Stampede on Iraq bridge

[Shawnski]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - At least 648 people were killed in a stampede on a bridge Wednesday when panic engulfed a #####e religious procession amid rumors that a suicide bomber was about to attack, officials said. It appeared to be the single biggest loss of life in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.

Scores jumped or were pushed to their deaths into the Tigris River, while others were crushed in the crowd. Most of the dead were women and children, Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman said.

Tensions already had been running high in the procession in Baghdad's heavily #####e Kazamiyah district because of a mortar attack two hours earlier against the shrine where the marchers were heading. The shrine was about a mile from the bridge.

Panic attack

And it isn't getting any better over there... This tragedy is far worse than any single suicide bomber could have done alone. How very, very sad.

EDIT to correct the title.

[RougeUnderoos]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/4199618.stm

Geez this is awful. Could be up to a thousand now. 695 confirmed but the story has been up for a couple hours.

[Igottago]

truly devestating...the place is a complete mess...

[Cowperson]

Originally posted by Igottago@Aug 31 2005, 02:49 PM
the place is a complete mess...

Mass panics leading to stampedes that result in mass death aren't uncommon and not peculiar to Iraq.

If I'm not mistaken about 300 were killed in India (power lines falling on a crowd and starting fires) and about 250 killed in Saudi Arabia (Hajj crowds pushing forward on a bridge) in similar mass panic instances in the last year alone. There have also been instances of varying scale in Europe and the America's.

The only peculiarity in this instance appears to be that Muslims were so worried about being slaughtered by fellow Muslims that they began trampling all the other Muslims around them to escape.

Cowperson

[Displaced Flames fan]

Is there a worse way to die then getting trampled to death? I don't know. Maybe burning. Unbelievably horrible.

[Looger]

Originally posted by Cowperson@Aug 31 2005, 11:04 PM
The only peculiarity in this instance appears to be that Muslims were so worried about being slaughtered by fellow Muslims that they began trampling all the other Muslims around them to escape.

Cowperson

funny - i don't remember reading a summary of world war 2 that said 'christians dropped bombs on christian cities'

one wonders why this is mentioned at all, except for agenda purposes.

muslims kill muslims.

christians kill christians. for god's sake (pun intended) the 4th crusade was against the byzantine empire, the catholic church and the orthodox church have been at opposite ends of conflicts since the split, even into being a major factor of the more recent (and timeless) croat-serb conflict - which by the way far outweighs any muslim-christian conflict that is bigger in our news. point of fact the late john paul II was the first pope in centuries to even visit orthodox countries like greece and syria.

jews kill jews. rabin was murdered by religious extremist amir, zionist leaders all but herded fellow jews into the gas chambers themselves, and incidents between azkenazim and sephardic jews of the more orthodox slant happen all of the time in israel.

tribalism has always and likely will always mean a lot more to middle-eastern conflict. ethnic lines can mirror or crisscross religious, especially in iraq, and mean a lot more to the people doing the killing and dying.

[Igottago]

Originally posted by Cowperson+Aug 31 2005, 11:04 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Cowperson @ Aug 31 2005, 11:04 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Igottago@Aug 31 2005, 02:49 PM
the place is a complete mess...

Mass panics leading to stampedes that result in mass death aren't uncommon and not peculiar to Iraq.

If I'm not mistaken about 300 were killed in India (power lines falling on a crowd and starting fires) and about 250 killed in Saudi Arabia (Hajj crowds pushing forward on a bridge) in similar mass panic instances in the last year alone. There have also been instances of varying scale in Europe and the America's.

The only peculiarity in this instance appears to be that Muslims were so worried about being slaughtered by fellow Muslims that they began trampling all the other Muslims around them to escape.

Cowperson [/b][/quote]
umm, thanks?? are you telling these facts about other countries to say Iraq isn't a complete mess?? I'm pretty sure this event just added more misery to the obvious devestation this country has already seen.

[CaramonLS]

You never know what Cow truely says or mean sometimes.

Don't ask. Just move on.

[Cowperson]

Originally posted by Looger+Aug 31 2005, 05:10 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Looger @ Aug 31 2005, 05:10 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Cowperson@Aug 31 2005, 11:04 PM
The only peculiarity in this instance appears to be that Muslims were so worried about being slaughtered by fellow Muslims that they began trampling all the other Muslims around them to escape.

