International forensic experts this week examined a mass grave site in Samawa, on the Euphrates River, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, collecting evidence to prosecute Saddam and his top lieutenants for the mass killings of ethnic Kurds and Shiites during his more than 30 years in power.
Many of those buried in the 18 trenches were believed to be Kurds killed in 1987 and 1988 during the Anfal campaign, said Gregg Nivala, from the US government's Regime Crimes Liaison Office.
"These were not combatants," he said. "They were women and children."
More than 1,500 bodies are to be exhumed from this site. At least 180,000 people are believed to have been killed by Saddam during his muderous reign, not counting the wars with Iran and the 1991 and 2003 Gulf Wars.
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