The Common Ills: Iraq slammed with violence

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Iraq slammed with violence

Iraq is slammed with violence today. BBC News notes, "At least 49 people have been killed in a wave of car bombs in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Hilla, officials say." This morning, the Belfast Telegraph explained, "Four car bombs went off simultaneously in different areas in the southern city of Hillah, killing at least 11 people and wounding 35 others, police said." Hours later, NINA was reporting an Aliskandariyah car bombing left 2 people dead and nineteen more injured (and noting that this was the 6th car bomb in Babil Province). Babil Province? Hilla is the capital, as Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) notes.

In addition, National Iraqi News Agency reports a Tal Afar battle left 2 rebels dead, Joint Operations Command announced they killed 45 suspects today, the Iraqi forces shelling of residential areas in Falluja left 2 civilians dead and six more wounded, police member Ali Hussein Ali was shot dead at "a fake checkpoint in the village of Haji Ali" while he was on his way to work,1 person was shot dead in southern Baghdad (Zafaraniyah area), an armed battle in Mosul left 2 police members dead, a roadside bombinh southwest of Baquba left two police members injured, and 2 corpses were discovered dumped in Baghdad.

Through Sunday, Iraq Body Count notes 488 violent deaths in Iraq so far this month.

Cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr made an announcement today (as we noted he would in yesterday's snapshot). We'll cover it in today's snapshot.

To the analyst who e-mailed to tell me I was wrong, I'm on paragraph 12 of your rebuttal and so far you've yet to demonstrate how I'm wrong.

We'll address it in today's snapshot. I think I'm only half-way through the e-mail.

Thing is, if you'd noted -- or if you send another one noting -- that you wanted to be quoted, I would have put your e-mail up today in full.

I disagree with your analysis. That's fine. It's not the end of the world to me. It's also not the end of the world to me if I'm wrong -- I'm frequently wrong.

But so far, you haven't demonstrated where I was wrong and I'd suggest, if you're reading right now (you said you looked forward to my response, so I'll assume you are), I'll just say two words to deal with your first 10 paragraphs: Saleh al-Mutlaq.

I don't think that'll make sense to you right now. But it's why I can run the probables that I did yesterday.

And those were -- and were presented as -- probables. I didn't lay claim to any of the possibilities, I just presented them.

And I stopped this entry (in the paragraph above) when an AP friend called to note their report on the death of Steven D. Green -- so I quickly did the previous entry. I'd planned to include a Kurdish development and a few other things before I had to stop to note Green. Now I don't have time, I'm about to have to speak to a group.

So the following community sites -- plus Jake Tapper, Jody Watley, On the Wilder Side, the Guardian, Pacifica Evening News, Black Agenda Report, Antiwar.com, The Bat Segundo Show and KPFK -- updated yesterday and today: