Fox News is reporting:
BAGHDAD —FOX- Suspected Al Qaeda insurgents on Wednesday destroyed the two minarets of the Askariya Shiite shrine in Samarra, authorities reported, in a repeat of a 2006 bombing that shattered its famous Golden Dome and unleashed a wave of retaliatory sectarian violence that still bloodies Iraq.
Police said the attack at about 9 a.m. involved explosives and brought down the two minarets, which had flanked the dome’s ruins. No casualties were reported.
AJ Strata notes the story and opines:
Police and special forces commandos have guarded the shrine since last year’s attack, and it was not immediately clear how the assailants were able to plant their explosives. The guards at the site were detained for questioning, Maliki said.
Well, I guess the case could be made it is better to martyr a mosque than a human being. But clearly the fact this attack did not shed human blood, but did get by a phalanyx of guards, shows it was meant to be a PR stunt more than anything else. My guess is most of Iraq is bloodlusted out and ready to find a peaceful way to govern their country. Extremist emotions cannot be sustained indefinitely in a large population. This time I doubt the gambit will work as well, if at all.
Well, there is that, but the tactics are well established; stir the Ant Hill.
This case also outlines some of the security problems being faced by the entire region. This does have all the earmarks of an inside job. And it has AJ notes, it was clearly done with the idea of Al Quieda’s image in mind. Or, more correctly, the initiation of sectarian violence.
It becomes, in the end, an issue of trust. Who to trust, and how is trust generated where everyone’s a liar, and loyalties tend to shift faster than the sands?
Still, AJ’s point is well taken… extremist emotions can’t be held up forever, particularly given the cost involved. The costs need to be weighed against the emotions, and I suspect the costs are going to win out here. Not much will come of this second attack. The outcome of these kind of attacks, over the months, has been starting to trend that way anyway; …..Both sects have been played for fools for far too long by AlQuieda to allow themslevs to be so played much longer. I think the tipping point away from AlQuieda has been reached. As anyone expert in the field of torture will tell you, you can only inflict so much pain, before it has less of an effect. Numbness sets in. And anger. We’ll see.
(I am taken with the comparison of this activity to torture, just now)
That lack of effect does not mean the end of the violence, per se’. Violence is the only thing AlQuieda knows, and the only thing that has worked for them thusfar. couple that with the idea that they are now desperate, (On their heels, as AJ puts it) and we’re bound to see a number of desperate acts, for a while. But I’m beginning to doubt that it will achieve the desired effect.
Tags: BitsBlog
