Car-bombers defy all odds
By Mike Davis

NEWS ITEM: Two truck bombs struck markets in Tal Afar on Tuesday, killing at least 66 people. One of the blasts occurred when an explosives-laden truck was detonated by remote control while people gathered to buy the flour it was carrying in a Shi’ite neighborhood in the center of the city, 420 kilometers northwest of Baghdad.

Despite heroic reassurances from both the White House and the Pentagon that the six-week-old US escalation in Baghdad and al-Anbar province is proceeding on course, suicide car-bombers continue to devastate Shi’ite and Sunni neighborhoods, often under the noses of reinforced US patrols and checkpoints.

Indeed, February was a record month for car bombings, with at least 44 deadly explosions in Baghdad alone, and March promises to duplicate the carnage.

Car bombs, moreover, continue to evolve in horror and lethality. In January and March, the first chemical “dirty bomb” explosions took place using chlorine gas, giving potential new meaning to President George W Bush’s missing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The sectarian guerrillas who claim affiliation with… FULL

Posted by stan in Analysis