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Iraq
Iraqi govt announces two-day vehicle ban in Baghdad
2006-08-19
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government announced a two-day vehicle ban in parts of Baghdad starting on Friday night as thousands of Shias converged on the capital to mark the martyrdom of a revered 8th century Imam.

“Some 1,000 Shias were killed in a stampede during last year’s ceremony... ”
Some 1,000 Shias were killed in a stampede during last yearÂ’s ceremony after a crowd of faithful converging on the northern Kadhimiya district was panicked by rumours of a suicide bomber. It was the highest daily death toll since the end of the U.S.-led war in 2003 to oust Saddam Hussein.

The office of Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki told Reuters the ban would be enforced in about 11 districts around Kadhimiya, on both sides of the Tigris River, from 9 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Friday until 6 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Monday.
Posted by:Steve White

#2  Agree re: the govt. Not sure about Iraqis as a whole.

Met a couple Univ. of Baghdad professors who were in the States this summer. They teach under the most awful conditions you could imagine, but are determined to help their country improve. Incredible people with a determination to make their country succeed

Not all of Iraq is the insurgency, nor the factional leaders that are jostling to figure out how democracy works. Even though both groups would like to claim they speak for the country as a whole.
Posted by: lotp   2006-08-19 07:26  

#1  You can always gauge how "serious" the Iraqi government is by when, and for how long, they do the obvious first step to reduce the violence: ban vehicles.

If they also shut down the cellphone network, then you'll know they actually intend to stop the violence. Without vehicles and cellphones, it would drop to a dribble.

They don't need such modern technology, anyway. They're just infidel devices to be perverted to Islamic idiocy.
Posted by: flyover   2006-08-19 00:29  

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