Published on September 02, 2005

Once again, Iraqis are forced to endure great loss of life as they struggle to attain a sense of normalcy. For more than two years after the so-called liberation of Baghdad by the United States-led coalition forces from Saddam Hussein’s reign of terror, the situation in Iraq has degenerated into a raging civil war that is producing one atrocious act after another.

The fact that Iraq is going the way of the former Yugoslavia in the post-Tito era, when the European country began to unravel along ethnic/religious lines in early 1990s, could not be lost on anyone, except, perhaps, the Bush administration and the most optimistic dreamers.

Day after day, night after night, people around the world are shown scenes of bloody carnage from Iraq on their television screens. Ambushes by Iraqi insurgents on US troops continue, as do suicide bombings of and ferocious attacks by mass murderers on innocent Iraqis. The viciousness with which these hate-filled jihadists unleashed their fury against these “soft targets” defies comprehension by decent people everywhere.

Another catastrophe rocked Baghdad on Wednesday, when more than 900 people – most of them children, women and the elderly – were crushed to death and hundreds injured in a stampede on a bridge or drowned in the Tigris River.

The panic that led to the loss of so many lives was caused by rumours that suicide bombers had infiltrated the vast crowds of Shi’ite pilgrims travelling to the Kadhimiya Mosque in a ceremony to commemorate the death of a respected Shi’ite imam. Earlier on Wednesday, the mosque came under mortar fire that killed several people and injured scores of others. Some one million Shi’ites were on their way to the mosque on Wednesday when the stampede occurred.

Initial investigation by Iraqi authorities indicate that the tragedy was an act of terrorism by Saddam’s loyalists and al-Qaeda’s associate in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. If that was the case, it would show that terrorists have no compunction about causing as many deaths and injuries among defenceless innocents as possible so long as it serves their devious ends of instigating sectarian violence between the Shi’ite majority and the Sunnis that once ruled this strife-torn country.

According to the authorities, an alleged terrorist was able to cause panic and induce a stampede by pointing a finger at another person saying that he was carrying explosives. Shi’ites, which had been brutally repressed under Saddam, have been targeted by Sunni-led insurgents in numerous suicide bombings and ambushes since the overthrow of the murderous dictator.

The incident took place only days after Sunnis rejected Iraq’s draft constitution, which they vow to defeat in a referendum on October 15.

The incident was met by outcry and an outpouring of sympathy from countries around the world. Iraq’s top Shi’ite cleric must be commended for his measured response to the tragic event, by calling on all Iraqis to remain united and not to allow terrorists and ill-intentioned people to sow the seed of hatred among Iraq’s already divisive ethnic and religious groups.

Iraqi authorities and Shiite Muslim leaders, who usually exhort their followers to turn out in large numbers in religious ceremonies as a way to demonstrate their community’s ascendancy in Iraq society, must improve security – not only armed escorts but also adequate crowd control measures – to prevent a recurrence of such tragic events. Until a measure of security can be guaranteed for such public demonstrations, perhaps the Iraqi government and religious leaders should try to keep crowd sizes more manageable.

Terrorism must not be allowed to be seen as succeeding in intimidating peaceful gatherings. But Iraq is dealing with monstrous terrorists that aim to kill and maim as many innocent people as they can. The perpetrators appear to be enjoying committing such inexcusable crime against humanity. The international community must persevere and continue to support peace-loving Iraqis in their struggle to rebuild their nation and install democracy. It would be a crime to allow Iraq to slip into anarchy and become another hotbed for international terrorism.

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