Iraq’s Bloody Monday: 75 Killed, 356 Wounded
by Margaret Griffis, April 15, 2013
At least 75 Iraqis were killed and 356 more were wounded in a series of attacks across the country. Only the far south and Iraqi Kurdistan were spared. Many of the attacks were apparently coordinated and occurred at about the same time this morning. They also came a few days ahead of local elections in most provinces. Nineva and Anbar province, both heavily Sunni, had their elections postponed by the Shi’ite-led government.
In Baghdad, the bombings left 30 dead and 92 wounded. Among them, a blast in the Kamaliya neighborhood left four dead and 13 injured; security forces then fired into the air to disperse crowds. Near the airport a pair of bombs killed three people and wounded 16 more. Four people were killed and 15 more were wounded in a bombing at a market and bus station in Umm al-Maalif. In Karrada, another bomb left two dead and 15 injured. A car bomb in Shurta killed two people and wounded nine more. A roadside bomb wounded five policemen in Baladiyat. Two people were killed and nine more were wounded in a blast in Habibiya.
In Kirkuk, at least nine people were killed and 79 more were wounded in a string of six car bombings. The downtown bombs exploded in three different ethnic neighborhoods, suggesting that no particular group was targeted. Those explosions took place in Arab, Kurdish, and Turkmen neighborhoods. The other three blasts hit neighborhoods outside of the city. One bombing targeted the home of a Shi’ite politician. Also, gunmen wounded a doctor last night.
Explosions in Tuz Khormato left six dead and 67 wounded.
In Mosul, gunmen killed a civilian. Two people were wounded in roadside bombings. Gunmen killed a married couple. Security forces killed a bomber. Another blast left no casualties. A soldier was killed in a clash. Three policemen were wounded in a bomb blast.
In Falluja, a suicide car bomber killed two policemen and wounded six more at a checkpoint. A civilian was shot dead. A sticky bomb killed two civilians. Another bomb south of the city left no casualties.
A car bomb in Mussayab killed four people and wounded 13 more.
Four people were killed and three more were wounded in a Tikrit bombing at political office. Another bombing left 13 policemen wounded.
In Nasariya, a car bomb killed two people and wounded 14 more.
A policeman was killed in Buhriz when a sticky bomb exploded.
Near Ramadi, a bomb targeting a Sunni cleric and leader of anti-government protests killed two bodyguards and wounded at least one more. His cousin was killedin a sticky bomb blast in Falluja.
A policeman was shot dead in Tarmiya.
A bomb in Khalis killed one child and wounded eight more.
Nineteen people were wounded in bombings in Babil province.
In Dowr, 13 people were wounded in a blast there.
Bombs wounded seven people at a political candidate’s home in Salah ad Dinprovince.
In Muqdadiya, a car bomb wounded seven people.
In Tal Abta, a blast killed a policeman and wounded two more.
In Baquba, two policemen were wounded during a bombing. Three people were wounded in a blast.
Gunmen in Sabeen killed a captain and wounded two soldiers.
A young man was gunned down in Shirqat.
On a rural road in Bani Saad, a bomb wounded a civilian.
Can the Boston Bombings increase our Sympathy for Iraq and Syria, for all such Victims?
Posted on 04/16/2013 by Juan Cole
The horrific bombings of the Boston Marathon produced inspiring images of a spirited, brave Boston refusing to be cowed. Some spectators surged forward toward the danger to apply tourniquets, offer first aid, share blankets, and later to give blood, for the victims.
President Obama followed the crisis from its first moments and came out promptly to caution against fruitless speculation as to the perpetrators as well as solemnly to vow that they will be held accountable. (He has a certain track record in that regard.)
The idea of three dead, several more critically wounded, and over a 100 injured, merely for running in a marathon (often running for charities or victims of other tragedies) is terrible to contemplate. Our hearts are broken for the victims and their family and friends, for the runners who will not run again.
There is negative energy implicit in such a violent event, and there is potential positive energy to be had from the way that we respond to it. To fight our contemporary pathologies, the tragedy has to be turned to empathy and universal compassion rather than to anger and racial profiling. Whatever sick mind dreamed up this act did not manifest the essence of any large group of people. Terrorists and supremacists represent only themselves, and always harm their own ethnic or religious group along with everyone else.
The negative energies were palpable. Fox News contributor Erik Rush tweeted, “Everybody do the National Security Ankle Grab! Let’s bring more Saudis in without screening them! C’mon!” When asked if he was already scapegoating Muslims, he replied, ““Yes, they’re evil. Let’s kill them all.” Challenged on that, he replied, “Sarcasm, idiot!” What would happen, I wonder, if someone sarcastically asked on Twitter why, whenever there is a bombing in the US, one of the suspects everyone has to consider is white people? I did, mischievously and with Mr. Rush in mind, and was told repeatedly that it wasn’t right to tar all members of a group with the brush of a few. They were so unselfconscious that they didn’t seem to realize that this was what was being done to Muslims!
It was easy for jingoists to find Chinese or Arabs on twitter gloating. But I saw much more of this kind of message:
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