Cowperson

funny - i don't remember reading a summary of world war 2 that said 'christians dropped bombs on christian cities'

one wonders why this is mentioned at all, except for agenda purposes.

muslims kill muslims.

christians kill christians. for god's sake (pun intended) the 4th crusade was against the byzantine empire, the catholic church and the orthodox church have been at opposite ends of conflicts since the split, even into being a major factor of the more recent (and timeless) croat-serb conflict - which by the way far outweighs any muslim-christian conflict that is bigger in our news. point of fact the late john paul II was the first pope in centuries to even visit orthodox countries like greece and syria.

jews kill jews. rabin was murdered by religious extremist amir, zionist leaders all but herded fellow jews into the gas chambers themselves, and incidents between azkenazim and sephardic jews of the more orthodox slant happen all of the time in israel.

tribalism has always and likely will always mean a lot more to middle-eastern conflict. ethnic lines can mirror or crisscross religious, especially in iraq, and mean a lot more to the people doing the killing and dying. [/b][/quote]
Well, I think its truly outstanding that you and I agree its obvious that Muslims kill Muslims, just like Christians kill Christians and Jews kill Jews. Lets clap each other on the back and have a hearty handshake since we're apparently soulmates.

How much longer, do you think, before that's as obvious to Muslims as it is to ourselves, that Muslims are the real enemy in their midst and that "Muslim brotherhood" is a myth?

I simply found it interesting that those people on that bridge weren't running towards a freedom fighter for protection. They appeared to be running away from the idea of an insurgent.

By extension, wouldn't that make that phantom "insurgent" and everything he represents actually a "terrorist" since those people were certainly fleeing in terror?

And yes, I do agree it was a tragedy. If you were there, it was 100% tragedy.

Cowperson

[Looger]

Cowperson,

this obsession so many north americans have with muslims, is starting to really irk me, that's all.

yes, muslim brotherhood is a myth, so is christian brotherhood. big deal.

the mere fact that you cloak a tragedy like this with 'muslims killing muslims' talk tells me that you're trying to make a point where you're really missing one.

this insurgency is based more on arab nationalism, religious leaders see opportunities and capitalize but the main core of all arab terrorism is the fact that rich white people invade and colonize their lands.

ask yourself this - bosnia, 1990s. if it was muslims doing the large majority of slaughter, rape, etc. instead of white christians, what do you think would have been done?

[Cowperson]

Originally posted by Looger@Sep 1 2005, 07:23 AM
Cowperson,

this obsession so many north americans have with muslims, is starting to really irk me, that's all.

yes, muslim brotherhood is a myth, so is christian brotherhood. big deal.

the mere fact that you cloak a tragedy like this with 'muslims killing muslims' talk tells me that you're trying to make a point where you're really missing one.

this insurgency is based more on arab nationalism, religious leaders see opportunities and capitalize

To that point, you and I are in complete agreement.

but the main core of all arab terrorism is the fact that rich white people invade and colonize their lands.

My other point is that they weren't running from rich white people on that bridge.

Cowperson

[Looger]

rich white people removed the rule of law from iraq, and provide everything but a red carpet for the terrorists now running roughshod over the people of iraq.

the insurgency and the american occupation are so linked that i can't imagine iraqis seeing any difference, it's americans shooting at them one day, then arabs, so what, innocent people are dying.

the fact that it's muslims pulling the trigger is lost on anyone losing family members to the insurgency, primarily because america fuels the battle by its mere presence.

my original point:

why even bring up the 'muslims killing muslims' angle?

[Jay Random]

Originally posted by Looger@Sep 1 2005, 08:35 AM
rich white people removed the rule of law from iraq, and provide everything but a red carpet for the terrorists now running roughshod over the people of iraq.

Bull. There never was any rule of law in Iraq.

Or do you honestly believe that there was some law permitting Saddam Hussein to feed his political opponents through plastic shredders, or gas 300,000 Kurds and Shi'ites to death and bury them in mass graves? You talk of terrorists 'riding roughshod' over Iraq. Less than three years ago, those same terrorists were the government of Iraq, and doing far more harm to the population than they are permitted to do now.

965 dead? That's less than the number of people murdered by the government in one average month of Saddam's rule. And I mean murdered, not counting the million or more who were killed in the Iran-Iraq war and other wars Saddam started.

Unless, of course, you're claiming that Saddam was a 'rich white person'. That would be a laugher.

[Looger]

oh, right.

saddam bad, west good. i keep forgetting, where is my head?

now who was supporting saddam during the gassing of kurds and the use of chemical weapons against iran?

that's right... the united states. moral high ground is evaporated, sorry.

also the cia getting caught red-handed posing as UNSCOM weapons inspectors lost any international credibility the united states had as well, but hey, what does the entire world know anyway?