A New Day in Basra (washingtonpost.com) A New Day in Basra
Residents Search Regime's Ruins for Clues About the Past
Iraqi children walk past British soldiers outside the University of Basra. (Lucian Perkins - The Washington Post)
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By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, April 7, 2003; 5:13 PM
BASRA, Iraq, April 7-They came early to the abandoned Office of Public Safety today, an imposing high-rise in the Mazlaq neighborhood that was Basra's most notorious political prison. Some came looking for clues to the fate of the missing. Others came looking for revenge.
Wamid Kadem arrived early, he said, because he wanted information on his torturer. Hani Sukany said he came to look for two cousins, even though he already knows they are dead. A 31-year-old man in black-he would not give his name-pedaled up on his rusted blue bicycle, saying he was looking for any documents that might shed light on the brother he has not seen in 11 years.
The day after Baath Party leaders fled Basra in the face of a British armored advance, scores of Iraqis swarmed onto the site, once synonymous with fear. Many said they came to look for photographs of missing loved ones. And amid the rubble of overturned filing cabinets and upended desks, they found some. One man brandished a photo of a relative who appeared bloody and lifeless, proof, he said, that the man had been tortured after he disappeared into the compound.
Residents Search Regime's Ruins for Clues About the Past
Iraqi children walk past British soldiers outside the University of Basra. (Lucian Perkins - The Washington Post)
In the Field: Reports From The Post's Embedded Correspondents
From Baghdad: The Post's Anthony Shadid Reports
The Homefront : Military Life and the Anti-War Movement in Washington
Latest Updates:
� Latest Audio and Video
� The Day in Photos
� Maps: The Latest | All Maps
Top Stories:
� A New Day in Basra
� Bush, Blair Look to Bridge Gap Over Postwar Iraq
� U.S. Airlifts Iraqi Exile Force For Duties Near Nasiriyah
� Multimedia Highlights
___ E-mail Newsletter ___
Fresh Washington Post news and analysis every weekday afternoon.
Sample | Subscribe
E-Mail This Article
Printer-Friendly Version
Permission to Republish
Subscribe to The Post
By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, April 7, 2003; 5:13 PM
BASRA, Iraq, April 7-They came early to the abandoned Office of Public Safety today, an imposing high-rise in the Mazlaq neighborhood that was Basra's most notorious political prison. Some came looking for clues to the fate of the missing. Others came looking for revenge.
Wamid Kadem arrived early, he said, because he wanted information on his torturer. Hani Sukany said he came to look for two cousins, even though he already knows they are dead. A 31-year-old man in black-he would not give his name-pedaled up on his rusted blue bicycle, saying he was looking for any documents that might shed light on the brother he has not seen in 11 years.
The day after Baath Party leaders fled Basra in the face of a British armored advance, scores of Iraqis swarmed onto the site, once synonymous with fear. Many said they came to look for photographs of missing loved ones. And amid the rubble of overturned filing cabinets and upended desks, they found some. One man brandished a photo of a relative who appeared bloody and lifeless, proof, he said, that the man had been tortured after he disappeared into the compound.
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