The Rag Blog: Things to Hope Against in Your Next Life

01 November 2006

Things to Hope Against in Your Next Life

These tattoos aren't artful - they help identify Iraq's dead
By Nancy A. Youssef
McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Ali Abbas decided that his upper right thigh was the best place for a tattoo because no one gets tortured there.

He'd seen hundred of bodies in the city morgue and dozens of hospitals during his 18-day search for his missing uncle. He'd seen drill marks in swollen, often unrecognizable heads, slash marks across necks, bullet holes in backs, abdomens and swollen hands. He'd seen bodies that had been thrown into the river, so swollen they'd barely looked human. But by and large, the thighs had been intact.

So that's where he decided to have his name, address and phone number tattooed, in case the day comes when someone is searching for his body.

Read the rest of the gruesome tale here.

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