Najaf Bombing Kills 34, Wounds 122
A radical Sunni Arab group claimed responsibility Thursday for a horrific bombing in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, near the shrine of Ali. The bombing came during a holy day pilgrimage, and succeeded in deeply angering the inhabitants of Najaf.
Al-Sharq al-Awsat says the the Najaf police chief has revealed that the bomber's aim was to blow up the shrine of Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of the Prophet Muhammad.
Look for expressions of Shiite anger over this incident, combining with anger over Israel's war on the Shiites of Lebanon.
Shiite cleric and prominent political leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim called Friday morning for Shiite local militias to guard against terror attacks like this one:
' Shiite leader Abdelaziz Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the pillars of the coalition government, demanded the right to form neighbourhood defence committees.
"The recurrence of such criminal acts confirms the perpetrators are takfiris (Sunni extremists), Baathists and the Saddamists who are aiming their dirty sectarian war against the descendants of the Prophet Mohammed," he said. '
Al-Hakim's plan is the opposite of the one urged by the United States, which is trying to clean out militias from key neighborhoods in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, a constitutional crisis. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had announced that he was stripping the provincial governing council of Basra of its security portfolio. Security is collapsing in the southern port city, oil exports through which account for the only income the Iraqi government has. The governing council has declared that it will not relinquish the security portfolio.
The stage is set for a contest between the central government's armed forces, including the 10th Division of the army, and the Shiite militias that support the provincial government.
posted by Juan Cole @ 8/11/2006 12:09:00 AM
|
Facebook
2 Comments:
Iran urges foreign forces to leave Iraq after Najaf attack
"The only way to create security in Iraq is to end the occupation by foreigners who have so far failed to bring about security," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA.
Well... yeah. I find myself agreeing with any and every country but my own these days.
Do you think we ought to do something about that in November? Do you think we ought to become involved in the primaries before then to try to get a little representation for ourselves, or vote "outside the box" completely to do so?
Hell, yes!
Democrats say plot shows Iraq war a diversion
REUTERS: "Prominent Democrats said on Thursday a foiled plot in Britain to blow up U.S.-bound planes showed the Bush administration's pursuit of war in IRAQ had diverted resources from the bigger threat of terrorism and made the danger worse."
Bush seeks political gains from foiled plot
REUTERS: "Weighed down by the unpopular war in IRAQ, Bush and his aides have tried to shift the national political debate from that conflict to the broader and more popular global war on terrorism ahead of November 7 congressional elections."
Life in Hell: A Baghdad Diary
TIME MAGAZINE: "...at least the Prime Minister has stopped trying to spin his own people. A few days before he left for Britain and the U.S., a desperate al-Maliki gave a televised speech to his parliament, pleading with his fellow politicians to set aside their differences. Looking like a man at his wit's end, he warned that national reconciliation was one "last chance" to avert a civil war: "If it fails, I don't know what the destiny of Iraq will be." For a second, I thought I recognized the expression on his face. It's the one I had seen on the faces of my fellow passengers on the flight into Baghdad--that mixture of fear and resignation, just before the descent into hell."
Post a Comment
<< Home