Holy Day attacks Kill at Least 56
Sunni Arab guerrillas seeking to provoke further fighting in Iraq's sectarian civil war targeted Shiites on the holy day of Ashura, Tuesday, killing 56 and wounding dozens. Many of the Shiites targeted were in smaller towns or cities, or were hit by mortar shells. The deployment of 11,000 men from the army and police in the holy city of Karbala forestalled attacks there.
Reuters reports this and other political violence. Note that Baladruz and Khaniqin, where Shiite mosques and worshippers were targeted, are east or northeast of Baghdad and are in mixed Sunni-Shiite regions.
McClatchy reports that a British base at Basra in the south received an intensive mortar shell bombardment on Ashura'. Some nationalistic Shiite militias in Basra deeply resent the foreign troop presence there.
posted by Juan Cole @ 1/31/2007 12:30:00 AM
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Official UK report: isolating Hamas is very bad policy.
It is not right that, given Palestine's historical and present circumstances, the democratically elected party Hamas should be as grievously insulted by Fatah and by foreign governments as it has been. As always and for practical reasons, morally outrageous diplomacy proves to be very bad policy.
Today the British parliament released a report stating on page 9 that, "The international community's policy of isolating a democratically elected government is questionable under conditions of ongoing conflict. We understand the reasons for this decision but doubt whether it is in fact the most effective response. Indeed, the withholding of revenues by Israel and the boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority by existing donors has led the Hamas government increasingly to look elsewhere for financial support. As a result, Hamas now has closer links to governments like that of Iran than it had two years ago. We doubt whether this is a development that the international community would have intended. The situation at the beginning of 2007, politically, economically and socially, is worse than it was in 2004. The international community is in danger of preventing the creation of a viable Palestinian state."
"While the end of occupation will provide the best opportunity for development, ways must be found to influence the actions of the Government of Israel and to create in the territories a government capable of self-rule and peace with its neighbour. The current approach of waiting for something to happen militates against this."
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/
cm200607/cmselect/cmintdev/114/114i.pdf
(page 9)
And yet another h/t to Al Jazeera.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/
85165CF4-BADD-40DB-84A8-A5B43CDEAD51.htm
Me: www.crawfordcandiru.blogspot.com
On subject of previous comment...
Reuters: "Malcolm Bruce, chairman of the committee (that wrote the report), said the international community had created a dangerous situation where Islamist Hamas has no accountability either to the people or to the Palestinian Authority.
"We're saying the situation is unsustainable and the government's refusal to talk to Hamas could be counter-productive," Bruce, a Liberal Democrat, said. The clear message is that if this goes on for much longer it will effectively collapse the Palestinian state."
http://today.reuters.com/News/
CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L30206742&WT
modLoc=IntNewsHome_C4_Crises-9
Whoever wrote the URL for the article labels this a "crisis."
A new video via Iraqslogger.com shows (apparently) a former Abu Ghraib guard boasting about torturing and raping Iraqi detainees. Excerpt:
"…girl, she was probably like 15 years old. Yeah, she was hot dude. The body on that girl, yeah, really tight. You know, hadn’t been touched yet. She was fucking prime. So….
***
One of the guys started pimping her out for 50 bucks a shot. I think at the end of the day, you know, he’d made like 500 bucks before she hung herself.
Really?
Yeah.
She hung herself? How’s come she hung herself?
I don’t know. She wasn’t happy."
If this video is real, it could trigger an explosion of violence across the Middle East.
Even if it is a hoax, it is a reflection of a very sick society.
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