A car bombing killed 75 Iraqis, including a top Shiite Muslim leader, on Friday in an apparent assassination that dealt a grave blow to the U.S. occupation and left carnage at the holiest shrine of Shiism.
| An "apparent" assassination? |
The blast tore through worshippers as they streamed away from Friday prayers in the Imam Ali mosque in the holy city of Najaf. It was by far the worst such atrocity in Iraq since the U.S.-led war toppled Saddam Hussein in April. Some supporters of the slain Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, 63, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), blamed Saddam loyalists. But some commentators pointed to bitter faction-fighting among Iraq's long-repressed Shi'ite majority that has raged in Najaf since the end of the war.
| Meaning Moqtada Sadr. If he's not dead in three months or less, SAIRI's a nest of squats... |
"There is a very serious chance that what we are entering here is a Shi'ite civil war akin to what happened in Iran in 1979-80 with rival factions jockeying for power," said Ali Ansari, an expert on Iran at Britain's Durham University. "The repercussions within the Shi'ite community will be problematic for the British because they are in control of the south."
| Of course, if we kill Moqtada, then we'll be simply awful... |
At the scene, some called for a stronger American presence around holy places where a few months ago Shi'ites demonstrated to keep the troops away. "The world is going to be turned upside down after this. This is our holiest site," said Qusay Jaber. "If the Americans don't secure our sites anything is possible. We will stage an uprising."
| The body count actually had my sympathy meter twitching until Qusay said that. Having a hard time making up your mind? Guess you have to have one to make it up, huh? |
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