Car Bombs in Shiite East Baghdad Kill 55, Wound 128
Baathis, Salafis Baiting Shiites into Attacking
Sunni Arab guerrillas detonated two huge car bombs in a mainly Shiite market in east Baghdad on Sunday, killing 55 and wounding 128.
These bombings of Shiite markets are provocations against the Mahdi Army. The Sunni guerrillas want it to come out and fight, and then to turn surged US firepower on it by stealth.
The allegations that all the explosively formed projectiles set off against US troops in Baghdad in recent months were Shiite operations are in this context extremely fishy. The Baathis are entirely capable of deliberately buying Iranian components on the open market and using them in their attacks on the US, so as to throw suspicion on Mahdi Army fighters. Some were found in the Sunni district of Mansur. Very suspicious.
posted by Juan Cole @ 2/18/2007 06:27:00 AM
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3 Comments:
I heard a report on NPR this morning suggesting that Al Qaeda may be getting arms and intelligence help from Mesopotamia. Do you know anything about that?
I see the most recent Sunni bombings more as a message to the Iraqi people than to the Mahdi Army.
The message is: Your leaders stupidly are trusting the Americans to protect you instead of negotiating with us and the Americans cannot protect you.
The Mahdi Army has a good excuse not to come out, meaning it does not lose face by failing to respond since that is what the elected prime minister asked. Sadr is planning revenge for after the Americans leave but is under little to no pressure to respond immediately.
Now that the Sadr-is-in-Iran debacle lies in ruins, the US once again stands exposed as clumsy and bumbling amateurs who have no business putting troops anywhere near the Middle East. (I'm sure Hamas agrees.)
The Iraqi people are paying an immeasurable price for US arrogance and stubbornness.
We hear almost daily about massive bombings of markets and the use of car bombs, etc. Are we to infer that these are almost always perpetrated by suicide bombers? If so, where are all the portraits of the suicide bombers along the boulevards? Where's the videos of the bombers exclaiming the virtues of their intentions made before their mission? Where's the signs extolling their acts of heroism--blowing up mothers buying turnips? Where is all the talk about the 80 awaiting virgins in paradise? Are all these aspects of the cult of the suicide bomber found elsewhere not present in Iraq for some reason? Is there a difference here?
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