Ann Clwyd, left wing humanitarian, poses at fake mass grave scene

international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis

Thursday December 11, 2003 21:11

by Tom Young

Ann Clwyd, the British politician who most strongly pushed the humanitarian case for war is shown posing in front of what is a manufactured mass grave photo-op

Note: this article draws no conclusions about human rights in Iraq and under Saddam Hussein. Or the extent of mass killings that took place. It solely concerns the ethics of British left wing politician Ann Clwyd.

Fresh from claiming in Parliament rumours of prisoners in Iraq being feed head or feet first into plastic shredders, Ann Clwyd visited Iraq in the aftermath of the war. Returning to Parliament in tears she claimed that she personally had counted 10000 remains removed from a mass grave.

Really?

10 000 takes a while to count. It turns out that the site she visited had in fact yielded fewer than 3000 graves.

But a news photo found on the USinfo site casts doubt on Ann Clwyd's claim to have seen any bodies at all.

http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/iraq/gallery/iraq-2003/0602mon1.htm

Ann Clwyd has shown standing at site, with a hillside in the background strewn with white plastic sacks. The viewer is invited to make the connection that these sacks contain human remains.

However, the sacks are both two bulky and the wrong shape to contain anything but sand or earth. They appear to have been strewn across the hillside, quickly and at random, and have no indication of actually being excavated from anywhere.

The photo bears all signs of being a hurriedly constructed scene to provide a visiting politician with a nice photo-op. What does this say about the sincerity of Ann Clwyd and views on the importance of human rights abuses and victims? What an utterly cynical display.