Sunni-Shi'ite Jihad Update. "Bombers, gunmen attack Shiite pilgrimage in Iraq," from CNN:
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide bomber killed at least 40 Shiite pilgrims and wounded 60 others Sunday as the pilgrims made their way to Karbala to commemorate one of the holiest days of the Shiite calendar, the Interior Ministry said.
Women and children were among the casualties, the official said. Most of those killed or wounded were pilgrims.
It marked the second deadly attack on pilgrims Sunday, the official said.
The bomber detonated an explosive vest in Iskandariya about 3 p.m. while the pilgrims were en route to Karbala for al-Arbaeen, the official said. The holiday falls on Wednesday.
Earlier Sunday, militants armed with guns and grenades attacked a group of pilgrims in southern Baghdad, killing three people and wounding more than 30 others, officials said.
The wounded included two police officers, the ministry said.
Iraqi officials had expected problems for pilgrims and issued a ban on carts in Baghdad on Friday.
A Defense Ministry official said the ban was ordered after a horse-drawn carriage blew up near a restaurant in the Karrada district, killing three civilians and wounding six others.
There was no indication when the ban would be lifted.
Every year, thousands of pilgrims amass in Karbala for al-Arbaeen, which commemorates the end of a 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.
Wait a minute, isn't islam supposed to be the "religion of peace?"
Just think, we once thought that the Hatfields vs McCoys was a serious feud.
Re: BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide bomber killed at least 40 Shiite pilgrims and wounded 60 others Sunday as the pilgrims made their way to Karbala to commemorate one of the holiest days of the Shiite calendar, the Interior Ministry said".
About the only thing that unites these morons is Jew-hating. As for Somalis and Saudis (seperated by the Red Sea-and more than that) or Kurds and Turks-Muslims are more dangerous to each other than any other people on earth.
". . . the ban was ordered after a horse-drawn carriage blew up . . . "
I did not know that PETA hade a chapter in Baghdad,
Pelayo-
If I were not such a hard man, I would be depressed by this madness. I'm getting like Gulliver and prefer to live among the horses. PETA would agree. Avoid the "Yahoos".
Maybe it's just my imagination, but are there more terrorist stories lately coming from Iraq? I have a theory: The "surge" calmed things down, at first, but now the jihadis are regrouping and taking the initiative, just as things started off calmly enough after Saddam fell, until the insurgents organized.
In any case, as Hugh would put it, this attack just serves to weaken the camp of Islam, so why police the place?
Both the Sunni and Shi'ite put their faith in the same holy books. Both kill in the name of the same God and same Prophet. Both justify their incredibaly evil acts as mandates from God. Both expect to be rewarded in the same paradise. Both honor their killers as Saints and Martyrs. Both will condemn the other as criminals or apostates.
Today Sunnis murdered 40 Shiite pilgrims. Tomorrow Shi'ites will murder 40 Sunnis or innocent Infidels on a bus or subway in Europe.
The only truly innocent victims are the Infidels. The others are victims of their shared spiritual sickness. So long as they go on believing that evil is good, they're going to reap the rewards of that belief.
In any case, as Hugh would put it, this attack just serves to weaken the camp of Islam, so why police the place?
Right here in the US, we have urban neighborhoods that are riven with violence and crime, including murder. Why police those places?
The terrorists are probably trying to repeat what they did two years ago, which is to ignite sectarian violence. Their only chance, it must seem to them, is to blow up innocent people, hope that each sect blames the other, a cycle of violence ensues, and the US gets blamed, to which our own left will gladly oblige.
Yes, they are weak. If anything shows terrorists to be a bunch of sissies, it's their propensity for attacking the unarmed, including women and children.
I agree, Bigfoot, and thx for responding!
But think about it: The insurgency and sectarian strife has been going on for years, which is no doubt why McCain says that we may have to be there for 100 years. Something is very wrong with that picture, and strategy.
You want to win in Iraq? Sieze the oil fields and level all the mosques. Since we don't have the smarts to see that Islam is the root cause of Iraq's woes, or the balls to act decisively enough if we did, then we'll just have to go.
Ahhhh, feel the muslim brotherhood. Don't you just feel like inviting them to your own nation, and have millions of them living next door to you?
More Muslim on Muslim violence. The religion of "peace" strikes again. C'est la vie.
