...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Thursday, April 08, 2004
      ( 4:42 PM )
 
Falling Apart

The latest from Reuters is not reassuring:

U.S.-led troops fought fierce battles with Sunni and
Shi'ite rebels Thursday and a spate of kidnappings
snared foreigners as Iraq descended into bloody
chaos not seen since Saddam Hussein's fall a
year ago.

A previously unknown Iraqi group said it was
holding three Japanese hostages and threatened
to "burn them alive" unless Tokyo withdrew its
troops from Iraq within three days.

Rebels seized two Arabs with Israeli identity
cards, shown on a video tape aired by an Iranian
television station, and accused them of spying. A
Briton was missing after being kidnapped in the
southern town of Nassiriya.

Seven South Koreans, all evangelical church pastors,
were seized by armed men but later freed unharmed.
The Koreans told Reuters they had been kidnapped
on a road north of Baghdad.

The top U.S. general in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo
Sanchez, acknowledged the southern towns of
Najaf and Kut were in the hands of a militia loyal
to radical Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Not good news. I fear that this is only leading to worse news in days to come. I fear for everyone over there who is trying to do good, everyone who is just trying to follow orders and stay alive, and everyone who unknowingly gets in the way, especially the mamas and their children who get caught in the crossfire.

UPDATE: Australian news has more on the Japanese and Arab kidnap victims. Horrifyingly frightening.

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