LA Times: Iraq is ,More Peaceful As Long as Iraqis Stay Walled In Their Neighborhoods. Otherwise "Boom!" (See yesterday in Baghdad, Kirkuk)

Yes, Iraqis can walk around outside their homes and have almost  semblance of peace as long as they stay in their segregated neighborhoods (surrounded with immense blast walls according to earlier reports).

That's John McCain's idea of peace I guess.  We could call it "Pax McCainacana".

Excerpt LA Times report "Iraq clings to a rickety calm between war and peace ":

Despite the gains, the political horizon is clouded: Shiite Muslim parties are locked in dangerous rivalries across central and southern Iraq. Kurds and Arabs in the north compete for land with no resolution in sight. U.S.-backed Sunni Arab fighters who turned on the group Al Qaeda in Iraq could return to the insurgency if the government does not deliver jobs and a chance to join the political process.

Bombings, assassinations and kidnappings still occur almost daily. And those out enjoying Baghdad's night life feel safe only because they are staying inside their own districts in a city transformed into a patchwork of enclaves after years of sectarian violence.

 The report then devolves into a news by anecdote that journalists warn about and then jump right in and make profligate use of. 

Apparently if people leave their neighborhoods for planned religious gatherings they put themselves in danger of being caught up in the same kind of mass killings as always.  See "Bombings kill dozens in Baghdad, Kirkuk "

Excerpt:

U.S. officers believe militants have sought new tactics in response to the military's successes, including its alliance with former insurgents and the proliferation of concrete walls sealing off districts and markets. In some cases, the military believes, Al Qaeda in Iraq uses tribal ties with the men and women it drafts to carry out suicide attacks. Officials say revenge for the deaths of relatives also is sometimes a motive.

The increase in the number of women parallels an increase in the proportion of suicide bombers who are Iraqis.A sizable number of suicide attackers once were foreign men who came to fight the U.S., but that number has dropped because neighboring countries have tightened their borders with Iraq and because Afghanistan's and Pakistan's tribal areas are more attractive destinations. 

tags: iraq  war  blast walls  suicide bombing  suicide  bpmbers  

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit