"US says it is on. Maliki Government says it isn’t."
Not very inspiring, are they? Let’s hope the coordination, such as it is, gets better. I also hope the miscaptioned photo at the link, of the American troops of the 2nd ID, is a long lens effort that’s compressing them into each other. Because not spreading out is a sure way for all to get taken out with one RPG or even one grenade.
The surge strategy is set to begin in Baghdad even as a market cleans up after a horrific bombing:
"There was notable deployment of Iraqi army units and armored vehicles on the streets yesterday. I saw one of those armored units establish battle positions at one of the important intersections in Baghdad; soldiers were erecting tents and the vehicles were set in defensive formations. Maybe that intersection will become the border of one of the nine sectors."
Rest is here.
Why the double bombing on Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad that killed scores of women students? Simple, says Alan Sullivan, the seablogger:
"If the women get ideas about liberty, they might change the Dark Age culture of honor, shame, and female bondage that blights the Islamic world."
The Jihadis only like women when they’re covered from head to toe, speak only to family and submit to daily beatings.
But even Israeli Arabs are not immune. A teenage girl in Ramle, near Tel Aviv, is dead in what police are calling an "honor killing" for not hewing to the dress code.
UPDATE Mohammed at Iraq the Model has a memorial for the dead students:
"A policeman says: the cell phones didn’t stop ringing in their pockets and purses but there was no one to answer…they were gone. The ringing will keep me awake tonight, angels of Iraq."
Comments Off on Attacking modernity
Tagged Alan Sullivan, Baghdad, Mustansiriyah University, seablogger
Fighting continues in the city, between insurgents, militia and the government, but so far Bush’s "new plan" seems not to have truly begun and Iraqis, meanwhile, are arguing among themselves whether it will do any good, according to Mohammed at Iraq the Model:
"…there are different opinions even among members of a single bloc but I also see that a majority supports the new strategy while opposition is coming from extremists who realize that they will be the next target for the government and allied forces."
Mohammed at Iraq the Model writes a horrific description of the past few days and the fear he and his neighbors and relatives feel, in part at stories such as AP’s about the burning of people alive–in that case from the mouth of one of AP’s bogus police sources.
"Rough times blur the vision and disrupt reason, I understand that. When you hear stories about people burned alive or mass public executions it makes you imagine that the streets are full of monsters coming to predate everything and makes you shout calling for merciless punishment upon even those who are only suspects."
Worth reading it all.
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