[lbo-talk] The Recent Bombings in Iraq

[C. G. Estabrook]

Robert Fisk's speculation on who's responsible for the Ashura bombings?
No, not if we consider whose interests are served by the bombings in Iraq
and Pakistan.  The US has done similar things before (e.g., Beirut 1985),
as has Israel; and we're witnessing a US-produced "civil war" in Haiti
designed to produce the result the US has wanted since 1990. It's been
suggested that the removals of Shevardnadze and Milosevic show the same
m.o.  --CGE

	Purported Qaeda Letter Denies Role in Iraq Blasts

	Reuters

	3 March 2004

	http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=

	1N01FQBOVMGS4CRBAE0CFFA?type=worldNews&storyID=4486705

DUBAI (Reuters) - A letter purporting to come from Osama bin Laden's
al Qaeda network denied any role in Tuesday's anti-Shi'ite Muslim
explosions in Iraq and blamed the attacks that killed 185 people on
the United States.

	The letter, signed by the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades with "al Qaeda"
in parenthesis, was sent to the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi
newspaper. It was obtained by Reuters Wednesday.

	"U.S. troops have committed a massacre against the innocent Shi'ite
people to set sectarianism ablaze among Iraq's Muslims," the letter
said.

	"We, and with God as our witness, say we are innocent of this act
and of anything that will drive the Shi'ites away. Our mujahideen
(holy warriors) love God and his prophet and will not do anything
that will harm the Iraqi people."

	Suicide bombers, mortars and concealed explosives killed at least
185 people and wounded more than 435 in Baghdad and Kerbala during
the holy Shi'ite mourning period of Ashura.

	The attacks on the mass gatherings made Tuesday the bloodiest day
since U.S. troops toppled Saddam Hussein in April.

	Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council blamed the blasts on Abu
Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian who Washington says works for al Qaeda
and whom it accuses of trying to fuel chaos in Iraq.

On Wed, 3 Mar 2004, Doug Henwood wrote:


> 
> ...Really, doesn't this strike you as a little overheated?
>