There’s been an ongoing discussion here between myself and reader “An_Arab” about how justified the insurgents are or or not in attacking U.S. troops, and how justified the U.S. is in fighting the insurgents.
But with the security agreement between the U.S. and the government of Iraq that would allow U.S. troops to continue operating in Iraq still pending- meaning that if it’s not signed by Dec 31st all U.S. activities in Iraq would have to cease until an agreement is reached, and an incoming President Obama who has pledged to withdraw combat troops within 16 months of taking office, there is still one thing on everyone’s mind- the security of Iraq.
Something that was reinforced today in Baghdad, not in an attack on U.S. forces, not with a placed roadside bomb, but in twin violent suicide bombings that killed at least 28, injured roughly 68, and destroyed store fronts, and a bus full of school girls.
A suicide bomber struck Monday in a crowd gathered at the site of an explosion that moments earlier had damaged a bus filled with schoolgirls, with both blasts killing at least 28 people and wounding 68 others, authorities said.
Also Monday, a female suicide bomber attacked a security checkpoint in downtown Baqouba, killing five people including a local leader of Sunni group opposed to al-Qaida, police said. Fifteen other people were wounded in that explosion, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
The twin blasts — the deadliest in Baghdad in months — occurred during the morning rush hour in the mostly Shiite Kasrah section of Azamiyah neighborhood in the northern part of the Iraqi capital. They shattered storefronts along a crowded street and set fire to more than a dozen cars.
Police said the first explosion damaged a minibus carrying young girls to school. The second happened when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt in the middle of a crowd that had gathered around the vehicle.
Associated Press Television News video showed the minibus pocked with shrapnel marks with the floor soaked in blood. Girls’ shoes were scattered about amid the wreckage.
Ahmed Riyadh, 54, owner of a nearby grocery, said called it a ”vicious attack” that ”did not differentiate between Shiites and Sunnis.”
”We are fed up with such attacks and we want only to live in peace,” he said. ”The politicians should work hard and set aside their differences to stop the bloodshed.”
Nothing I can say in debate can illustrate nearly as well as this that the insurgents are not “justified” in their violence. There are no political aims gained from events such as this. This is violence for the sake of violence. The average person on the street in Iraq doesn’t want violence no matter who is initiating it, they want what every person wants, peace and prosperity.
While I don’t agree with every move the U.S. military has made in Iraq, I could never sympathize with anyone who would kill so indiscriminately. So there it is dear readers… better than any argument I could ever make, illustrated in real life.
