More Terrorism

Many people repeatedly ask why we are here. Perhaps a good question, because as hard as we try, as many troops as we place on patrol throughout the streets of Baghdad - and every other hostile city or village in Iraq - to protect the innocent victims of oppression and terror, the killing continues en masse. An article I read recently...

21 Killed in Car Bombing at Baghdad Market
The Associated Press (From Stars and Stripes - Mideast Edition / Tuesday, May 29, 2007)

BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber struck a busy Baghdad commercial district Monday, killing at least 21 people and wounding 66, setting cars on fire and damaging a nearby Sunni shrine, police and hospital officials said.

The blast went off at 2 p.m. in the Sinak market area on the east side of the Tigris River.

Insurgents carried out several mortar and car bombing attacks throughout the capital Monday and even waged a lengthy gunbattle with police in broad daylight. The wave of violence, which killed 36 people across Baghdad, came despite a nearly 15-week-old U.S.-led security crackdown in the city.

Earlier Monday, a battle raged between militants and police in the narrow alleys of another central Baghdad neighborhood after insurgents highjacked two minibuses and kidnapped at least 15 passengers, police said.

At least three policemen were killed in the fighting, authorities said.

The buses were traveling from Baghdad's main bus station to the city's eastern Shiite neighborhoods about 10:15 a.m. when gunmen in three cars forced them to stop as they passed through the Sunni enclave of Fadhil.

The attackers took the passengers to a nearby abandoned medical center. A gunbattle broke out when Iraqi security forces arrived 30 minutes later, police said. Nine militants were arrested.

After 45 minutes, Iraqi security forces stormed the building, but the militants had already left, apparently with their hostages, police said.

Also Monday, another 33 bullet-riddled bodies were found handcuffed, blindfolded and showing signs of torture in different parts of Baghdad.

Although the judging masses (primarily liberal, left-wing Americans) appear to be horrified and angered by the daily chaos that ensues, I would argue that they are generally desensitized and have no idea how cold and calculated the terrorists (pardon me, "insurgents") really are. Their liberal media will show numbers of dead, use buzz words and phrases, highlight the negative, insinuate our servicemembers are responsible for the chaos... If they really wanted to portray the true state of affairs, they would show the grisly photos of torture and decay found on the streets of Iraq on a daily basis, photos of servicemembers collecting bodies marred by torture dumped in the open (bodies that locals step around on their way to the market as though it's a normal day) and delivering them in body bags to local hospitals and morgues so that families can collect their dead and lay them to rest the proper way. Then perhaps more people would understand exactly what's going on here - that we are aiding the people, not inciting conflict, that we are trying to protect them from the terrorists who lurk in their neighborhoods and threaten their peaceful existence. But maybe there's something to be said for being spoon-fed. Many people don't like to think outside the box - it requires energy, some level of intelligence, analytical skills, etc. And so continues the general state of affairs of our ignorant nation.