the largest single death toll in Iraq since the US invasion.
international |
rights, freedoms and repression |
news report 
Wednesday August 31, 2005 18:50
by iosaf
as Bush remarked yesterday when linking Pearl Harbour to September 11, and the Iraqi and Japanese constitutions, "The document they have produced protects fundamental human freedoms, including freedom for women, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience, and freedom of expression".
Over a 1000 citizens of Baghdad of the Shi'ite faith assembled for an annual holiday today, and after several events, stampeded in panic as the chinese whisper spread theough the crowd that kamikaze bomber was amongst them.
Figures for the Dead vary from 430 to 630.
Figures for the Injured are at present in the thousands.
"An hour ago the death toll was 695 killed, but we expect it to hit 1,000," said Dr. Jaseb Latif Ali, a general manager at Iraq's Health Ministry that was to Al Jazeera at lunchtime GMT.
http://aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=9535
Meanwhile the Sunni community have as expected rejected the constitution.
Which will be more important and historic?
the constitution or the pilgrimage?
Those poor people are so terrified, so accustomed to horror, so familiar with the terminology "kamikaze" aren't they?
Oh well, prayers will be offered, blame will be laid, by Shi'ites & ordinary Iraqis of other faiths alike. They could phone the salvation army. Will the UN do something?
Is there a phone number to call?
Comments (4 of 4)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4the high death toll is directly attributable to the tactics of US troops present who blocked streets forcing crowds back onto the bridge and ultimately to their deaths.
The US forces fired mortar rounds into the Shias - then the rumours of US suicide bombers on the bridge caused the stampede.
Or is that just being silly?
You neglected to mention Noel that a TWO HOUR gap separated the firing of the mortars from the stampede which occurred on foot of a rumor spread internally in the Shia crowd itself.
Thus even you with your limited capabilities should be able to see that there is no causal link between the two seperate events.
The common thread is spin by the US and their Iraqi quisling proxies in the face of their gross missmanagement of an event which it could have been predicted would attract sectarian elements.
Yet another "planning" disaster by the Americans.
Terrorists fire mortar rounds into a crowd which later stampedes in terror at the rumour of terrorist suicide murderers amongst them.
No link there, no siree - it was the Yanks that done it.
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