April 21, 2005

50-70 Bodies Found in Tigris

Last week we brought you the story that Sunni terrorists were threatening to kill 100+ Shiites from the Madaen area. We later reported that it was a hoax. Well, it's looking like less of a hoax today.

Dozens of bodies, some of them beheaded, were found washed up on the banks of the Tigris river. I've seen low estimates of 50 and high estimates of 70. Still up in the air is whether these bodies are those of the Madaen hostages, as Iraqi President Jalal Talabani claims. The US is denying any knowlege of the bodies, and reports indicate that many of the bodies were found before the Madaen hostage crisis was announced.

Interested Participant has more here, Chad at In The Bullpen's post on the subject is here, INFDL here, and Speed of Thought here.

At the very least, the confusing nature of this story reveals that Talibani is no different than other Arab leaders in his ability to spread what are essentially rumors as fact.

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 12:17 PM | |