Gunmen pick off Baghdad councillors

[DoYouEverWonder]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1263251,00.html

July 17, 2004


Gunmen have killed six Baghdad councillors in the two weeks since the US occupation formally ended, sending a wave of fear through Iraq's grassroots politicians.

"I am not sure if I can continue," a member of the council in Mansour, the capital's wealthiest suburb, said yesterday. He had been happy in a first interview to have his name used but changed his mind after Jinan Joseph, a fellow councillor, was gunned down in his own home the night before.

Unlike the frequent attacks on Iraqi police stations and the assassinations of a handful of senior politicians, the killings of councillors go largely unreported in the Baghdad media.

Yet they are the most vulnerable group in Iraq society.

"Sixty-one of Baghdad's roughly 750 councillors have been killed in the last year. That's about 8%," the anonymous councillor said.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Remember, if the gunmen are coalition, they are "sharpshooters."

All others are sinister "snipers."

[Devils Advocate NZ]

2. The occupation formally ended?

So who are all those troops in Iraq then? Did they become citizens of Iraq?

[Aidoneus]

4. They're INVITED GUESTS, duh.

Invited by who?--um.. the dictator they installed. Plusgood logic, that.

[Barrett808]

3. It just gets worse and worse

How long until the interim government collapses?