Our surge crippled al Qaeda in Baghdad, so I was a little surprised by the recent bombing that killed over 60 Shias in Hurriyah. I assumed it must have been al Qaeda, but wondered how they'd penetrated Baghdad again. It certainly isn't impossible, but I wondered how we slipped up. Isn't al Qaeda rather under a lot of pressure and just evading at this point? Have they managed to strike out even as they flee from the Mosul area operations?
But we think it was carried out by Shia thugs:
No group claimed responsibility for the blast, which devastated a bustling commercial street in Hurriyah, scene of some of the bloodiest Shiite-Sunni slaughter in 2006. That fueled speculation Sunni extremists may have been behind the attack.
However, U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Steven Stover said the American command believed the bombing was carried out by a Shiite splinter group led by Haydar Mehdi Khadum al-Fawadi, also known as Haydar al-Majidi, who has been sought for months for kidnapping, murder and other offenses.
"We believe he ordered the attack to incite (Shiite) violence against Sunnis; that his intent was to disrupt Sunni resettlement in Hurriyah in order to maintain extortion of real estate rental income to support his nefarious activities," Stover said in an e-mail.
While the Iraqis aren't convinced, this makes sense. Somebody on the Iranian payroll is trying for that low odds civil war project. And if you can't get Sunnis to murder Shias, get loyal Shias to do the deed.
Apparently, the Sunnis never really operated in that section od the city. And we suspect Shias carried out a similar bombing back in November, pretending to be al Qaeda.
One day soon, we really need to make the mullahs of Iran pay for their crimes.
