Some things in life seem to be automatic - the New York Yankees will be in the run for the American League Pennant, Hillary Clinton will campaign another day without wearing a dress and as in this case, Shiite pilgrims will present themselves as lambs for slaughter on their annual trek to Karbala.
We have had two bombings of this lemming-like trek and the last bombing at a way side tent claimed over 40 dead.
Here's the part that slays me on this. The Iraqi Government just a few days ago instituted a temporary new law banning carts on the streets in baghdad - the carts had been used to plant bombs as well as to smuggle in bombers and also as a distraction. So they banned carts on the streets....at the same time, umpteen thousand Shiite pilgrims decide to walk down a road to Karbala - with their route well laid out and public. Am I the only one to see the insanity here? Let's ban a few dozen carts in the streets but let's approve of 1,000,000 people walking down country roads?
Well, it's like a takeoff on the old saying.... Live by the Qur'an, Die by the Qur'an.
Here's the full story.
We have had two bombings of this lemming-like trek and the last bombing at a way side tent claimed over 40 dead.
Here's the part that slays me on this. The Iraqi Government just a few days ago instituted a temporary new law banning carts on the streets in baghdad - the carts had been used to plant bombs as well as to smuggle in bombers and also as a distraction. So they banned carts on the streets....at the same time, umpteen thousand Shiite pilgrims decide to walk down a road to Karbala - with their route well laid out and public. Am I the only one to see the insanity here? Let's ban a few dozen carts in the streets but let's approve of 1,000,000 people walking down country roads?
Well, it's like a takeoff on the old saying.... Live by the Qur'an, Die by the Qur'an.
Here's the full story.
Iraq Bomber Targeting Shiites Kills 40
BAGHDAD (AP) - A suicide bomber struck Shiite pilgrims as they were resting Sunday during a days-long walk to a Shiite shrine, killing at least 40 people and wounding 60.
The attack in Iskandariyah, south of Baghdad, was the second of the day against pilgrims traveling to the holy city of Karbala. The pilgrimage marks Arbaeen, the 40th day following the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, one of two revered Shiite figures buried there.
The suicide bomber detonated at a tent where pilgrims stop to eat and drink, police said.
At least 40 people were killed and 60 were wounded, the U.S. military said.
"The blast devastated the entire tent," which was up by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite Dawa political party, local official Saleh al-Massoudi said.
Iraqi police and U.S. troops quickly responded to the attack, which occurred on a two-lane highway outside a residential area south of Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. It said about 42,000 pilgrims had previously traveled through the area without incident.
Earlier, extremists attacked another group of pilgrims with guns and grenades in the predominantly Sunni Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, killing three and wounding 36, police said.
The attacks heightened tension around Arbaeen, when millions of pilgrims descend on Karbala, about 50 miles south of the capital.
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