Iraq marked the third anniversary of the United States-led invasion on Monday with a fresh spate of killings, a deadlock over the new government and warnings of civil war as Shi’ites gathered in the south for a major religious ceremony.
Eleven people were killed in three bomb attacks around the country in a reminder of the endemic violence that has dominated Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
In Baghdad, nine corpses showing signs of torture and gunshot wounds turned up around the city in what has become a daily ritual following the February 22 dynamiting of a Shi’ite shrine in Samarra that ushered in a wave of sectarian violence.
US and Iraqi forces, meanwhile, were on high alert to avert Sunni extremist attempts to trigger renewed outbursts of communal strife by targeting Shi’ite pilgrims descending on the shrine city of Karbala for a major ceremony coinciding with the war’s anniversary.
Officials said 500 000 pilgrims had been streaming daily in and out of Karbala, where the commemoration of the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and a defining Shi’ite figure, reached its peak on Monday.
Brandishing green, black or red flags, pilgrims, many wearing black, walked in processions through the streets of the holy city as thousands of police officers and soldiers guarded the approaches to town and searched those entering it.
”We have increased security precautions in the wake of yesterday’s missile attack on the city,” said police spokesperson Rahman Mushawi, referring to an old Soviet-made missile that landed in a parking lot on Sunday without causing any casualties.
Shi’ite pilgrims walking south to Karbala have been repeatedly shot at over the past week, with almost a dozen killed and scores wounded, including five injured on Monday.
Metamorphosis
In three years, the Iraq war has metamorphosed from a battle between US troops and Sunni insurgents, angered by Saddam’s ouster, to an internecine struggle among Sunnis, Shi’ites and Kurds.
Foreign fighters like al-Qaeda militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have also fanned the flames with spectacular attacks meant to trigger a civil war.
At least 33 000 Iraqis have died in the violence since US-led forces starting bombing Baghdad on March 20 2003, according to the internet site Iraq Body Count, which tracks Iraqi casualties.
Some prominent Iraqis believe the country has already slipped into a low-intensity civil war.
”We are losing each day an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more,” former premier Iyad Allawi told the BBC on Sunday. ”If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is.”
Outgoing Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari expressed optimism about his country’s future on Monday, disagreeing sharply with his predecessor.
”The road ahead will be tough but the Iraqi people have demonstrated their bravery, determination and resolve,” Jaafari wrote in an article in the Washington Post.
US President George Bush, urging Iraqi leaders to form a unity government that ”reflects the will of the people” told reporters on Sunday the US’s strategy ”will lead to victory”.
As violence continued, political parties remained bogged down in talks three months after national elections, with disputes over the choice of prime minister and the allotment of ministries.
New government
After agreeing on the formation of a national security council composed of all major political parties — but not on its exact powers — the factions have postponed negotiations on a new government until next week, a Kurdish negotiator said on Monday.
Ordinary Iraqis, even if they do not view the conflict as civil war, bemoan the ethnic and religious splits that have come to the fore since Saddam’s fall.
”The only thing we got from the invasion was the division of Iraq into Sunnis, Shi’ites and Kurds,” said Riad Hamid, a Shi’ite working at a Baghdad bakery.
US promises to rebuild Iraq have noticeably stalled, with much of an $18,4-billion reconstruction package diverted to security for contractors and project sites.
Insurgent attacks have contributed to electricity generation’s slide to a three-year low of 3 750 megawatts in February. Parts of Baghdad enjoy only three to five hours of power a day.
Sabotage has virtually shut down oil exports from northern Iraq to Turkey and left production hovering at about two million barrels per day, well below pre-war levels of 2,5-million barrels per day.
The US administration’s exit strategy from a conflict that has already cost the US military 2 300 lives is to train up Iraqi security forces, but while many Iraqi army units now control their own battle space, they still rely heavily on the US military for logistic support. — Sapa-AFP