Bloodbath in Baghdad

Baghdad bombs

Bloodbath in Baghdad

Oct 26th 2009 | BAGHDAD
From Economist.com

At least 155 die in the worst bombings in Iraq of the past two years

AP

 

 

TWO car bombs turned Baghdad into a killing field on Sunday October 25th, claiming the lives of at least 155 people and injuring hundreds more. The main targets were the ministry of justice and public works and the office of the governor of Baghdad province. Almost simultaneously the explosions sent windows and their frames several hundred metres along Haifa Street, near the fortified Green Zone. Burst water mains flooded parts of the area, washing over charred bodies and through burned cars. This was the second such attack in two months, but the bloodiest in two years. on August 19th bombs destroyed several government buildings including the ministries of finance and foreign affairs, killing perhaps 100 people.

 

The new attack has heightened the sense of crisis in the Iraqi capital. The past two years have seen fewer bombings and fewer people killed than in the years before. But insurgents are now focusing on spectacular assaults in an effort to affect the political situation. Elections are due in January and security is a big issue. As in Afghanistan, where the Taliban stepped up attacks during the election campaign, more bombings are likely in the coming months. Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, had been claiming credit for ending the descent into civil war and is therefore vulnerable. Voters might also punish political parties with their own militias, if they are seen to be associating with terrorists.

 

The attack comes at a fragile time in the pre-election timetable. Members of parliament last week failed to agree on a new election law, raising the prospect of a delay to the poll. If so, Mr Maliki would continue to rule but as a caretaker, but that would create more uncertainty. At the same time, the American army is continuing with its plans to pull out. It is hoping to have withdrawn 70,000 soldiers by August 2010, leaving a residual force of 50,000 for another year. Barack Obama and other world leaders condemned Sunday's bombs. But violence in Iraq is increasingly a local affair. A small group of American forensics experts visited the sites of the latest attacks but to get there they rode in Iraqi army vehicles.

 

The Iraqi government, and others, blame Sunni insurgent groups including al-Qaeda and members of Saddam Hussein's former regime for the attacks. But Iraqis are also pointing fingers at political parties. Insurgents, by hitting ministries and other government institutions, are trying to prevent a functioning state from emerging. Some ask darkly whether politicians have an interest in prolonged chaos, as some of them might lose powers of patronage if a modern bureaucracy were to emerge.

 

Iraqis know that political violence will be with them for a long time, even if full civil war can be avoided. The fortunes of insurgent groups wax and wane, their support base shrinking and expanding depending on how vulnerable sectarian groups feel. But an end to the bombings is not in sight. The locations of the latest attacks were symbolic. Haifa Street was in the hands of insurgents three years ago. American and Iraqi troops fought pitched battles to retake it in what turned out to be the start of the “surge” that eventually helped to improve security in much of Iraq. At the time, bodies were stacked up like bales of hay on Haifa Street. Since then, occupants had returned and a sense of normality had started to take hold.

 

 

http://www.economist.com/world/middleeast-africa/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14737624&source=features_box2