47 Killed in Baghdad; 3 U.S. Troops Dead

[NNN0LHI]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ?SITE=ILKAN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

BAGHDAD (AP) -- A suicide car bomber barreled into a flatbed truck packed with Shiite pilgrims Sunday, touching off a giant fireball that left charred bodies strewn through a street in the heart of Baghdad. At least 32 people were killed.

The ambush-style attack showed suspected Sunni insurgents again taking aim at the millions of worshippers who traveled to the holy city of Karbala and are now heading home.

It also displayed the limitations of the U.S.-led crackdown seeking to restore order in the capital, where bombers still strike with deadly efficiency against mostly Shiite targets in an apparent bid to ignite an full-scale civil war.

Blasts killed at least 15 others in Baghdad a day after Iraqi officials warned an international conference that Iraq's sectarian violence could spread across the Middle East if not quelled.

[Erika]

1. Just another sunny day in W's "liberated" Iraq

At www.icasualties.org

[BayCityProgressive]

2. Don't worry another

non-binding resolution is on it's way!

[mitchtv]

3. But,, But, Brian Williams said

at the beginning of last week that It was "Peaceful" in Bagdad, he was even outside the green zone. I was expecting the war to be over by April 1. ( Laura was right, the hundred+ who died in a bombing 'stole' his good news)

[acmavm]

4. ??"...in an apparent bid to ignite an full-scale civil war...

Someone must not have been paying any friggin' attention. If this hasn't been a civil war, I don't know what would be.

[pampango]

6. Maybe they are quibbling over the term "full-scale". Anyone

who doesn't see a civil war in this carnage is a dreamer. Maybe they are saving "full-scale" for later if and when the slaughter gets even worse.

I wondered recently about the comparison of the Sunni insurgency (at least that part of it directed against Shiite civilians rather than our military) to the KKK in Mississippi after the Civil War. I believe that Blacks were a majority of the population at that time in Mississippi and the KKK used violence against civilians to maintain White supremacy. This came after an invasion (by the North) that upset the previous minority rule government.

In Iraq the Sunni (KKK) fighters are attempting to reinstall a minority Sunni government by resisting majority Shiite rule using violence against civilians after the minority rule government was deposed by an invasion. There is a difference in terms of the invasion. One an obviously foreign invasion and one aa domestic invasion, though a true Confederate would have argued otherwise.

Even if there is some validity to the comparison, we will have to withdraw from Iraq, just as the North eventually withdrew its forces from the South, and let history take its course. Whatever problems surface later as a result of the invasion and withdrawal, like Jim Crow in the South, can always be dealt with in the future.

[stillcool]

8. in a country the size of California...

with the amount of foreign operatives in it...who can say what is really going on?

[laughingloudly]

5. UPI reporter analysis of Iraq

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4ghwZjyxMI

What do you make of this? Just a paid propagandist drinking Bush kool-aide? Or an untold story worth considering?

[uppityperson]

7. Lots of violence is koolaide drinker?

Lots of violence in Iraq? Or Iraqis are evil? Or that there are evil people everywhere? Or some military are idealistic? Or there are some good things going on, just overwhelmingly awful? This is about saving humans? I do not understand what you mean as she is saying lots of things.

I do agree that there are better, more positive ways to learn Arabic and experience life in an Arabic country than this occupation.