No illusions

In less than two weeks insurgent attacks have killed more than 300 people, the vast majority of which were Iraqi civilians. In one coordinated attack (near our area of operation) a suicide bomber drove a car filled with explosives into a crowded vegetable market and detonated. As people rushed to the scene to help the wounded another vehicle parked nearby exploded. At the same time a parked car exploded outside of a bank on a busy commercial avenue not far away. As the dust settled 102 people lay dead, 13 of them children.

A few days ago I spoke at length with an older Iraqi gentleman about the recent increase in violence. We spoke of insurgents’ determination to step up attacks against the Shiite population during Ramadan in an effort to derail the upcoming constitutional referendum. When the man spoke of the insurgency he spoke with hatred and frustration. “These men are cowards,” he said. “They claim to be fighting the American occupation and the new Iraqi government but they just kill their own people. They blow up restaurants and mosques. They murder women and children.”

I think that this is a view commonly held by the Iraqi people (in particular, and for obvious reasons, by the Shia). These insurgents (or, as those who target civilians should more accurately called, terrorists) are not revered as heroes or martyrs but simply as murders. They are not freedom fighters but merely an obstacle to freedom and any hope of a secure and prosperous country.

The holiday of Ramadan is a very sacred month when Islamic men and women reflect on being better Muslims. They come together at night as families and as communities and celebrate their faith. But for a minority, consisting of overzealous fundamentalists, Ramadan is an opportunity to promote their causes through fear and bloodshed. Unfortunately it is other Iraqis who bare the brunt of this maniacal and twisted world view.