Serial killer's paradise
Iraq has to be a serial killer's paradise. Scores of dead bodies turn up on dumping grounds outside the country's main cities every morning. Iraqi police reports speak of corpses discovered bound, often showing signs of torture, and shot in the head. And yet nobody is ever arrested and charged with the killings. The overload of bodies prompted Baghdad's main morgue to announce this week that due to lack of storage space they would from now on keep corpses for only two weeks before burying them in mass graves.
The murders, along with the daily attacks against U.S. soldiers and Iraqi security forces, have led military commanders here and in the United States to speak of the country's descent towards civil war. But many Iraqis say their country is already in one.
This week an Iraqi doctor, in our bureau for an interview, said in his opinion the ongoing violence here can be directly blamed on the occupation of his country by foreign forces who have failed to repair the basic infrastructure. Shortages of fuel and electricity have led to economic stagnation, he said, and poverty is helping to drive the insurgency against coalition troops and Iraqi security forces.
Sectarian violence, he said, is being blamed on coalition forces for sponsoring an incompetent central government which has allowed Shia Muslims to dominate the Iraqi police. There have been numerous kidnappings and murders of Sunni Muslims carried out by armed men wearing police uniforms.
The violence has also displaced more than 30,000 Iraqi families in the past six months as Sunni Muslims move from Shia-dominated areas, and Shia move closer to their own for protection from militias which are active in most city neighborhoods.
Herein lies the problem: How can Iraqi forces and their U.S. allies disarm the militias which are seen by many here to be the only guarantee of security?
This week the first of 3,500 extra American troops arrived in Baghdad to begin security duties. We wait to see if their presence will affect the daily violence.
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Slide Show
- Life beyond the violence
Suicide attacks and murders due to sectarian conflict continue around Iraq. See how residents live their lives amid the attacks.
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The first Gulf War ended with the Saudis and other leaders in the Middle East requesting Bush Sr. to leave Sadam Hussain in power because to remove him would cause Iraq to self destruct. Bush Sr. left Sadam in power. SO what changed? Why did little George ignore his friends the Saudis and his father's, advice, and take oout Sadam Hussain. Was it really WMD? Or was it because of His brother's loss of an oil concession in Kuwait during the first Gulf War, The contract on George Senior's life, or keeping Iraq out of the oil market so his Haliburton buddies could keep cashing in in Iraq, and in the oil patch here in the states.
John Price, Denver, CO (Sent Aug 17, 2006 11:33:09 PM)
There is no question in my mind that the war on Iraq has made us less safe against terrorist. Bush is either an idiot or thinks the American people are idiots. How many time has he said that the U.S. is targeted by "terrorist" because thay hate our freedom. Does ANYONE actually believe that (bullshit)? The "terrorist" don't. The reason they hate us is because of what we DO. They hate us for our one-sided support of Israel (supplying them every weapon known to man and billions of dollars) to suppress the people who inhabited the land on which Israel sits until the western powers, after WW2, decided to give it to the Jews. They hate us because of the war in Iraq that they view as a war on Muslims. We will not ever be free of terrorist acts against us until we understand what motivates them. We are never going to give up our freedom but we may want to see how we can help bring about peace between Israel and its neighbors. Many political movements and countries have used terrorism as a tactic against its enemies. The IRA used it against Northern Ireland and the British,Jews used it against the native Palastinians when they were creating Israel, and we used it such as in the fire bombings in Japan and use of nuclear bombs in WW2.
Ronald Joseph (Sent Aug 18, 2006 1:47:55 PM)
Please read the book Saddam authored by General Georges Sada a former Iraq airforce general. It will enlighten you about his role in the past and present affairs in Iraq and why we will continue to support what's going on in their country. I beg you to please read the book. This man had direct contact with the entire military dating a long time ago and was entrusted in many ways before the Gulf War up to recent days after the US went in.
Robert Arciola (Sent Aug 20, 2006 7:31:38 PM)
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