To the Sunnis, Shi'ites are heretics for lots of reasons, which makes them worse than infidels, who can always plead ignorance. Shi'ites revere Imam Hussein, Mohammad's grandson who was beheaded by Sunnis. Yes, it's THAT old, this Muslim on Muslim blood feud. I expect that Allah is quite pleased to see each camp tear as many of the other camp to shreds as possible. More fuel for the fire, so to speak.
OT - 60 Minutes has tonite (now) a story about the murder of reporter Chauncy Bailey presumably by Black Muslims due to his reporting on their illicit activities.
Barbarians with a barbaric theology.
And we have let them in in droves to Western Europe and America. Only a World War will be able to sort this imbecility out. WW3.
This stuff didn't happen under Saddam.
Jeez, not ANOTHER Shiite "holy day" and pilgrimage! It sometimes seems like the Shiites have more days that are "holy" than ones that are not. Likewise with all their "holy cities" and shrines, each with its pilgrimage(s). And yet Islam claims to be so absolutely monotheistic. Whom are they worshipping at all these "shrines"? And in whose name are they making all these pilgrimages?
Do similar Sunni-Shi'ite sect killings occur worldwide?
No...so why is Iraq a hotspot for cowardly attacks like this?
May we conclude that the causes we perceive as the basis for this type of violence in Iraq have fallen to misinterpretation?
Maybe the large number of "foreign fighters" there are helping to fuel the age-old sectarian conflict.
Perhaps with disengagement, foreign instigators will leave Iraq, and the violence will abate.Perhaps not.
Either way, we would be wise to draw the enemy to the Afghan-Paki battlefront and concentrate the fight there.
Policing Iraq is not what our armed forces should be doing, engaging the enemy is where we excel.
". . . the ban was ordered after a horse-drawn carriage blew up . . . "
Horse-drawn carts are commonly used to transport gas canisters, garbage and vegetables, among other goods. Militants have used them in the past to launch bomb attacks.
http://illustratedpig.blogspot.com/2008/02/more-sickness.html
Excellent, whilst they are killing each other they are not killing us.
Ummm...using religion to justify violence is nothing new. The Sunnis and Shi'ites see each other as different ethnic groups in a struggle for power. I would give you a few examples from Christian history (namely, the Religious Wars of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Spanish conquests of the Americas, which some estimates claim left tens of millions dead, and some ethnic groups reduced to 5% of their original population, but I don't have time for that). Anyway, it might interest you that Christian terrorists are doing the same thing. It has been over 17 year since the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army, a Christian terrorist organization led by Joseph Kony) began to kidnap poor young people, and created child soldiers for their bloody battles. KAMPALA (Reuters) 10 Feb 2008,- Officials at the Uganda peace talks in southern Sudan are investigating a report that Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels killed dozens of people in recent attacks in the region, the Ugandan military said on Sunday. KHARTOUM, Feb 3 - At least four people have been killed and 13 abducted in south Sudan by suspected Ugandan rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
UBA, Sudan (AFP) 2 days ago — Ugandan rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army killed 136 people and looted property during an attack earlier this week in southern Sudan, a senior military officer said Friday.
Wait, there's Hindu terrorism too, are you going to call Hinduism a religion of violence? India (MNN) ― Hindu militants have "forced" Christian families to "convert" to Hinduism. Now, they're threatening to resume attacks against Christians. NEW DELHI, INDIA- An elderly pastor in India's Orissa state, who fled the deadliest Hindu-violence against Indian Christians there in recent memory, has died in a government-run refugee camp, a well-informed rights group confirmed Tuesday, January 22.
Yes, how about calling Sikhisms, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, ect "violent religions, just because a few people have hijacked them?
In his "World without Islam" essay, Graham Fuller, former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA and an adjunct professor of history at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, through analysis of the internal dynamics of the region independently from religion discovered that a Middle East without Islam would still be just as complex conflicted. "In the West's focus on terrorism in the name of Islam, memories are short. Jewish guerrillas used terrorism against the British in Palestine." Fuller says, "peoples who resist foreign oppressors seek ways to propagate their struggle."
Comment...
Nobody of any religion besides Islam flew planes into buildings and declared war on me on 9/11.
Only Muslims have over 10,000 violent jihadi attacks to their credit since 9/11.
Only Islam calls for my conversion, submission or death...no other religion does that.
I suggest you read Roberts' latest book to help you dismiss your ignorance.