Disaster in Kazamiyya Bleeds Iraq... and Unifies its Sects

Iraq suffered yesterday from a new disaster... 965 drowned, most of them children and women and old men, drowned or smothered or trampled underfoot. They were among the hundreds of thousands of Shi'i visiting the memorial for the Vanished Imam Musa [as-Sadr] in Baghdad to commemorate his disappearance. Their only mistake was to believe someone who shouted a warning that there was a suicide bomber in their midst.

There's also a big picture of dead bodies and mourners in a morgue somewhere, and they quote from the press release issued by the "Army of the Party of Mansoura" celebrating their victory over "shirk". Makes me sick.

Below the fold:

Egypt Refuses Israeli Control of Border Crossings

The Israel-Egypt story is pretty self-explanatory. Includes a picture of Sharon shaking hands with the Egyptian chief of intelligence (Sulayman) "during their meeting in Occupied Jerusalem yesterday".

Joseph Samaha: "A pair of fixed endings"

Today, the first of September is the 200th day since the death of Rafiq Hariri. Tomorrow, 2 September, Lebanon "celebrates" the first anniversary of the adoption of UN Resolution 1559. The next day, 3 September, Lebanon "celebrates" the first anniversary of the extension of the presidency of Emile Lahoud.

These days pass in a tense observation of the work of the international commission put in place by Security Council decision 1595 and which has entered into a decisive stage of its work...

There is a confrontation between two political views. The first wants to see the full implementation of the decision in all its clauses (as President Jacques Chirac called for a few days ago), considering this the basis of its program, both local and regional. The second wishes to "escape" from this decision in some sense of the word...

One side, he says, has an indisputable point in its desire to see local autonomy, an end to Syrian control over Lebanese fates, and a full accounting for the death of Rafiq Hariri. The other is equally convincing about the regional need to resist the new American imperial project. But the two sides collectively destroy any attempt to bring them together or establish a common point of view.

Yes, it's important to come to the truth about Rafiq Hariri. But it's also important that those who supported this commission stop declaring everyone not 100% on their side to be takfir. The country needs to see an end to this dualism.