28 Dead, over 50 Wounded in Bombings, Assassinations
Shiites Keep Interior?
At least 28 persons were killed in the Iraqi civil war on Thursday. Another big car bomb killed 10 and wounded 50, 15 critically, at a court building in the Shiite slum of Sadr City.
In another Very Bad Sign,
‘ In other attacks, Brigadier-General Mohammed Raza Abdellatiff, who was in charge of logistics for the Iraqi Army in Baghdad, was shot dead as he was driving to work.
When the general in charge of logistics in the capital can be shot down at will, it is not a good situation.
Guerrillas killed 2 GIs, as well.
AFP is reporting that the Shiite United Iraq Alliance has succeeded in retaining control of the Ministry of the Interior (domestic security). The Sunni religious coalition, the Iraqi Accord Front (IAF), wants the following portfolios: defence, finance, education, services and civil affairs. What is amazing is that the IAF is no different from the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas. But in Iraq it is all right if they get cabinet posts. If an analogous thing happened in Egypt it would be a political earthquake, and not one welcomed by Washington.
The Turks have massed 40,000 troops in their east near Iraq over the threat of terrorism from Iraq-based Marxist Kurdish guerrillas of the PKK. There have been reports of Turkish shelling of PKK positions. Ironically, it is Uncle Sam who emboldens the Communist Kurds who have taken refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan, since they know the US will not allow Turkey to engage in hot cross-border pursuit of them. A similar conflict has emerged on the Iranian side of the border.
Now it is Congress that may block attempts to secure permanent US bases in Iraq.
“Corporate Freedom Abroad, No Dissent at Home— it is almost like a reverse Maoist slogan. Can it really be the Bush administration policy behind the slogans about spreading “freedom?”