The opposition to the Baghdad Security Plan makes itself heard

Just as Baghdad seemed to be getting more secure, a female suicide bomber blew herself up at a Baghdad university on Sunday, killing herself and at least 40 others. This was among several explosions to hit the Iraqi capital today, making it one of the worst days in terms of violence since the start of the new Baghdad security plan according to a New York Times report.

Oddly, the radical Shiite cleric Moktada Al-Sadr took today's violence as the opportunity to distance himself from the Baghdad security plan up that up until this point he seemed to have been endorsing. He issued a written statement that was read to his supporters at a site near the blast in which he urged them to to cease cooperating with the United States military.

“There is no good that comes from a security plan controlled by our enemies, the occupiers,” the statement said. “If you stay away from them, God will protect you from horror and harm. Make sure your plans are purely Iraqi and not sectarian.”

Go figure.

Meanwhile at the university site where the blast occured, the Times went on to report:

Hussain Ali al-Mousawi, a middle-aged blacksmith who said he lived across the street from the university, collected body parts on a notebook, placing severed fingers, pieces of skull and bloody flesh on pages covered with a student’s jottings notes on subjects like income brackets. His shirt was covered with blood. He said he had been carrying bodies; the sleeves of his beige cotton, striped shirt were soaked bright red.

...“We are burying here the minds of our society,” he said, pointing to the ad hoc graves dug by Mr. Mousawi. “We are planting them anew. How many of our great minds have they killed? They are targeting the students who are carrying pencils — our dirty neighbors.”

“We shall reconstruct the great Iraqi mind from the beginning,” Mr. Hasan said. “This land will produce more minds than ever.”