Yet there are other discoveries the military and a few journalists have made that ought to give the critics of this war reason for pause. From the Iraqi countryside the New York Sun's Adam Daifallah writes: "Mass graves of Iraqis were discovered at Mahaweel just outside the town of Hilla. Distraught Iraqis searched through piles of bones in a chaotic, impromptu scrum. The raw emotion of those who were there searching for their lost loved ones was overwhelming, and their thirst for revenge unquenchable. ... Every day, one hears of a new horror story. There are few Iraqi families who have not seen at least one loved one die in one of Saddam's wars."
It is about time that American journalists fasten on this story. Right up to the arrival of American troops in Baghdad, Saddam's agents were butchering those that roused their wrath. In a splendid Associated Press piece, Mark Fritz tells us that Saddam -- during his last dozen years of butchery -- had "enemies of state" executed who were as young as 11 years old. Sixty mass graves have been discovered. Owing to Saddam's episodic waves of war and rebellion, "beneath one layer of bodies is sometimes another."
It is frankly astounding to me that so little has been made of these discoveries. The New York Sun, The New York Times and The Associated Press have filed stories, but those should only whet the press's appetite for more. Instead, we are regaled with stories about what has not been found -- that is to say, weapons of mass destruction.
Why not more stories about the Iraqi killing fields? Is it because film coverage of the skeletons and the torture chambers is too upsetting for the evening news? Possibly it is, but the mass graves and torture chambers that we have now discovered should be publicized. Saddam was that evil, and if civilized government arises in Baghdad, the grisly evidence of his evil will be discovered for years to come.