In case you haven't been tracking the news today...

[WilliamPitt]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21478-2004Mar2.html

Scores Die in Multiple Blasts at Iraqi Shiite Shrines

Attacks Timed to Coincide With Major Religious Festival

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Anthony Shadid and Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, March 2, 2004; 10:20 AM

BAGHDAD, March 2 -- A wave of fiery explosions in and around Shiite Muslim shrines in Baghdad and Karbala killed scores of Iraqis Tuesday, turning a day of pilgrimage and worship for millions into one of the worst days of mass mourning since end of the war in Iraq.

At least six explosions hit Karbala. At least four hit Baghdad. Witnesses in both cities described horrific scenes of blood and body parts, of suffering and sorrow.

Authorities said there were too many bodies to count accurately and immediately.

Wire services quoted officials of the U.S. Provisional Coalition Authority saying that there were 143 people killed. The Iraqi Governing Council put the total at 125. Many more, possibly thousands, were wounded.

...more...

===

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/02/international/middleeast/02CND-IRAQ.html?hp

(NY Times report)

Blasts at Shiite Ceremonies in Iraq Kill at Least 100
By JOHN F. BURNS
and JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

Published: March 2, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 2 — A series of bombs and explosions ripped through Shiite Muslim religious ceremonies in Baghdad and the city of Karbala today, killing at least 100 people who were among hundreds of thousands on pilgrimages to ancient shrines.

Streaks of blood and bits of flesh clung to the walls and stone floors of the Imam Musa al-Khadam shrine in the Khadamiya district of Baghdad, after two suicide bombers blew themselves up at its doors, and a third detonated his bomb inside the shrine, according to witnesses and a militia guard at the shrine, Hussein Hamad.

As panicked pilgrims fled for an exit, a fourth suicide bomber blew himself up there, Mr. Hamad and other witnesses said.

"Hundreds of people were in the street and it was a big mess," said one of the caretakers of the mosque, Saad Abdul-Zahara. "As soon as the explosion hit us everybody started running. The streets were full of bleeding women."

He added: "I saw the suicide bomber walk into the crowd and then he blew himself up and just disappeared. It was terrifying. There was flesh flying, there were bodies flying."

He and other witnesses said grenades were thrown into the crowd from the windows of a nearby hotel.

(snip)

After the attack at the Khadamiya shrine, an angry crowd estimated in the thousands marched to a nearby American base where they started pelting soldiers and tanks with stones. A witness, Ali Heider, said the soldiers opened fire and he saw at least two Iraqis in the crowd shot.

...more...

===

This is an Iraq version of a series of attacks during the Hajj. This is disgusting, and huge, and literally could have been perpetrated by anyone: Sunnis fearful of Shia prominence, Kurds seeking autonomy in the north, al Qaeda sympathizers pissed at the Shia for cooperating with US forces.

It was well executed: Two bombs in the crowd, a third in the shrine, a fourth at the exact spot where people would flee to get away, plus grenades out the windows into the masses. Maximum chaos, maximum damage, perfect spots to create both.

Note, as well, the last paragraph posted above. What was the immediate reaction?

This is going to get incredibly ugly, incredibly quickly.

[HFishbine]

1. Isn't this irrelevant by now?

With the two frunt runners for the nomination both pro-war, isn't Iraq a moot point?

[Iverson]

3. Clearly not.

Kinder, gentler empire will mean doing it the right way!
What more could a progressive want?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

22. Compassionate Imperialism?

:shrug:

[Zynx]

5. You are quite right. It only mildly works in the GE.

However, nominating a pro-war candidate does limit your attacks on that front. Kerry in a funny sense may be the best positioned to attack if he could ever let out a coherent statement that doesn't hedge everyother word because he has held 58 different positions on the Iraq war.

[Greyskye]

6. Excuse me?

Is there a point to that incredibly inflammatory statement? If so, I'm not getting it.

[HFishbine]

13. It wasn't a statement.

It was a question.

[IrateCitizen]

2. We are rapidly losing the peace over there

Which was, after all, the thing that the majority of us who were against the invasion were saying would happen from the beginning.

All of this makes me seriously wonder what will happen over there if this June 30 deadline is adhered to. The only way they'll be able to maintain any sense of order is if a US-appointed strongman (Chalabi?) is put in power, but that won't go over too well with the Muslim world as a whole, let alone within Iraq itself. Of course, if they DON'T do that, then the risk of all-out civil war becomes very real. And on top of everything, you have Turkey anxiously watching to see if the Kurds get autonomy -- something they will not take too kindly to.

The whole thing is a big steaming shit sandwich, and everyone's going to have to take a bite.

Thanks for the summary, Will. I overheard this while getting ready for work this morning, but it appears to be much worse than I had initially imagined.

