Bombing in Baghdad

[sharp1]

Yet another day and another vile act of hell in baghdad, this time though it was 35 kids that suffered at the hands of the car bombers. Can anyone please give me an unbiased reason as to why the iraqi people go to such evil depths as to kill there own people?

[Alej]

Terrible as it is the intention was of course not to kiil the kids. Secondly you cant say its the 'Iraqi people' as a whole as its not its a sector. Out of interest anyone know how many Iraqi kids died from Yankee bombing?

[Oneeyedvic]

Lenin said that the purpose of terrorism is to terrorise. This is exactly what they are achieving. Although most poeple would beleive that we do not negotiate with terrorists, unfortunately the reverse is true. Take examples of the IRA and the LTTE. Both of these are negotiating with governements (albeit that ceasefires have been called).

[cruthinboy]

Oneeyedvic, the IRA were up for negotiation - I'm not sure this lot are. Forgive my ignorance but who are/were the LTTE? I believe Che Guevara had a quote (which I can't recall) about making people suffer to foment revolution, and the Italian Far Right in the 70s had the "Strategy of Tension" ( although many would claim it was the CIA)to erode confidence in democracy. Essentially if the Coalition wants to make Irag governable and peaceful, it's in the resistance/guerillas/terrorists to prevent this.

[cruthinboy]

LLTE - Tamil Tigers? (just recalling your Sri Lankan origins!. Also the last line of my last post should have included the word "interest".

[Oneeyedvic]

Correct with the Tigers. Liberation of Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Acknowledged by many as probably the "best" terrorists in the world. Unfortunately, I do see this as a bit of abattle of cultures - the western world believe that so long as you have a democracy everything is okay (Ok a bit simplistic but...) Can anyone in the UK really contemplate giving their life up for a cause in which they believe? I most certainly wouldn't. I am pretty sure they would negotiate, we just wouldn't want there terms. Yes, my family is from Sri Lanka, and I have made clear previously that I consider myself to be British and have distanced myself from them. That said until I was 18 I did live with them and got to know a lot of Tamils, some of whom were part of the Tigers. To speak to someone who is so devout as to where a cyanide capsule round your neck in case of capture....well....as I said, different cultures, and not one I can understand.

[cruthinboy]

Whata bout the 10 IRA/INLA hungerstrikers in 1981? Also the RAF/Baader Meinhof member Holger Meins who died on hungerstrike in the 70s? I find his case particularly striking: as an anarchist he probably didn't have much belief in an afterlife (or am I wrong?).

[el duerino]

technically onedeyedvid we did not negotiate with the IRA, we negotiated with their politial parties. A technicality imo but an important distinction nonetheless.

[cruthinboy]

The British Government did negotiate with the Provos in June 1972 when a delegation were flown to Paul Channon's Cheyne Walk home. Provo Chief of Staff Sean MacStiofain stressed that all theepublican negotiating team were IRA not Sinn Fein (the latter were not a particularly important component of the miltarist Provos at the time).

[andy hughes]

It appears that most of the bombs are aimed at Iraqui men who are waiting to join the Security Services - a lot of the bombs seem to be in the areas where these Offices are built. The reason is to kill the potential 'traitors' and discourage any others from doing the same thing. The civilian casualties are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. To grasp how anyone can kill innocent people in this way, you have to remember that Arab culture is far more pasionate about its beliefs and its patriotism than Western cultures, something that most people seem to forget.