Questions Arising about Bridge Stampede in Baghdad (VOA)

[ovidsen]

I know, consider the source (the propaganda arm of the US government), but this article raises some interesting questions about yesterday's deadly stampede in Baghdad. It casts doubt on the story that the panic was caused by a false suicide bomber rumor, the causes of the deaths, and even the death total. This is an angle I haven't seen anywhere else. You be the judge.

Questions Arising about Bridge Stampede in Baghdad
By Alisha Ryu
Kadhimiya, Iraq
01 September 2005

Iraqi officials say 965 Shi'ite pilgrims were killed Wednesday in a stampede on a bridge leading to a Baghdad shrine, but other Iraqi security officials, politicians, and the U.S. military in Baghdad are questioning the facts surrounding reports of the stampede in the northwest Kadhimiya district of the capital.

(/snip)

On the bridge itself Wednesday afternoon, there was one striking sight, which did suggest that something catastrophic had occurred earlier. Hundreds of pairs of shoes littered both sides of the two-lane bridge, which some Iraqis said belonged to the more than 900 Shi'ites who allegedly perished in the stampede.

But there was also a strange absence of ambulances, medical personnel and rescue activities on the bridge or in the river. There was no sign of blood anywhere on the bridge and not a drop of blood could be found on a row of knee-high concrete barriers, which many of the victims were said to have been crushed against.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-09-01-voa3.cfm

[nolabels]

1. That Iraq unity government seems to be collapsing also

Iraq government unity vanishes after stampede
Defense and interior ministers under fire for failing to ensure security of pilgrims

By Agence France Presse (AFP)

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Iraq government unity vanishes after stampede

BAGHDAD: The unity of Iraq's government was thrown into disarray when the health minister publicly demanded the resignation of two Cabinet colleagues over the stampede that killed nearly 800 Shiites. Abdel-Mottalib Mohammad Ali said that the ministers of the interior and defense should quit for failing to ensure the security of the Shiite pilgrims who were pouring toward a shrine in Baghdad when the tragedy struck.

"I hold my colleagues in the ministries of interior and defense responsible for what happened today," said Ali, seen as close to the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
(snip)
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=18138
http://www.antiwar.com/

[ovidsen]

4. Curiouser and curiouser!

I posted the VOA story because I found it interesting that it's reporter didn't fall back on the usual Shia vs. Sunni stereotype to explain the bridge stampede, which would have been so easy to do. Instead, the VOA item raised all sorts of questions about who was killed, how many, where, and why. Now the AFP says one member of Iraq's cabinet is accusing two others of responsibility for the mass deaths, without specifically detailing what exactly happened. This US backed coalition government in Iraq is beginning to show some serious cracks. I have no idea what could happen next.

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Are they saying that this didn't happen?

Weird.

[pox_americana]

3. Yes, they are saying this didn't happen.

Or at least not to the extent reported.

Has this surfaced anywhere else?