Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Terror in Iraq's hospitals

A terrifying picture, from WaPo, of a new arena of violence in Iraq:

In Baghdad these days, not even the hospitals are safe. In growing numbers, sick and wounded Sunnis have been abducted from public hospitals operated by Iraq's Shiite-run Health Ministry and later killed, according to patients, families of victims, doctors and government officials...

In most cases, family members and hospital workers said, the motive for the abductions appeared to be nothing more than religious affiliation. Because public hospitals here are controlled by Shiites, the killings have raised questions about whether hospital staff have allowed Shiite death squads into their facilities to slaughter Sunni Arabs.

But things are getting better, right? Right? (Please.)

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2 Comments:

  • I think it's fatuous to keep looking for simple solutions - like smashing al Sadr.
    As long as we have a culture that values religious conformity over human life, the slaughter will continue. As long as we have a culture so easily able to portray itself as under attack, we will be faced with a culture with no scruples regarding slaughter, torture, mutilation and mayhem.

    You cannot solve such disputes with a parliament when all sides of the dispute see killing and martyrdom as the highest act of faith and patriotism.

    By Blogger Capt. Fogg, at 4:08 PM  

  • I agree with you, Susan, that Iraq would be better off without Sadr and his militia, but who will "smash" it? The Iraqis won't do it themselves, not with Sadr loyalists in positions of authority. The U.S. likely couldn't do it -- it would probably be like Israel trying to take out Hezbollah in south Lebanon. That is, next to impossible. And it would incur the wrath of a huge segment of the Iraqi population and no doubt lead to reprisal violence against U.S. forces and America's Iraqi allies.

    Alas, I think I share Capt. Fogg's skepticism on this one. And it gets worse when you think of Iran in the mix...

    By Blogger Michael J.W. Stickings, at 4:47 PM  

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