30 July 2008
Sectarian violence has taken an upward swing in Iraq. Women suicide bombers who hide explosives under their flowing black garments killed 51 people and injured 250 in Kirkuk. The women often can get past most checkpoints because customs of modesty prevent male guards from frisking them. In Kirkuk a massive Kurdish political demonstration was attacked by by one woman. This was an area defended by hundreds of soldiers and police officers.
Baghdad was struck by 3 women who targeted Shiite gatherings; at a tent set up to feed pilgrims; at a rare checkpoint where women were waiting to be searched by female guards; and in a crowd of marchers on their way to celebrate an important day in Shiite Islam. Many victims were women and it proved to be one of the worst days of violence in recent months. These attacks were blamed on on al-Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni insurgent group. Overall levels of violence have fallen to four-year lows but political tensions have the potential to fuel ethnic and sectarian conflicts across Iraq. This is something that our military should not have to deal with.
After an incident where a group of US soldiers fired upon a car and killed three civilian bank workers on their way to work, after they had passed thru a checkpoint and been cleared, a top Iraqi, once more asked that the US leave Iraq when the UN mandate expires at the end of this year. I wish that the Iraqi government was strong enough to follow thru on that request.
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