Little Green Footballs

Monday, September 26, 2005

The new wild west

Right-wing blogs can make as many lists of 'good news' from Iraq as they want. The truth of the matter is that stories of death, robbery, corruption, murder, civil war and torture come out of there on almost a weekly basis. This following story sounds like it should belong on a Hollywood back lot, not in 'liberated, democratic and free' Iraq.

ROBBERS shot dead two guards and made off with nearly £500,000 in cash after an attack on a convoy of armoured vehicles in Baghdad yesterday.

At least 24 other people were killed in separate violent incidents yesterday, with two suicide bombings and the first outbreak in a year of fighting between United States/Iraqi forces and fighters loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Seven people - two guards and five bystanders - were hurt in a gun battle with the robbers who attacked the convoy in the west of the capital.

Baghdad, which saw little street crime under the rule of Saddam Hussein, has become a haven for criminals. Kidnappings for ransom are common and authorities have said that some gangs sell hostages to the insurgents, particularly if they are non-Iraqis.

No comments: