At least 15 more dead in Najaf Iraq

[Botany]

Democracy and freedom continue to spread in the neocon's dream that is Iraq

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060406/ts_nm/iraq_najaf_dc

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded near a sacred Shi'ite shrine in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf on Thursday, killing at least 15 people, police said.

A Reuters correspondent said he saw 10 bodies and body parts on the ground a few hundred meters (yards) from the Imam Ali shrine, which is sacred to Shi'ites around the world.

snip

The crisis has exposed deep divisions among Iraq's ruling Shi'ites, who dominate the government and are backed by militias who have clashed in cities such as Najaf.

[KharmaTrain]

1. The Latest Recall

Our neighborhood was abuzz the other day...it appears one of our neighbors who is in the Army Reserve will be going back for his 4th tour in June. Not by his choice...far from it. In 2004, the local Repugnicans attempted to drag him around to campaign stops and play him for votes and he refused. Some in our area think this is why he got "the call" again. That'll teach him.

The real story here is how the area has reacted. When he first went off and returned in 2003, he was greeted as a big hero...big yellow ribbons out front of his house and a welcome home concert at the local high school. In 2004, he came back in time to be the "grand marshall of the homecoming parade". Last year, after he stopped playing ball with the local GOOPS, there were no parades...he came home very quietly (and he said he really preferred it that way). He said he had lost a lot of "friends" when he wouldn't play politics with his service.

While he doesn't like to talk about the situation (for what I think are obvious reason), the last time we talked I could tell he felt things weren't going well. He surely didn't sign up for this duty when he enlisted in the early 90s and now is stuck in having to fight in a war that has no objective other than to prove this regime was right and nothing else. Gone is the enthusiasm he and others had for this adventure and for the noble concepts they were sold on. Gone is the idea that this is making our nation safer and "doing the right thing". It's now just "gutting it up". In the meantime his family now faces another 6 months of constant fear as to getting that dreaded "phone call".

[RedEarth]

2. Come on.... let's post some good news ... no one was beheaded,

no one had holes drilled in their heads.....good grief, let's hear the good news in Iraq, not just this crap about people killed by a few bombs.