[WilliamPitt]

4. Latest casualty reports have 145 dead

[redqueen]

8. Am I the only one who sees a striking and unsettling resemblance

to "Vietnamization"?

Do we all remember how well that worked out?

[IrateCitizen]

11. Actually, I don't see it as such...

For starters, Iraq is a country completely under occupation, without a standing army fighting against the occupying power. The desert also doesn't provide the same kind of sanctuary for guerrilla armies as the jungle does. Additionally, what we have here is a formerly independent country suffering under a recent occupation, while in Vietnam it was a long-time colony fighting for its independence. It's extremely different dynamics at play.

That being said, I am beginning to see things as similar to the situation in the Occupied Territories -- with the additional element of ethnic, religious and tribal rivalries bringing about the real possibility of an internal civil war. It is not likely that attacks against occupying forces will either significantly increase or decrease -- but rather will continue apace for the foreseeable future. The real problem will arise if/when the different factions really start turning on each OTHER -- and then, as in this instance, start blaming the occupying forces for the lack of security.

[redqueen]

15. I see your points

It's just that knowing there's an UNLIMITED supply of cash to pay people who feel victimized by the situation to join the swelling ranks of terrorists... I don't see how leaving a US-backed leader there is going to cause anything but more trouble.

And are you sure you wanted to characterize Iraq as 'formerly independent'? I don't know for certain but my guess would be that many Iraqis see the past 70 years as nothing but one western-backed dictatorship after another. :shrug:

[lapislzi]

31. We had a "peace?"

I missed that.

[IrateCitizen]

32. I'm referring to the cessation of hostilities between armies

But as we are seeing in this instance, the "peace" can be quite far from "peaceful".... :-(

[tom_paine]

7. What? We are at War with Eastasia and always have been

I don't know where you found this Goldstein News on Eurasia (where things are quiet and always have been), but I am calling OHS on you.

Please don't spread fabrications regarding the Happy Eurasian Colony of Imperial Freedomstan.

[stopbush]

9. But A-MURK-ins are safer because our glorious leader sez so!

When did we begin worrying about brown-skinned people...especially those who don't live in god's country? (OK, we don't worry about the ones that live in god's country either).

[VelmaD]

10. This is insane...

I'm not sure I'm capable of saying something really coherent about it at this point...except this, it is obvious from the reports that regardless of who exactly was responsible for the bombings many people in Iraq are blaming US. We are in so much trouble and our leaders either don't grasp that or just don't care. *sigh*

I'm gonna go find someplace quiet to cry about the last part of that article. "One distraught man clawed through the piles until he found the small pink sandals of a child."

[bearfan454]

14. That is sick.

These corporate monsters running the country don't even care.

[redqueen]

16. Be honest - nor do most voters.

Sad, sickening, and it MUST BE CHANGED!

[SeattleRob]

12. Don't forget...

it's looking more apparent that we helped overthrow the democratically elected government of Haiti.

Gotta love the Bush foreign policy.

[tinanator]

18. Id call that bipartisanship in action

you cant pin all the actions of the US on Bush alone.

[revcarol]

17. As people go to vote on Super Tuesday,

do you think they might consider that the two front-runners want us to continue the occupation in Iraq?

NAW, makes too much sense.

The Iraqis reap the whirlwind.Tragic.

[Uzybone]

19. Its only getting worse

and until we get a change in leadership here not much will there. This makes me all the more disgusted with those who only want to gripe again and again about how we got there, instead of looking to how we can get the hell out.

[jonnyblitz]

20. its the first thing I saw on the news when I got up to vote.

sad :(

[w4rma]

21. Religious civil war? This mess is a total FUBAR. (n/t)

[BL_Zebub]

23. Forgive the Devil's intrusion, but....

What in unholy Hell is this doing in the campaign forum??

[WilliamPitt]

27. It's a campaign issue

If you feel it intrudes on the candidate-hate threads, hit the little plus sign and poof! it'll disappear.

[maggrwaggr]

24. but but but .... Osama! We're hunting Osama!

it's disgusting that it takes this to put Iraq back in the news.

[RetroLounge]

25. Why is this is GD04?

eom?

[WilliamPitt]

28. It's a campaign issue

If you feel it intrudes on the candidate-hate threads, hit the little plus sign and poof! it'll disappear.

[RetroLounge]

26. Oh good, and Kerry said he'll be a stronger WAR president

like we need another WAR president...

:eyes:

[WilliamPitt]

29. *That*

is why this post was made in this forum.

[edzontar]

30. Good reason not to vote for Kerry, Edwards

The pro-war candidates.

It's ironic, since I spent a good part of yesterday being haranged on this board by a colleague who argued that the IWR and the war are "in the past," and thus, by implication, that carrying on about them is "old news."

Tell that to the families to the dead.