Civilians bear brunt as two-week toll nears 500

[ECH1969]

BAGHDAD -- Civilians shopping at street markets, worshipping at mosques and mourning at funerals have become the prime target of insurgents in a two-week spree of carnage that many people think is linked to efforts by foreign extremists to plunge Iraq into civil war.

At least 491 people, most of them civilians, have been killed by bombings and other insurgent attacks since Iraq's new government was announced by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari on April 28.

Now, with the bodies of 50 men found shot to death by unknown assailants and dumped across the country over two days -- 13 more were found Monday - fears are rising that foreigners like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may be making headway in their campaign to turn Iraq's fractious communities against each other.

We are approaching a situation that is unstable, of a war of all against all, complete chaos, where the government is ineffective, the security is ineffective, and anybody can be killed at any time by anybody," said Kenneth Katzman, an expert on the Persian Gulf region with the U.S. Congressional Research Service.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5407208.html

[ekelly]

1. Not there yet?

APPROACHING a situation that is unstable?

APPROACHING???????

What rock has this guy been living under?

[Journeyman]

2. How often have we been told, with great certainty by elements of BushCo...

that the insurgency is "linked to efforts by foreign extremists," only to be told a week or so later by the Pentagon that the insurgency is homegrown, with little to no evidence of foreign involvement?

[Erika]

3. And why are we in Iraq?

They were never a danger to us. See www.icasualties.org

[Scurrilous]

4. Iraq Death Toll Since Government Announced

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050517/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_deaths_glance

<snip>

"At least 491 people have been reported killed by insurgents since Iraq's first democratically elected government was announced April 28. They include 447 Iraqi civilians and security force members, 41 U.S. military personnel, 1 British soldier and 2 U.S. contract workers."

<snip>


"An additional 66 bodies, many blindfolded and bound, have been found at several sites since May 6; the circumstances and timing of their deaths has not been determined.

The U.S. military and Iraqi security forces reported an estimated 183 insurgent deaths, including some 125 in Operation Matador in western Iraq. The U.S. military also acknowledged accidentally killing seven Iraqi civilians.

U.S. and coalition soldiers killed in accidents were not included in this tally."

[chlamor]

5. Kick