Rage, much of it directed at the United States, reverberated through Iraq Wednesday as citizens mourned victims of massive bomb attacks against Shia Muslim pilgrims. The U.S. military officials put the death toll at 117, but Iraqi officials said up to 271 were killed and nearly 400 wounded. Top U.S. officials who deal with Iraq directed blame at foreign Islamic militants and Gen. John Abizaid, the U.S. military commander for the Middle East, said Washington has evidence the assaults Tuesday were led by a Jordanian, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
| That's been my guess from the first... |
But in Baghdad and other cities, grandmothers wailing over injured relatives and throngs of young men carrying victims' coffins through the streets condemned the United States for failing to prevent the attacks. "The Americans did it to keep our country unstable so they'll have an excuse to stay in Iraq and steal our oil," said Ahmed Rashid Mussawi, 36, an agricultural engineer. "If they cared about us, why would they leave our border open to let anyone in?" Mussawi spoke outside Baghdad's Kadhimiya mosque, where three suicide bombers blew themselves up among crowds massed for the final day of Ashura, Islam's most mournful Shia holiday. At the same time, several blasts ripped through Ashura ceremonies 60 miles south in Karbala. Near Mussawi, throngs of mourners carrying the coffin of a 6-year-old boy who died in the Kadhimiya blasts chanted, "There is no God but God, and America is against God!"
| It wasn't Americans who boomed themselves... |
Iraqi police have arrested 15 suspects, five of whom speak Farsi, the language of Iran, U.S. officials said.
I'd call that very significant. I hope they're beating questioning them thoroughly at this very moment... |
In Washington, Abizaid told the House Armed Services Committee the "level of organization and the desire to cause casualties among innocent worshippers is a clear hallmark of the Zarqawi network, and we have intelligence that ties Zarqawi to this attack." U.S. and Iraqi officials fear al-Qaida or other militants want to spark civil war between Iraq's Shia majority and the small but powerful Sunni minority, which was favored by ousted leader Saddam Hussein. |