Explosions rip through marketplaces, scattering blood and vegetables

[KoKo]

Risk of Civil War Spreads Fear Across Nation
Many worry that strains between Sunnis and Shiites could ignite a conflict that would overwhelm U.S. troops and the government.
By Jeffrey Fleishman
Times Staff Writer

May 29, 2005

BAGHDAD — Explosions rip through marketplaces, scattering blood and vegetables and leaving women wailing in the alleys. Bodies bob in rivers and are dug up from garbage dumps and parks. Kidnappers troll the streets, sirens howl through morning prayers and mortar rounds whistle against skylines of minarets.

Iraqis awake each day to the sounds of violence. With little respite, many wonder whether strange, terrible forces are arrayed against them. They fear that weeks of sectarian and clan violence, claiming the lives of all types from imams to barefoot fishermen, are a prelude to civil war.

"I'm worried 24 hours a day," said Zainab Hassan, a university student majoring in computer science. "Whenever I hear bomb or shooting, I call my mother and husband to check if they're OK. I can see a civil war coming, it's obvious. Everybody is talking about it. We have to be more careful."

Iraqis such as Abu Mohammed, who sells books along the Tigris River, struggle to comprehend how the euphoria of January's election has withered so quickly. They find contradictions rather than answers. Life has become a vicious thrum, with boys clinging to courtyard walls and gun battles beneath the date palms appearing live on TV.

Interviews with Iraqis from Basra to Baghdad to Mosul suggest that much of the nation fears that intensifying strains between Sunni and Shiite Muslims could ignite a conflict that would overwhelm the increasingly unpopular Iraqi government and 140,000 U.S. troops. Abu Mohammed blames, among others, Saddam Hussein, who, even from his jail cell, seems to taunt the country.

"Saddam created hostile sentiments between Sunni and Shiite," Mohammed said. "It was like a fire hidden under a cover and waiting to turn into a blaze. The remnants of Saddam Hussein are now trying to stoke and enlarge this fire. I blame both the Shiites and the Sunnis for playing parts in stirring up hostilities."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mood29may29,0,7231196,print.story?coll=la-home-world

[bemildred]

1. Someone offer these propaganda shills a clue.

The "US troops" and the "government" are already overwhelmed.
Calling it a "government" is already a lie.

[rodeodance]

2. quite a headline for the latimes.

[bemildred]

3. Propaganda, admitting the obvious.

This is an attempt to maintain the "civil war" meme, as opposed
to the "anti-Colonial war" reality.