There is something highly suspect about this incident, since we posted just two days ago about the Red Crescent. Is it possible that this is retaliation, as in the article we cited the organization was being quite critical of the American occupation and its treatment of the Red Crescent? We think it is not only possible, we think it is very likely.
It is hardly worth commenting about the cynicism of Tony “The Poodle” Blair’s remark in this article. You assume, Tony, that the “will of the people” is actually being served in that shattered nation, something that seems further and further from the truth each moment “the whole of the coalition” stays there.
Gunmen Stage Mass Kidnapping in Baghdad
Sunday December 17, 2006 1:16 PM
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms burst into Red Crescent offices on Sunday and kidnapped two dozen employees and visitors at the humanitarian organization in the latest sign of the country’s growing lawlessness.
[snip]
“Our task – ours, the Americans, the whole of the coalition, the international community and the Iraqis themselves – is to make sure that the forces of terrorism don’t defeat the will of the people to have a democracy,” Blair said.
In the latest violence, gunmen in five pickup trucks pulled up at the office of the Iraqi Red Crescent in downtown Baghdad and abducted 20 to 30 employees and visitors, the aid group and police said.
A Red Crescent official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of safety concerns, said the gunmen left women behind.
Read the entire article here.
