Another Market Blast Kills 50+ Iraqi Civilians
From the BBC, word of another horrific blast in another northern Baghdad marketplace that again seems unlikely to get the gruesome-pictures coverage on US TV: ‘Many dead’ in Baghdad blast.
Here’s a quote that hit home with me: “One man sobbed for his five-year-old son killed while playing near the vegetable market. ‘After this crime, I wish I could see [US President George W] Bush in order to cut him to pieces with my teeth,’ he said.”
My son is five.
Update: I think it’s completely possible that either or both of these market explosions have been cases of Saddam blowing things up himself to generate favorable propaganda. If true, that would be another item to add to a long list of reasons why Saddam is a Very Bad Man. But I still place ultimate responsibility for this war, and the carnage it is generating, squarely on George Bush.
March 28th, 2003 at 11:01 pm
I lean towards both attacks being US attacks.
Why?
Because we got these ‘precision guided weapons’ landing anywhere from Turkey to Iran, God knows how many just landing in the wastelands and The Pentagon refuses to release ‘miss’ percentages. ‘Precision weapons’ are a propaganda tool as much as anything else- I find it really hard to believe a 1,000-5,000 pound bomb doesn’t put lives at risk for miles around where it drops. We are presented with sanitary hits against ‘military targets’ and that’s it.
It’s one thing to use a precision guided munition on a bunker or a tank in the middle of the desert- it’s another thing to try to surgically strike anti-aircraft artilary and surface-to-air missile launchers in the middle of an urban area. It is undeniable that the US is currently trying to do that now that we are 7+ days into the war.
Expect civilian casualties to be on the rise.
March 28th, 2003 at 11:49 pm
Yeah. I wasn’t trying to say that I thought it was definite that Saddam was behind either of the blasts. I just thought it was a possibility. And again, I view our side as being responsible in either case.
If it’s _is_ Saddam doing it, Bush knew full well going in that he was capable of it, and chose to launch the war in spite of that. He gambled that the benefits of the war would outweigh the costs. Considering the real human suffering that is happening, I think the burden is on him to show the good he is achieving.