| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"johac" |
| Date: |
01 Sep 2005 06:47:13 AM |
| Object: |
As if Iraq didn't have enough trouble... |
What a mess. I wonder how many of the survivors stopped to ask why their
god didn't prevent the disaster?
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Iraq mourns as stampede loss overshadows war
By Mussab Al-Khairalla and Mariam Karouny 26 minutes ago
Crowds gathered on Thursday for the funerals of some 1,000 Iraqis killed
in a stampede during a religious festival, as the nation grieved over a
tragedy which has overshadowed the daily bloodshed of war.
Funeral tents were erected in the impoverished Baghdad Shi'ite suburb of
Sadr City as relatives prepared to mourn their dead, before most of the
bodies were due to begin their final journey to Najaf, the most holy
Shi'ite city, for burial.
Three days of official mourning will quieten a country inured to mass
killing on its streets but shocked by the disaster.
At least 965 people were confirmed to have died on Wednesday when
thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims rushed for imagined safety onto a bridge
across the Tigris in Baghdad, only to die in the river below or crushed
on the roadway.
The final toll, one senior official said, was likely to be more than
1,000 as bodies were counted scattered across hospitals, makeshift
morgues and family homes across the city.
They lay under white sheets, under foil blankets and makeshift shrouds,
in corridors and on pavements, as anxious or grieving relatives searched
for loved ones among the dead.
Though fears of sectarian attacks, real or imagined, may have
contributed to the fear that drove the pilgrims to their deaths, the
shock was felt across the factional divides.
People streamed to help from Aadhamiya, the mainly Sunni Arab district
across the river from the Kadhimiya shrine that was the focus of Shi'ite
worship on Wednesday.
A barrage of mortar and rocket attacks on the crowd, some 200,000 strong
or more, had added to the tension early in the day. It killed seven
people and was claimed by a Sunni group avowing links to the insurgency
against the U.S.-backed, Shi'ite-led government.
Then, whether by malicious design or simple panic, a warning from within
the crowd of a suicide bomber among them sparked a rush for safety that
proved illusory. Blood dripped from concrete walls around the bridge.
Bodies drifted in the river.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN
"Hundreds of people started running and some threw themselves off the
bridge into the river," a police source said.
"Many elderly died immediately ... but dozens drowned, many bodies are
still in the river and boats are working on picking them up."
Most victims were women and children who "died by drowning or being
trampled," an Interior Ministry official said.
It was by far the biggest loss of life in such a crowd since more than
1,400 pilgrims died at Mecca during the haj in 1990.
Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari declared three days of mourning.
Constant coverage on national television included an appeal for
relatives to claim a baby held up to the camera. He was found next to
his mother's body.
Interior Minister Bayan Jabor and two other top Shi'ite officials blamed
Sunni insurgents for the stampede, saying one had spread the rumor there
was a suicide bomber in the crowd.
But Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi, a Sunni Arab himself, said the
stampede was not related to sectarian tensions gripping the country
since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
Some witnesses blamed poor organization for the death toll.
Whatever sparked the rush for safety, the fear that a bomber might be on
the loose was well grounded after previous attacks on Shi'ite religious
events in the past two years.
Tensions are high among Iraq's rival religious and ethnic communities
ahead of a referendum on a new constitution for the post-Saddam Hussein
era.
Television images showed people clambering down from the bridge to
escape the surging crowd and piles of slippers left behind by the crush
of people.
President Jalal Talabani said it was "a great tragedy which will leave a
scar on our souls."
The bridge stands on the spot where the body of Imam Musa al-Kadhim is
said to have been dumped after being poisoned 12 centuries ago by agents
of the caliph.
Some 250,000 pilgrims had travelled from other parts of Iraq for the
events, organizers said. The figure was lower than normal, they said,
due to security fears.
---
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050901/wl_nm/iraq_dc
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
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| User: "Michael Gray" |
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| Title: Re: As if Iraq didn't have enough trouble... |
01 Sep 2005 08:43:34 AM |
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On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 23:47:13 -0700, johac <jhachm@ixpres.com> wrote:
What a mess. I wonder how many of the survivors stopped to ask why their
god didn't prevent the disaster?
My guess would be just a trifle under one.
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| User: "johac" |
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| Title: Re: As if Iraq didn't have enough trouble... |
02 Sep 2005 04:40:00 AM |
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In article <9ofdh1tr9t5571u22rlhtqibh1c283jm0l@4ax.com>,
Michael Gray <fleetg@newsguy.spam.com> wrote:
On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 23:47:13 -0700, johac <jhachm@ixpres.com> wrote:
What a mess. I wonder how many of the survivors stopped to ask why their
god didn't prevent the disaster?
My guess would be just a trifle under one.
I suppose that if anyone did say that out loud, thy would immediately be
beaten and/or stoned.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: As if Iraq didn't have enough trouble... |
05 Sep 2005 07:09:58 PM |
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On Thu, 01 Sep 2005 21:40:00 -0700, johac <jhachm@ixpres.com> wrote:
In article <9ofdh1tr9t5571u22rlhtqibh1c283jm0l@4ax.com>,
Michael Gray <fleetg@newsguy.spam.com> wrote:
On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 23:47:13 -0700, johac <jhachm@ixpres.com> wrote:
What a mess. I wonder how many of the survivors stopped to ask why their
god didn't prevent the disaster?
My guess would be just a trifle under one.
I suppose that if anyone did say that out loud, thy would immediately be
beaten and/or stoned.
Sooner than that, if possible.
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: As if Iraq didn't have enough trouble... |
05 Sep 2005 07:09:33 PM |
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On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 23:47:13 -0700, johac <jhachm@ixpres.com> wrote:
What a mess. I wonder how many of the survivors stopped to ask why their
god didn't prevent the disaster?
None. "God is Great®."
{snip trampling}
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
.
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