A female suicide bomber targeted Shiite pilgrims south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 26 and wounding 75. Pilgrims are streaming to the holy city of Najaf in honor of the anniversary of the birth of the hidden 12th Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, the Shiite messiah who many Iraqi Shiites believe will soon come to restore justice to the world.
Al-Sharq al-Awsat reports in Arabic that, as Iraqi deputy premier Barham Salih visits Tehran, the Iraqis are floating a proposal for a regional security network that would include Iraq, Iran, Turkey and some Arab countries.
You just compare this little paragraph and the information in it to US White House briefings and much of the mass media coverage of Iraq, and it is like Alice through the Looking Glass.
John Tirman questions the GOP’s victory narrative about Iraq.
It is a measure of the Orwellian state of the US media and politics that he should have to bother. I mean, the place is a burned out hulk where hundreds die every month in political violence, where armed militias are ubiquitous, where nearly 5 million people remain displaced from their homes, where you have unemployment rates of 50% in some major cities, and where pro-Iranian Shiite fundamentalists face off against Sunni Arab nationalists and Salafis and Kurdish separatists. If this is a success, I’d hate to see a failure. (See William R. Polk, below).
McClatchy reports other political violence in Iraq for Thursday:
‘ BaghdadA roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in Zafaraniyah, southeastern Baghdad at 7.45 a.m. Thursday killing one policeman and injuring five pilgrims walking to Karbala for the Shabani pilgrimage on Sunday, August 17.
A roadside bomb targeted a U.S. military convoy near al-Ghadeer Bridge, eastern Baghdad at 11 a.m. No casualties were reported.
A roadside bomb targeted pilgrims near al-Taharriyat Square in Karrada, central Baghdad at 2 p.m. Thursday killing one pilgrim, injuring seven others. . .
One unidentified body was found in Amiriya neighbourhood by Iraqi Police, Thursday.
Salahuddin
An abandoned car was reported near the Security Forces’ recruiting centre in Tikrit. After inspection of the car, the team found that it was booby trapped and ready for use and so detonated it under control with no casualties.
Diyala
A roadside bomb detonated in a field near Baquba killing an eight year old girl, injuring both her mother and sister.
A roadside bomb targeted a National Police patrol in Baquba Wednesday, killing two policemen, injuring three.
Nineveh
Gunmen shot a policeman dead in Mosul, Thursday. ‘