Welcome To Life In Iraq
AP Blog: Iraq Violence Claims Many Lives
AP Blog: Iraq Violence Claims Many Lives
AP Correspondent Robert H. Reid is based in Baghdad and writes about events in Iraq.
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Wednesday, May 24, 2006, 11:40 p.m. local
BAGHDAD, Iraq
A university professor. Two young men hustling black market gasoline on a sidewalk. A college student taking the bus to class. A top tennis player and two of his friends. All were gunned down Wednesday in Iraq's roiling violence.
Not so long ago, it was mostly uniformed police, U.S. and Iraqi soldiers, government officials and former Saddam Hussein loyalists who were at risk of assassination. True, anybody could die in the random mortar blast or in a roadside bombing intended for passing American convoys or Iraqi police patrols. Tragic as they were, those deaths often seemed the result of bad luck as much as anything else.
Now, however, the victims of drive-by shootings, bombings and assassination range so broadly throughout Iraqi society that almost everyone seems to be at risk. It's as if every Iraqi is somebody's enemy - and somebody's potential victim. The pain of the victims' families are lost in the numbing statistics - a dozen bodies found here, five people gunned down there.
The grim change stems from the evolving nature of the Iraq conflict. What began as a fight by Saddam loyalists, religious fanatics and Sunni Arab nationalists against foreign military occupation has now morphed into a killing free-for-all in Baghdad and other religiously mixed areas. >>>cont
Link Here
AP Blog: Iraq Violence Claims Many Lives
AP Correspondent Robert H. Reid is based in Baghdad and writes about events in Iraq.
---
Wednesday, May 24, 2006, 11:40 p.m. local
BAGHDAD, Iraq
A university professor. Two young men hustling black market gasoline on a sidewalk. A college student taking the bus to class. A top tennis player and two of his friends. All were gunned down Wednesday in Iraq's roiling violence.
Not so long ago, it was mostly uniformed police, U.S. and Iraqi soldiers, government officials and former Saddam Hussein loyalists who were at risk of assassination. True, anybody could die in the random mortar blast or in a roadside bombing intended for passing American convoys or Iraqi police patrols. Tragic as they were, those deaths often seemed the result of bad luck as much as anything else.
Now, however, the victims of drive-by shootings, bombings and assassination range so broadly throughout Iraqi society that almost everyone seems to be at risk. It's as if every Iraqi is somebody's enemy - and somebody's potential victim. The pain of the victims' families are lost in the numbing statistics - a dozen bodies found here, five people gunned down there.
The grim change stems from the evolving nature of the Iraq conflict. What began as a fight by Saddam loyalists, religious fanatics and Sunni Arab nationalists against foreign military occupation has now morphed into a killing free-for-all in Baghdad and other religiously mixed areas. >>>cont
Link Here
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 4:55 AM
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