

I'm still trying to get a clearer picture of those who've died in this war. It is so unclear.

[MADem]

5. Well, I sympathize. So long as we are relying on our gubmint to tell us the count, well,

odds are, we aren't gonna get the true picture, I'm thinkin'....