And just I was feeling a bit smug myself...

Indulging in some of my own self-congratulation, feeling that well, in the end, it will be we optimists who prevail (see post below if you have no idea what I'm talking about here), I then have a severe reality check when I see this New York Times story: "Truck Bomb Hits Baghdad Mosque, and 61 Are Killed."

You should check out Alissa Rubin's multimedia presentation from the scene of the aftermath to fully appreciate the horror of what just happened.

But, in case you can't, here's a glimpse from the Times written report:

"It was like an electrocution,” said Najim Abdul Wahid, 45, a carpenter who was working in the square at the time. “I saw a flash. When I was able to stand up again, I saw many charred bodies in the streets. People were screaming, calling for help. I saw many people burning inside their cars. Charred bodies mixed and melted with charred cars.”

Iraqis blamed the usual suspects for the bombing, Rubin reports (duly noted - they didn't blame Mossad - yet):

Jalal Jaff, a Sunni Kurd, who lives just behind the street where the bomb exploded and raced to the scene to pull people from burning cars, turned his head away on Tuesday as he passed the parking lot with more than a dozen destroyed cars, only their charred frames left, the rubber completely burned off their tires.

“He is a paid terrorist, not a human being,” he said. “The families will never know which body belongs to their relatives. They were mutilated. They had no faces.”

Like most of the people in the neighborhood, Mr. Jaff blamed Al Qaeda, a term used by Iraqis to refer generally to terrorists. The group operating in Iraq known as Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia includes many Iraqis but has some foreign leadership.

“Al Qaeda is like an octopus with many arms and hands,” he said. “This bombing was a challenge to the American and Iraqi army; they cannot get rid of these terrorists.”

Others in the neighborhood went further, accusing the Americans of helping Al Qaeda, which most people believe is responsible for the majority of the suicide bombings.

A man who identified himself only as Qassim, some of whose friends were killed in the large open parking lot across from the mosque, shouted: “The Americans finance Al Qaeda. They secure places and routes for them to do this.”

But others said they saw the bombing as an effort by religious extremists to inflame sectarian divisions. “People here realize that there is a conspiracy to sow hatred between us,” said Mr. Jaff.

Live from Baghdad: New Sunni alliance forming to oppose Al Qaeda in Iraq

USA Today reports, er, yesterday, that more Sunnis are joining the fight:

More than 10 Iraqi tribes in the Baghdad area have reached agreements with U.S. and Iraqi forces for the first time to oppose al-Qaeda, raising the U.S. military's hopes that a trend started in western Iraq is spreading here.
Some of the groups, which have members who fought alongside al-Qaeda in the past, have been providing useful intelligence to U.S. forces about their former allies, according to the U.S. military.

"They know where they live and who they are," said Lt. Col. Rick Welch, a staff officer who works with tribes in the capital area.

Iraqslogger pays tribute to the solders of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne

On the day of their biggest loss since 1969. Thanks for your sacrifice. From Iraqslogger:

Baghdad, April 23, 2007
Baghdad, April 25, 2007

SecDef Gates warns Iraqis: "The clock is ticking"

From the Associated Press via the Wall Street Journal:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Iraq Thursday to warn Iraqi leaders that the U.S. commitment to a military buildup there is not open-ended...."I would like to see faster progress," he said, adding that momentum by the Iraqi government on political reconciliation as well as legislation on sharing oil revenue would "begin the process to send a message that the leaders are beginning to work together." He said that, in turn, would create an environment in which violence could be reduced.

As the AP press noted: "The four bombings throughout Baghdad that killed 183 people was the bloodiest day since the U.S. troop increase began nine weeks ago."

As to who exactly carried out the market bombing in Bagdhad that left some 140 people dead, the AP quoted a U.S. military spokesman who said that initial intelligence points ot al Qaeda. As the AP went on to say:

The attacks appeared to be yet another attempt by Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda to force Shiite militiamen back onto the streets. Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr had ordered his Mahdi Army fighters to put away their weapons and go underground before the security crackdown began, leaving regions like those bombed on Wednesday highly vulnerable.

