The Americans raided Baghdad last night, and now it seems the Iraqi military's come out onto the streets. Presumably they were just hiding.

The British have found a 'makeshift morgue' containing hundreds of sets of skulls and bones, wearing scraps of military uniform. We've only been at war for two weeks, so if they really are skeletons and not just pongy, half-rotted things, they can't be casualties from the invasion. They've been left in plastic bags and unsealed hardwood coffins, and many had identity cards attached to them. No one's commenting on who they might have been, but how about:

- Anti-aircraft troops killed over the last few years by coalition planes. Dictatorships (and other governments as well, I suppose) always try to lower casualty rates, so as to keep the people on side. Hiding the bodies could at least prevent the scene of almost daily funerals.

- Mutineers from one of the various uprisings that have taken place since 1991. Maybe Saddam wanted it kept under wraps, so the bodies were never released.

- Or maybe they're victims of Stalinist purges of the military. Saddam often emulates Stalin. (After all, Stalin was a successful dictator, unlike Hitler, who failed miserably.)

The whole ID cards tagging hidden bodies thing reminds me of Cambodia.