The Common Ills: Iraq snapshot

Wednesday's snapshot included, "John Leland (New York Times) writes about the reactions of Iraqis and we'll note Anbar Province because the State Dept thinks/fears it's the new hot place in Iraq: [. . .]" Give it up for the State Dept, they got one right. Today Ramadi is slammed with bombings. (Ramadi is in Anbar. AP reports there are said to have been two suicide bombers - one in aminibus and one on foot.

Citing police sources, RTT News says the bombs were car bombs - they consider 17 dead and over forty injured. Hamid Ahmed (AP) reports that the bombings came one after the other, with people gather after the minibus bombing to follow the end and so the suicide bomber on foot detonating. DPA notes, "The second attack occured when a suicide bomber wearing a swath of explosivesapproached the picture of the first round after crowds of policemen, medics, and civilians had gathered. He blew himself up after policemen tried to prevent him from entering the area." Al Sumaria TV estimates there were 15 minutes between the two bombings. Jamal Naji (McClatchy Newspapers) quotes one of the multitude who rush to the first bombingsite to helpright before thesecond bomb went off, Muhammed Kardoss al Zobai, who states, "I was swept off my feet and came crashing to the ground. I got up and started home without looking back." At this point, UPI explains, "Police evacuated the area, fearing a third attack." Jamal Hashim (Xinhua) adds, "The powerful blasts left 12 government and civilian cars charred at the scene, which was cordoned off by the Iraqi security forces for hours, the author added." Fadhel al-Badrani (Reuters) provides these details, "At the place of Monday's blasts, pools of blood dotted the ground, footage from Reuters Television showed. The stumps of the suicide bomber's severed legs lay at the scene." Al Jazeera reports, "Ramadi hospital's emergency room was reportedly filledwith patients wounded in the attack. The infirmary was too crowded with people who had responded to an appeal broadcast on mosque loudspeakers to donate blood to help the injured." Aaron C. Davis (Washington Post) quotesAlanbar Hospital's Dr. Senan Ala'anee stating, "Many of the wounded have missed some of their body parts and the others were severely burned. We called the imams of the mosques at the metropolis to visit upon the citizens to donate their origin to the wounded."BBC World Service noted in their half-hour headlines that the target appeared to be the government compound in Ramadi. Nawaf Jabbar and Salar Jaff (Los Angeles Times) note, "The 17 dead and 40 wounded Monday included women and children lined up to file compensation papers for relatives killed in the earlier bombing, said Mustafa Hitti, a physician at Ramadi's general hospital." John Leland (New York Times) offers,"Though no one claimed responsibility for the bombing, officials in Anbar said it was probably a reply to raids in the final week and a half that rounded up 93 suspected militants. Officials speculated the bombers also intended to dash off foreing investors and developers. The oil ministry recently accomplished the auction of a gas field in Anbar to a pool of Kazakhstan and Korean developers." BBC News reminds, "On 12 December, 11 people were killed when a suicide car bomber targeted the same government agency in Ramadi."Ramadi is predominately (some argue universally) Sunni and the great of Al Anbar Province which borders Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Aqsim Abid Muhammad Hammadi al-Fahadawi is the governor. He wasn't elected to that position by the citizens, he was handed it by Saleh al-Mutlaq and Ahmed Abu Risha (he'd left the area over two days prior to being named governor). Fadhel al-Badrani (Reuters) quotes Lt Gen Hussein Kamal (Deputy Interior Minister) stating, "Prime Minister (Nuri al-Maliki) has ordered an investigative committee to be formed due to the repeated taregting of (this) building in Anbar province." Another investigation launched by Nouri. And tortureconfessions to follow? Jamal Naji (McClatchy Newspapers) points out that this is "the first major attack since Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki assumed temporary control of national security matters. In announcing his new cabinet last week, Maliki left undecided the sensitive posts of ministers of defense, interior and internal security, saying he needed several more weeks to vet candidates."