As violence falls in Iraq, cemetery workers feel the pinch

NAJAF, Iraq — At what's believed to be the world's largest cemetery, where Shiite Muslims aspire to be buried and millions already have been, business isn't good.

A drop in violence around Iraq has cut burials in the huge Wadi al Salam cemetery here by at least one-third in the past six months, and that's cut the pay of thousands of workers who make their living digging graves, washing corpses or selling burial shrouds.

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"I always think of the increasing and decreasing of the dead," said Sameer Shaaban, 23, one of more than 100 workers who specialize in ceremonially washing the corpses. "People want more and more money, and I am one of them, but most of the workers in this field don't talk frankly, because they wish for more coffins, to earn more and more."

Dhurgham Majed al Malik, 48, whose family has arranged burial services for generations, said that this spring, private cars and taxis with caskets lashed to their roofs arrived at a rate of 6,500 a month. Now it's 4,000 or less, he said.

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Only 4,000 deaths a month? The horror!

Sometimes it gets tough to decide which is more important.:sarcasm:

We're not talking four thousand killed in violence. That cemetery is like Arlington, only in RELIGIOUS, not military, terms. It's hallowed ground, and a big deal to be buried there. People arrange for their remains to be shipped from all over hell to be interred there. They even dig people up and move them there.

Business HAS increased due to the war, make no mistake, but that place has been in business for centuries...

A link to your story, as you forgot one: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/20530.html

The Wadi al Salam cemetery — its name translates as “Valley of Peace” — dates to the 7th century. Its mud-brown jumble of crypts and rectangular and domed brick and marble tombs stretches to the horizon. It’s six miles long, two miles wide and grows by acres every day....Shiites feel so strongly about being buried here that when it’s too dangerous to travel, families have buried their loved ones elsewhere temporarily, then disinterred them for reburial here.