this article is very interesting. I wanted to highlight the last paragraph where there is a very consise and eloquent critique of the war from John Reid, the British Defence Secretary.

The Iraq war “gave a boost to the al-Qaeda network’s propaganda, recruitment and fundraising, caused a major split in the coalition, provided an ideal targeting and training area for al-Qaeda-linked terrorists and deflected resources and assistance that could have been used to . . . bring (Osama) bin Laden to justice,”

Here's the article from WNYmedia.net

"Weekend of slaughter propels Iraq towards all-out civil war"
By timesonline.co.uk
Jul 18, 2005, 10:24

From James Hider

IRAQ is slipping into all-out civil war, a Shia leader declared yesterday, as a devastating onslaught of suicide bombers slaughtered more than 150 people, most of them Shias, around the capital at the weekend.

One bomber killed almost 100 people when he blew up a fuel tanker south of Baghdad, an attack aimed at snapping Shia patience and triggering the full-blown sectarian war that al-Qaeda has been trying to foment for almost two years.



Iraq’s security forces have been overwhelmed by the scale of the suicide bombings — 11 on Friday alone and many more over the weekend — ordered by the Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

“What is truly happening, and what shall happen, is clear: a war against the Shias,” Sheikh Jalal al-Din al-Saghir, a prominent Shia cleric and MP, told the Iraqi parliament.

Sheikh al-Saghir is close to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the supreme Shia spiritual leader and moderate who has so far managed to restrain powerful Shia militias from undertaking any outright attack on Sunni insurgents. His warning suggests that the Shia leadership may be losing its grip over Shias who in private often call for an armed backlash against their Sunni assailants.

From the Guardian of London:

Eyewitness
'I thought I was going to die'

Accounts from people who witnessed the explosions in central London today

Thursday July 7, 2005

Tube between King's Cross and Russell Square

"I was in a tube at King's Cross when one of the explosions happened. I was stuck in a smoke-filled, blackened tube that reeked of burning for over 30 minutes. So many people were hysterical. I truly thought I was going to die and was just hoping it would be from smoke inhalation and not fire. I felt genuine fear but kept calm.

Eventually people smashed through the windows and we were lifted out all walked up the tunnel to the station. There was chaos outside and I started to walk down Euston Road (my face and clothes were black) towards work and all of a sudden there was another huge bang and people started running up the road in the opposite direction to where I was walking and screaming and crying. I now realise this must have been one of the buses exploding."
Jo Herbert

"Everything was normal. Suddenly there was a massive bang, the train jolted. There was immediately smoke everywhere and it was hot and everybody panicked. People started screaming and crying."
BBC worker, Jacqui Head, who was on a Piccadilly Line train at King's Cross

"I was on the southbound Piccadilly line, between King's Cross and Russell Square this morning, when the incident occurred. At just after nine, there was an almighty bang and the train came to a sudden stop. The lights in the carriage went out and the air became thick with dust and soot ... We left the train within around half an hour. I feel very lucky."
John Sandy

"I was on a Piccadilly line tube train in between King's Cross and Russell Square, about 8.45 this morning. There was a sudden explosion, the train stopped immediately in the middle of the tunnel and the power went out. The explosion didn't sound like a bomb, more a loud power surge - but almost straight away our packed carriage started to fill with smoke, and people panicked immediately.

"We walked down the tunnel to the platform at King's Cross and climbed up. We had no idea at this point that it was anything other than an isolated accident, but it was terrifying nonetheless. No one was really control at the station exit - we all just wandered out onto the street as we could."
Richard South

Russell Square and Tavistock Square

"I was on the bus in front and heard an incredible bang, I turned round and half the double-decker bus was in the air ... It was a massive explosion and there were papers and half a bus flying through the air, I think it was the number 205. There must be a lot of people dead as all the buses were packed, they had been turning people away from the tube stops. We were about 20 metres away, that was all."
Belinda Seabrook, who was on a bus travelling from Euston to Russell Square, London

"As I was heading toward Euston I heard a bang behind me, turning round I saw a huge cloud of smoke and what looked like a truck that was mangled and twisted somehow. I knew straight away that it was a bomb. "Everyone started running and screaming. I did the same and just tried to get away."
John Kelly

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