Where Iraq's Maliki pins the blame for Baghdad bombings

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says the Syrian war has awakened dormant Sunni-Shiite tensions. 

|
Khalid Mohammed/AP
People and security forces inspect the site of a car bomb attack in Sadr City, Baghdad, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013. A coordinated wave of bombings tore through Shiite Muslim areas in and around the Iraqi capital early Wednesday, killing scores and wounding many more, officials said. The blasts, which came in quick succession, targeted residents out shopping and on their way to work.

A series of bombs ripped through Baghdad on Wednesday morning. At least 30 people were killed and 170 injured, according to a Ministry of Interior official. Attackers coordinated at least 14 car bombs, two roadside bombs, and one suicide bomb between the early morning and 11:00 a.m.

The explosions targeted predominately Shiite neighborhoods during rush hour.  No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks yet, but similar attacks have been carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni insurgent group formerly known as Al Qaeda in Iraq.

The attacks continue an upward trend of violence in Iraq that has brought a level of bloodshed not seen here since 2008. Last month alone 1,057 people lost their lives and another 2,326 were injured in violent attacks throughout Iraq. This year more than 4,000 Iraqis have died and more than 10,000 have been injured by attacks like today's. Baghdad has suffered more attacks than any other area of the country.

In a weekly televised address shortly after Wednesday’s bombings, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki directly linked his country’s deteriorating security to the conflict in Syria. “The internal situation in Syria is playing a major role with what’s happening in Iraq,” he said.

The recent wave of violence comes amid mounting sectarian tensions between Iraq’s Sunnis and Shiites and increased separatist rumblings from the nation's Kurdish minority.

Though Sunni-Shiite hatred fanned Iraq's civil war, particularly during 2006 and 2007, tensions have cooled somewhat since. But Syria's civil war has similar religious demographics and has seen the Islamic State in Iraq link up with Sunni Arab fighters there and Mr. Maliki's government tepidly back Bashar al-Assad's government.

“The situation is so fragile, and the political problems are the main cause of it,” says Ihssan Al-Shimari, a professor of political science at Baghdad University. “The insurgency will exploit the political problems to conduct more attacks in Iraq. Additionally they will exploit the weakness of security forces, and the sectarian divisions in Iraqi society.”

Throughout Iraq, both Sunnis and Shiites have crossed the border into Syria to aid the different sides of the civil war. Shiites have sided with the Syrian government, while Sunnis have joined the opposition helping to form some of the most brutal fighting units, namely the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Mr. Shimari says that the participation of militants in the Syrian conflict has awakened dormant sectarian tensions and recent attacks could be retribution for Shiite support of the government of Syrian President Assad.

The persistent attacks have also undermined the credibility of both Iraqi security forces and politicians who appear incapable of stopping them. Throughout Baghdad, Iraqi security forces have established numerous checkpoints, complete with bomb detection devices, yet these security measures appear to have had little effect on the ability of militants to operate within the capital.

“The government is not able to protect the people, and some of these explosions are because the government is not responding to the Sunnis’ demands. I think Sunni society is not upset with these explosions and they feel like it’s a punishment for the government,” says Hassan Alawi, a member of parliament. “The attacks will continue as long as there’s no political solution. It’s not a matter of security measures.”

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Where Iraq's Maliki pins the blame for Baghdad bombings
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/0828/Where-Iraq-s-Maliki-pins-the-blame-for-Baghdad-bombings
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe