Baghdad Braces For More Reprisals

[cal04]

Web, Phones Spread Threats and Fear
In the aftermath of one of the deadliest spasms of violence, a new level of fear and foreboding has gripped Baghdad, fueled in part by sectarian text messages and Internet sites, that is deepening tensions in an already divided capital.

In interviews across Baghdad on Saturday, Sunnis and Shiites said they were preparing themselves for upheaval, both violent and psychological. They viewed the bombings that killed more than 200 people Thursday in the heart of Baghdad's Shiite community of Sadr City as a trigger for more reprisal killings.

"We feel our world has become narrow, and we are being squeezed," said Karar al-Zuheari, 31, a Shiite taxi driver. "We have no place to run."

Since those attacks, in mixed and majority-Sunni neighborhoods, quasi-armies of residents have formed to protect their streets. Sunni Web sites are offering advice on how to kill Shiite militiamen. College students and executives pace in their homes, clutching rifles and handguns round the clock. Iraqis are posting pleas on Internet message boards to buy extra ammunition and weapons.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/25/AR2006112500253.html

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Are these called the last last throes, Dick?

Or are there last last last throes yet to come?

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. The USA is to blame for all of this. In the end this will be far worse than

never interfering with Iraq in the first place.

[DemReadingDU]

3. Massacre coming

from the article above...

Over the past two days, warnings have spread through messages delivered to the cellphones of Sunni Muslims. In Arabic, they read:

"Very big armed groups are being formed in Sadr City, backed up by the Interior Ministry, to kill great numbers of the citizens of Baghdad once the curfew is lifted. Spread the word among our people."

It signed off: "A reliable source."

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and our troops are caught in the middle