It gets worse by the day

Yeah, the militias should be
curbed by the government

Kidnapping and Bombing Add to Baghdad Turmoil

By KIRK SEMPLE and JOHN O'NEIL
Published: July 12, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 11 — Gunmen kidnapped two dozen people from a parking lot today and killed 20 of them, and at least seven people died in a restaurant blast here as the death toll in the violence that began over the weekend continued to soar, according to Iraqi officials and news service reports.

Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Awad of the Iraqi army said that the attackers killed all the Shiites among the kidnapped passengers while sparing the Sunnis, news services said.

The latest suicide bombing took place at midday in a popular restaurant in the city’s New Baghdad section, and left at least 31 people injured, Iraqi officials said.

On Tuesday, more than 50 people had been killed in Baghdad alone in violence that included a double suicide bombing near busy entrances to the fortified Green Zone, scattered shootings, mortar attacks, a series of car bombs and the ambush of a bus with Shiite mourners returning from a burial.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld today paid a surprise visit to Baghdad after visiting Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The top American military commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, told reporters after briefing Mr. Rumseld that the current surge in killings was a result of “Shiite extremist groups that are retaliating against civilians’’ as a response to murders carried out by al-Qaeda, The Associated Press reported.

“”You have both sides now attacking civilians,’’ he said.

Mr. Rumsfeld told reporters that curbing the Shiite militias “is as much of a political task as anything,’’ the news service said.

Uh, Rummy, the Shia militas ARE the government. Sadr has the most seats in Parliament. So what are they going to do? Stop themselves?