#1 one big change from early on is that, in late 2003 and early 2004, when this kind of thing happened, a lot of Iraqis would say, "this can't be the work of a moslem" or even "this is the fault of America" or even "this was done by America"
now, everybody knows that these suicide bombers are moslems and most, in fact, are Arabs from outside Iraq
this fact gets little play partly because it has happened incrementally but I think it is very important
The next important step is for the Iraqi parliment or the prime minister to start delivering passionate speeches denouncing their brother arabs and brother moslems. I've been waiting for this for sometime but the current Prime Minister seems very weak. The person who takes a leadership role in this could gain loads and loads of popularity. |
A suicide bomber walked into a popular Baghdad kebab restaurant at lunchtime Sunday and killed at least 23 people eating plates of lamb and rice — the deadliest attack in the capital in just over six weeks. The bomber detonated his explosives-laden vest at the Ibn Zanbour restaurant, 400 yards from the main gate of the heavily fortified Green Zone — U.S. and Iraqi government headquarters. The cafe was popular with Iraqi police and soldiers. The dead included seven police officers. The bodyguards of Iraqi Finance minister Ali Abdel-Amir Allawi and 16 other police were injured, police and hospital officials said. The minister was not in the restaurant. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility "for the Baghdad bombing" and said the attacker was from Qaim, near the westernmost of the two joint U.S.-Iraqi offensives. The statement appeared on an Islamic Web site, and its authenticity couldn't be verified.