Monday, November 10, 2008

Middle Eastern Blues

Let's take a detour from our own problems and see what's been going on in the Middle East this week:

Southern Israel was hit by Gaza rockets. Also, 6 African migrants trying to cross from Egypt to Israel were shot at a border crossing infamous for smuggling and illegal immigrants. Israel asked for Egypt's help in stopping this traffic, and they have killed 25 people so far this year.

Iraq has not accepted the US's last attempt at an armed forces agreement. They said that there was much detail left out and there are many questions they want to ask. It's not a popular document among the Iraqi's, and many wish the US would just go away.

And they may get their wish. Every day our soldiers have to contend with car bombs, road bombs, and sniper fire. If we leave there will be more of a blood-bath because these folks are really freaking crazy, killing each other in ways that cause the most pain and grief and psychic damage. The most common way is the suicide bomber set off in the middle of a marketplace, indiscriminately killing and wounding as many innocents as possible.

In beautiful Baghdad there was a bomb that killed 31 when a bus carrying young girls was ignited. When people came to help, a second bomber detonated himself in the middle of the crowd. In Baquba, a 13 year old girl wearing a suicide vest blew herself up at a security checkpoint. 4 were killed and 13 injured when a bomb planted on a motorcycle went off in a crowded market. A female suicide bomber waited for people coming out of a hospital before launching herself into them. A roadside bomb killed 3 soldiers and wounded 4. And lastly, a carbomb went off against a police patrol. And today is only Tuesday...

In Pakistan, the Army has found out that the Taliban and al-Qaeda elements were even more entrenched in the northern mountainous region of Bajaur Provence than previously thought. Behind village walls they found an extensive network of tunnels that provided shelter and the means to smuggle men and ammunition. The Pakistani Army freaked out so much that they ordered the village bombed, flattened, and burnt to the ground, reminding some of the US mistakes made in Vietnam.

The US is just beginning to draw up comprehensive plans for all of Afghanistan, including the rural areas that have previously been left to protect themselves, because, it was said, we only had enough soldiers to protect the more populated areas and oil pipelines.

Please say a prayer for our soldiers, and hope they come home safe in mind, body, and spirit.

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