Another Bombing At Abu Ghraib Sunni

Another Bombing at Abu Ghraib
Sunni Meeting Collapses in Acrimony

Guerrillas mounted another bombing attack on Abu Ghuraib prison (this one involving a tractor), leaving 5 Iraqi civilians wounded. On Sunday, a combination of car bombings and mortar attacks wounded dozens of Americans and Iraqis. The NYT reveals that a rumor is going around that Iraqi women are being held at Abu Ghraib and raped. (Given the evidence that surfaced last year, of sexual humiliation of prisoners and the rape of at least one woman, these rumors are found plausible by Sunni Arabs).

At Camp Bucca, inmates staged a major riot last Friday, leaving twelve prisoners and 4 guards slightly wounded, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Al-Zaman reports that masked gunmen attacked the Communist Party HQ in a Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City or Shiite east Baghdad.. The CPI officials said they did not know who was behind the attack.

A meeting of Sunni Arabs at the house of Adnan Pachachi ended in shouting and curses on Monday, according to AFP:

‘ The meeting of the National Front, a loose affiliation of Sunni clerics, politicians and civic leaders, took place at the villa of veteran politician Adnan Pachachi to try to agree on a vice presidential candidate . . .

Pachachi announced his candidacy two days ago as outgoing president Ghazi al-Yawar, who is part of the front, is believed to be working out a deal directly with the Shiites and Kurds. He is favoured by the Kurds.

Another Sunni interested in the vice presidency is Sherif Ali bin Hussein, the heir to the deposed monarchy. He, like Pachachi, ran in the elections but failed to win any seats in parliament . . .

The meeting in Pachachi’s house ended in a heated exchange between controversial politician Mishaan al-Juburi and Banyan al-Jarba, the envoy of Sherif Ali.

“The Shiite alliance wants Sherif Ali, but they are trying to hijack the will of the Sunnis,” charged Juburi, who was defeated by the Shiites as candidate for the speakership. They accused him of ties to Saddam Hussein’s ousted regime.

The front was expected to meet again Tuesday.

AlertNet provides an update on Fallujah. The article says that 70 percent of homes in the city have been destroyed. Something between 160,000 and 210,000 residents, out of 250,000 – 300,000 before last November’s assault, are still living in tents or with relatives elsewhere. The article says,

‘ Doctor Hafid al-Dulaimi, director of the Commission for the Compensation of Fallujah Citizens (CCFC), established by the government, told IRIN that a study had been carried to assess the scale of destruction. He reported 36,000 destroyed homes in all districts of Fallujah, along with 8,400 shops.

Al-Dulaimi pointed out that 60 children’s nurseries, primary and secondary schools and colleges were destroyed and 65 mosques and religious sanctuaries were almost demolished by the attack, with 13 government buildings requiring new infrastructure.

“Most of the houses need to be rebuilt from scratch . . .” ‘