Convalescence For Iraqi Psyche Needed

Convalescence for the Iraqi Psyche Needed: Sunni-Shiite Clashes in Wake of Saddam Capture

Maureen Fan of Knight-Ridder observes that the capture of Saddam by the Americans has exacerbated tensions between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq:

“The day after Saddam’s capture was announced, Shiites from Kadhimiya crossed the bridge and started dancing in the street in Adhimiya. Sunni residents in Adhimiya went out in the street to reply, and before the night was over, more than a dozen people were dead. Six of the Saddam sympathizers who attacked a police station in Adhimiya that night were killed by coalition forces attempting to restore order. Their bodies lie in refrigeration at the Kadhimiya Teaching Hospital, the second-largest hospital in Baghdad. It is a privileged medical center that before the war was connected not to the Health Ministry but to the Republican Palace. Doctors and nurses there spoke of the need for a recovery period or a convalescence for the Iraqi psyche.