3 bombs in central Baghdad kill at least 51
BAGHDAD, Iraq — A triple car bombing struck a food market in a predominantly Shiite area in central Baghdad today, killing at least 51 people a day after a U.S.-Iraqi raid against Sunni insurgents in a nearby neighborhood. Three parked cars blew up nearly simultaneously as shoppers were buying fruit, vegetables, meat and other items for dinner in the busy al-Sadriyah district. The blast sent clouds of black smoke over concrete high-rises in the area, which has narrow alleys that made it difficult for ambulances and fire trucks to navigate. At least 51 people were killed and 90 wounded, according to police Lt. Mohammed Khayoun and hospital officials. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, but it followed a raid on Friday by Iraqi forces backed by U.S. helicopters targeting Sunni insurgents in al-Fadhil, less than half a mile away.
As we idly debate whether or not what’s happening in Iraq meets some abstract definition of “civil war”, and as we debate the future of American military involvement, we should not lose sight of the real tragedy. Innocent, everyday Iraqis are being slaughtered wholesale while doing things no more threatening or aggressive than than shopping for their family’s meal. They’re being killed merely because of the flavor of Islam they happen to profess. THIS is what will be the true legacy of Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader’s reign of error.
That this sort of story has become part of the normal background noise emanating from Iraq is a true and undeniable tragedy…and the enduring symbol of our involvement there. Thousands of innocent Iraqis have died horribly violent and senseless deaths because Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader and his neocon thugs wanted to get their war on in Iraq. That this war had NOTHING to do with 9.11 or the hunt for Osama bin-Laden, or even the war on terror seems not to matter a whit to them. Not even the deaths of thousand of innocent civilians seem to matter to them. After all, you can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs, right? Apparently, these deaths were to be seen as merely a cost of doing business, and the business was the recreation of the world to fit the neocon vision of American pre-eminence. And, yes, business was GOOD.
As Josef Stalin used to say, the death of one person is a tragedy. The death of thousands is merely a statistic, a number so large as to have no real meaning or import…especially if you care for nothing but your narrow agenda and your legacy.
NOW CAN WE IMPEACH THE LYING BASTARD??
