Smuggling corpses into Iraq – Part II

In the summer of 2004, the Mahdi Army battled U.S. troops in Wadi al-Salam, one of the largest cemeteries on earth.

“We ambush their patrols and the Americans cannot get into the area, because it’s full of winding lanes and underground mausoleums,” a gunman named Abdul Zahra Hadi told a Reuters news reporter at the time. “We can hit and run and hide inside the many tombs.”

The cemetery, which holds the remains of millions and stretches for six miles, is said to contain the tomb of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, who founded the Shi’a branch of Islam and died in 661. To be buried near Ali, Shiites claim, is an act on par with 700 years of worship and will ensure bodies a hasty journey to heaven. Seeking such bliss, Shi’i Muslims have been sending their bodies to Wadi al-Salam, by hook or by crook, for many war torn centuries.

The traffic continued through the 20th century but in recent decades has been halted continuously by war. Saddam Hussein shut off the flow of corpses from Iran after the Iran-Iraq war started, in 1980. The war lasted 8 years. In 1991, Iraqi Shi’a’s rose against Hussein but the dictator crushed the rebellion. Rebels fled to the cemetery where they were tracked down and massacred.

Traffic slowed during the first Gulf War and dipped again with the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, in 2003. The disruptions have gone to greatly curb the financial prowess of Najaf. The corpse traffic continues now, regulated by Iraq’s Customs and Health Departments, and the smuggling continues too. Often it is only the rich who can afford to pay.

Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began, as many as 40,000 unidentified corpses have been buried in Wadi al-Salam, according to figures released by Ahmed Di’aibil, a Najaf government spokesperson. All corpses are numbered and photographed and the location of burial is noted. Figures are recorded in a register in the hope that families will eventually be able to identify the bodies. Thousands of more bodies may have been hastily buried in the deserts surrounding Najaf.

The cemetery’s bloody history has spawned a slew of interesting news reports and also a video game, produced by a company that specializes in turning “real war news” into “real war games.”

The game’s promo on the company website reads:

“Worlds apart from any battlefield our men have ever encountered, the US endures a hellish trip over sacred grounds. Death surrounds the US forces: five acres and millions of graves containing Iraq’s most blessed souls. The soldiers stand high above the underground tombs and far below the storied mausoleums, immersed in a sea of headstones that cloak the well-armed enemies. For three weeks, US and coalition troops will chase hundreds of hardcore killers in an inherently sinister landscape.

Can you unearth the guerrilla army lying in wait throughout the vast cemetery? Do you have what it takes to lead your unit through twisted paths and jumbled headstones in a nightmarish battle to crush the insurgency? It is the Mahdi Army’s most monumental stand thus far. They are prepared to die fighting the enemy. The real question is, are you?”