I gotta give it up for the headline writers at the New York Times. Yesterday, the Askariya Shrine in Samarra, one of the holiest in Shi’a Islam, was bombed again. The Times reports on the response: Several Mosques Attacked, but Iraq Is Mostly Calm. Right. Take a look at this.
In Baghdad today, more than a dozen mortar rounds struck the Green Zone, where the Iraqi parliament and the United States embassy are located, causing some casualties, Reuters reported, citing the police.
The mortar shells fell while Deputy Secretary of State John [sic] Nogroponte was in a nearby building urging Iraqi officials to make rapid progress to help restore stability, according to Reuters.
I’m sorry but we’ve entered Wonderland when our Deputy Secretary of State has to dodge mortar attacks and it’s called ‘mostly calm’. And that is setting aside the multiple mosque bombings in response to the attack on the shrine.
The simple truth is that the Green Zone is under constant mortar attack and we can’t do a damn thing to stop it. I want you to think about that. What if the Washington Mall was under constant mortar attack and we couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it? Would we call this ‘mostly calm’. How far down the rabbit hole do you have to crawl before that makes sense?
Here are some better headlines:
Failure to halt Iraqi violence revealed by Pentagon report, UK Independent.
Three Sunni mosques attacked in Iraq, Daily Times, Pakistan.
US: Iraq violence undiminished, Chicago Tribune.
Violence in Iraq spikes despite crackdown, Albuquerque Times.
You get the idea. But things are better than expected…so says the New York Times. Keep sleeping people. It’s more soothing than being awake.
