Just another day in the life and death of Iraq XIV

By Michael J.W. Stickings

So, you know, there was that curfew in Baghdad this weekend. Remember? Well, according to the AP, "[t]he curfew was lifted early Sunday". And what happened then?

At least 23 people were killed in violence Sunday, and 21 bodies were found in Baghdad or to the south, many of them bound and tortured. In the evening, gunmen burst into a frozen food factory in Baghdad, kidnapping 24 workers and wounding two others — similar to past attacks in which militants have picked out members of the opposing sect from among the captives and killed them.

The U.S. military also reported Sunday that two American soldiers were killed the day before in fighting in western Anbar province — bringing to at least 70 the number of U.S. troops killed in September, the second highest monthly toll this year after April, when 76 died.

Like I said, a lasting peace is a long way off. It wasn't too hard to predict that the violence would resume, and there seems to be no end to it.