But Then Again…
Sigh…I suppose it was inevitable, with all the good news coming from Iraq, that we were due for some bad news again:
Iraq was struck by a series of female suicide bombings and ethnic violence that shook the country and left the volatile northern city of Kirkuk reeling amid fears of further bloodshed between the Kurds who dominate the city and its large population of Turkmen.
All told, at least 61 people were killed and 238 wounded throughout the country on Monday, nearly all of them Kurdish political protesters in Kirkuk and Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad, making for one of the bloodiest days of the year. But the numbers understated how much the violence in Kirkuk unnerved government and security officials, and even caused Turkmen leaders to call for protection from United Nations security forces.
It’s a sobering reminder of how difficult a security environment the country remains, but I would not dream of trying to score political points off of such a tragedy. Suffice to say, horrible news at a time when so much seemed to be going right. Let’s hope it’s a relatively isolated occurance…
Terrorism is asymmetrical warfare, it is not stopped by military force or might, it is stopped by the consent, and force, of the people. The reduction in violence in Iraq, before today, was enabled by the Iraqi and US military show of force and the confidence it created in the Iraqi people to stand up for themselves, but it is not perfect, nor absolute and final. Hopefully this latest attack, tragic as it is, will embolden the people of goodwill in Iraq to disable the purveyors of violence, hate, and evil.