Saturday, December 30, 2006
Violence As Usual
Saddam's dead, but not much else has changed in Iraq:
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Bombings killed at least 68 people in Iraq on Saturday, including one planted on a minibus that exploded in a fish market in a mostly Shiite town south of Baghdad.
The attacks came hours after Saddam Hussein was hanged in Baghdad for ordering the killings of 148 Shiites in the city of Dujail in 1982. Despite concerns about a spike in unrest, Saturday's violence was not unusually high and there was no indication it was related to the execution.
The U.S. military also announced the deaths of three Marines and three soldiers, making December the year's deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq, with 109 service members killed.
The bombing at the fish market in Kufa, a Shiite town about 100 miles south of the Iraqi capital, killed 31 people and wounded 58, said Issa Mohammed, director of the morgue in the neighboring town of Najaf. The man blamed for parking the vehicle was cornered and killed by a mob as he walked away from the explosion, police and witnesses said.
Shoppers had crowded into the market to buy supplies for the four-day Eid al-Adha festival, the most important holiday of the Islamic calendar for Shiites.
Television footage showed hundreds of men in traditional Arab headdresses swarming around the minibus' charred frame, toppled on its side in the street. Ambulances and fire trucks pulled up to the site, and a coffin was loaded on top of a car.
In northwest Baghdad, two parked cars exploded one after another, killing 37 civilians and wounding 76 in a mixed neighborhood of the Iraqi capital, police said.
The Marines died Thursday of wounds from fighting in western Anbar province, the U.S. military said. A soldier also died in combat Friday in Anbar, and two others were killed by roadside bombs in northwest Baghdad, the military said.
Their deaths pushed the December death toll past the 105 U.S. service members killed in Iraq in October. At least 2,998 members of the U.S. military have been killed since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The good news is the violence hasn't increased in Iraq after Saddam's hanging (at least so far.)
The bad news is the "usual level of violence in Iraq" killed at least 68 people in car bomb attacks and 6 American military personnel in combat.
I'd say the "usual level of violence" is pretty horrific in and of itself and many military experts say Preznut Bush's 17,000-20,000 troop surge plan will do little to solve the security problem long-term.
But at least Saddam's dead, right?
Comments:
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But at least Saddam's dead, right?
Indeed--a grisly exclamation point on our Middle East bungling.
Indeed--a grisly exclamation point on our Middle East bungling.
# posted by 
: 5:27 PM
: 5:27 PM
"But at least Saddam's dead, right?" then you are going to say that the US really put people on the moon.
The lengths we go for entertainment...
The lengths we go for entertainment...
The video of the execution showing Sadr militiamen chanting Sadr's name detracts from the legitimacy of the trial/execution phase even more. William Cohen said this morning on CNN that the U.S. should have had the Iraqi gov't wait until after the U.S. forces were out of iraq before the execution of Saddam was carried out. This would have provided some distance and cover for us. Now it looks like we allowed the Sadr thugs to perform a revenge killing on Saddam while the Kurds and Sunnis harmed by him never got their trials to expose the crimes done to them by Saddam.
As you say, kvatch - an exclamation point to the bungling.
As you say, kvatch - an exclamation point to the bungling.
cartledge, you wrote:
""But at least Saddam's dead, right?" then you are going to say that the US really put people on the moon. The lengths we go for entertainment..."
Are you joking, or do you seriously believe saddam is alive somewhere and that Neil Armstrong did not walk on the Moon?
""But at least Saddam's dead, right?" then you are going to say that the US really put people on the moon. The lengths we go for entertainment..."
Are you joking, or do you seriously believe saddam is alive somewhere and that Neil Armstrong did not walk on the Moon?
reality, you wrote:
"William Cohen said this morning on CNN that the U.S. should have had the Iraqi gov't wait until after the U.S. forces were out of iraq before the execution of Saddam was carried out."
Yeah, and risk saddam escaping with the aid of his baathist supporters. Not a chance were we going to let that happen.
YOu opined:
"This would have provided some distance and cover for us."
Didn't you learn anything from Thomas Friedman's rules for dealing with muslims?
The muslims will invent whatever story suits their islamic needs and no amount of fact will dissuade them from embracing a conspiracy theory.
You wrote:
"Now it looks like we allowed the Sadr thugs to perform a revenge killing on Saddam while the Kurds and Sunnis harmed by him never got their trials to expose the crimes done to them by Saddam."
This is where freedom of information has power. When the Soviet Union fell, millions of their secret documents became public. East Germany too. The archives of the secret police were pretty compelling reading for a lot of people.
More importantly, those oppressed who lost property to the East German government were able to get it back.
In a democratic Iraq, many Iraqis may have shot at some form of reparations to compensate for their abuse under saddam.
Of course, without democracy it won't happen. However, the idea of reparations is powerful. All injured parties in Iraq have a compelling financial reason to support a democratic government.
Unfortunately, you'd rather see the failure of the new Iraqi state. It abets your need to bash Bush.
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"William Cohen said this morning on CNN that the U.S. should have had the Iraqi gov't wait until after the U.S. forces were out of iraq before the execution of Saddam was carried out."
Yeah, and risk saddam escaping with the aid of his baathist supporters. Not a chance were we going to let that happen.
YOu opined:
"This would have provided some distance and cover for us."
Didn't you learn anything from Thomas Friedman's rules for dealing with muslims?
The muslims will invent whatever story suits their islamic needs and no amount of fact will dissuade them from embracing a conspiracy theory.
You wrote:
"Now it looks like we allowed the Sadr thugs to perform a revenge killing on Saddam while the Kurds and Sunnis harmed by him never got their trials to expose the crimes done to them by Saddam."
This is where freedom of information has power. When the Soviet Union fell, millions of their secret documents became public. East Germany too. The archives of the secret police were pretty compelling reading for a lot of people.
More importantly, those oppressed who lost property to the East German government were able to get it back.
In a democratic Iraq, many Iraqis may have shot at some form of reparations to compensate for their abuse under saddam.
Of course, without democracy it won't happen. However, the idea of reparations is powerful. All injured parties in Iraq have a compelling financial reason to support a democratic government.
Unfortunately, you'd rather see the failure of the new Iraqi state. It abets your need to bash Bush.
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