BAGHDAD, Iraq - A bomb exploded at the gate of one of Shia Islam's holiest shrines on Wednesday, killing seven people and wounding 31 others, including a top aide of Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, officials said.
The bomb at Karbala's Imam Hussein Shrine came on the first day of campaigning for Iraq's Jan. 30 election, in which al-Sistani helped put together a powerful coalition of leading Shiite parties that is expected to do well in the vote...
Now, if I'm not mistaken, everyone from Chatham House (UK) to Bush's own National Intelligence Estimate from last year have warned that this whole Iraqi adventure was probably destined to devolve into a civil war.
But I guess once the election is held, the Coalition of the Duped can declare victory, and head on out the door. Right?
Am I the only one in the world who can see that an Iranian-style theocracy is the only outcome that makes any sense? In their hubris, the Bush administration has totally ignored the history of the entire middle eastern region. This is going to get so bloody by the time it's over that the Crusades will look tame by comparison -- and maybe shorter.