U.S. officials have reported a decrease in sectarian killings in Baghdad since the U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown was launched Feb. 14. But the past week has seen several spectacular attacks in the capital, including a suicide bombing inside parliament and a powerful blast that collapsed a landmark bridge across the Tigris River. The number of bodies dumped in the streets of Baghdad also has risen significantly.

An Iraqi military spokesman told the AP that 95 percent of those killed yesterday were civilians.

Images from yesterday

Baghdad market bombing. At least 140 people, mostly Shia, died in the blasts. Peace be upon them.

Update: Here are the reactions of two eyewitnesses via the Washington Post:

Sabri Hassan Ali, 36, was in front of his soft drink shop when the bomb exploded about 10 yards away. He saw it blow off the head of a man nearby.

"How can I stand living a normal life and seeing a person who just lost his head in front of me?" Ali said, his voice filled with outrage. "Why are they targeting the innocent people? What is their guilt to die?"

As he spoke, another man ran by, screaming, "Curse Islam! What kind of Muslims kill their own brothers?"

General David Petraeus' letter to the Iraqi people:

Via Small Wars Journal:

As the commander of the coalition forces in Iraq, and having given some 2-1/2 years of my life to this endeavor, I would like to take this opportunity to call for support of the new security plan. I ask all Iraqis to reject violence and the foreigners who fuel it with their money, arms, ammunition, training, and misguided young men. Beyond that, I ask, as well, for all Iraqis to notify Iraqi or coalition forces when those who would perpetrate violence on their fellow citizens or security forces enter their neighborhoods.

Coalition soldiers liberated Iraq from Saddam's "Republic of Fear." Now Iraqis must reject those who seek to drive wedges between people who have, in the past, lived in harmony in the Land of the Two Rivers. This is a time for Iraqis to demonstrate to the world their innate goodness, their desire to respect those of other sects and ethnic groups, and their wish to stitch back together the fabric of Iraqi society. Only in this way can Iraqis make the most of the opportunity that Iraqi and coalition security forces are striving to give them. And only in this way can the dreams of those who live in a country so rich in blessings and promise be fully realized.

Do read the whole thing, especially if you are Iraqi.

Baghdad seems to be getting safer but Sunni attacks increase March's death toll in Iraq

The AFP reports:

The monthly death toll in Iraq rose 15 percent in March, an official revealed Sunday, as insurgents and sectarian militias continue to defy a military crackdown in Baghdad.

While the AFP uses the generic "sectarian militias" in its lede, further down in the story one realizes that Shiite militia attacks are significantly down. It was Sunni-style car bombings that increased March's death toll by 272 from February and the highest casualty attacks mostly occurred outside of Baghdad.

The AFP writes:

Middle East analyst Joost Hiltermann of Brussels-based think-tank, the International Crisis Group, told AFP the [Shiite] militia was deliberately "lying low".

"This is in the interest of the Mahdi Army. The Mahdi Army, realising that in the longer term the Americans will leave and they will prevail, is very happy if the United States go after the (Sunni) insurgents," he said.

While most of the casualties were civilians, 85 US military personnel were among the dead - almost twice the number of Iraqi security forces killed even though Iraqi forces are supposed to be increasingly leading the charge, so to speak.

That Al Qaeda: Still an obstacle to peace?

Who would have thunk that it's not the Shiite militias who are causing most of the problems in Iraq?

But the New York Times is reporting that since the Baghdad Security Program began last month, "deadly bombings by Sunni Arab militants have emerged as [the] greater danger."

And exactly who might these "Sunni Arab militants" that the Times is referring to?

That's right, none other than Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

Information obtained from one of the group's captured laptops, according to the Times, suggests to U.S. intelligence officials that as far as Al Qaeda is concerned “the sectarian war for Baghdad [is] the necessary main focus of its operations.”

As the Times recalls for the reader:

In its efforts to stabilize Iraq, American commanders have had to contend with Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, other Sunni Arab insurgent groups, a variety of Shiite militias, criminals and, they say, Iranian operatives. The greater Baghdad area seems to include all of them, making the mission there one of constant adjustment to adversaries who are revising their own tactics. According to American intelligence analysts, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia’s Baghdad strategy has gone through several changes. The overwhelming majority of the group’s members are believed to be Iraqi. But some senior commanders are foreigners, including Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian who became the leader of the organization last year after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist who founded the organization.