The AP reported less than half an hour ago that 11 members of a journalists family were killed, in Iraq. The details are informative.
Masked gunmen stormed the family home of a pro-Baath journalist and killed 11 of his relatives, colleagues said Monday, as Shiite legislators denounced a proposal to ease curbs on former members of Saddam Hussein's ruling party, dimming hopes for the U.S.-backed measure aimed at national reconciliation.
But, I thought you said the violence was down and the surge was working? Oh. You mean unless some religious/political nut disagrees with you? Well that's different, then...
Dhia al-Kawaz, editor of the Jordan-based Asawat al-Iraq news agency, was in Jordan when his sisters, their husbands and children were reportedly killed in Baghdad. According to the news agency's Web site, witnesses said more than five masked gunmen broke into the home and opened fire, then planted a bomb inside.
"Sectarian militias killed 11 family members of Dhia al-Kawaz," the agency's statement said, apparently referring to Shiite death squads that frequently target minority Sunnis and their supporters.
That's the ticket. Don't kill the guy who pissed you off. Kill his whole family while he is out of the country. That'll show 'em.
Mohammed Salman, a colleague of al-Kawaz in the Jordanian capital of Amman, confirmed the attack in the northern neighborhood of Shaab, a Shiite militia stronghold. Al-Kawaz, his wife and children live elsewhere.
Another colleague, who refused to be named because he feared reprisal, said al-Kawaz has received threats for his stance against the U.S. occupation and sectarian strife in Iraq.
Then, al-Kawaz is just another dead-ender, unwilling to accept the fall of the minority Baathist Party, I guess. So off with the heads of anyone who ever had anything to do with him.
Officials with the Interior Ministry, which oversees Iraqi police, said they had no information about the attack, and local police refused to comment.
Reporters Without Borders condemned the killings and called for a government investigation, saying Iraqi police at a nearby checkpoint failed to intervene.
This is certainly not the first time that Shia have stood by while militias committed murder and mayhem with the goal of ethnic cleansing and quashing all dissent to their rule.
There has been no political progress. Most of the "benchmarks" remain unmet.
Failing to "win" the "war" send in 30,000 more troops after most of the ethnic cleansing has been completed, then loudly proclaim "success"?
Meanwhile the families and friends of democracy's most valued citizens, the truth tellers, are murdered. Nice going, America.
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