A Bad Day On A Bridge

Published on September 1, 2005 By pseudosoldier In Current Events

Watching al-Jazeera today, the biggest news was not Katrina, although the graphic pictures of the destruction wrought in the southern United States proved too great, and the channel showed a fair amount on that subject as well.

The marquee spot was saved for Link in Arabic (those are the shoes of the victims in that lead picture, for some reason), or Link for you English-only (or at least non-Arabic) types.

Hundreds killed in a panic on a bridge.

I'll tell you, al-Jazeera seems to be in love with images that we couldn't possibly get away with on our cable news networks. Well, maybe we could, but I'd prefer it to be saved for that "special occasion" sort of stuff, you know? This wasn't as bad as some, show the victims that made it to the hospital, show the victims with their shrouds on with the wailing women in black... there was this one kid, though, he reminded me of someone, he must not've been much more than five years old.

It seems that a rumor of a "suicidalist", a suicide bomber, or possibly a car bomb, circulated quickly through the masses crowding this bridge in Bagdad. Most were Shia faithful on their way to a mosque for a religious observation. But panic struck, people responded like scared cattle, and an estimated 965 (number from the Iraqi government sources at this time, it seems) are dead because of it. Most were trampled, but it seems that part of the bridge safety railing gave way, and many plummeted to their death in the waters of the Tigris.

The Iraqi government officials seem to be handling this tragedy pretty well. PM Jaafari has declared a three-day mourning period (probably symbolic more than anything else, although al-Jazeera seems to get the quick dig implying that it's because he's a Shia), and the Minister of Defense is cautioning people from thinking this was a terrorist attack or even sectarian violence.

And still al-Jazeera takes the opportunity to dig at America, mentioning twice that this "was the single biggest confirmed loss of life in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion." True? Sadly, I suppose so. Does it have anything to do with the immediate story? Certainly not.

Other sources for the story: CNN Link Fox Link BBC Link

Comments

ParaTed2k

on Sep 01, 2005

Panic is a weapon that needs no blade or explosives to kill.

pseudosoldier

on Sep 01, 2005

That's a better response than I thought I'd get, and faster as well.

Thanks.

Chaos Manager

on Sep 01, 2005

Why waste the money on explosives when a few well placed words can cause even more damage than they've managed so far with the suicide bombers?

It is a tragic waste. And it doesn't surprise me in the least that al-Jazeera is playing it as the US Army's fault when the army wasn't anywhere nearby.

Moderateman

on Sep 01, 2005

this is the ultimate goal of terrorist. they have succeeded beyond there wildest perverted dreams, to cause faer and panic with the mear mention of an attack.

I do my best not to HATE, but I do hate the terror mongers for what they are doing to the rest of the world.

A handfull of creeps are slowly bringing the world down around them.

May the all rot in hell and may anyone that supports them go along for the ride.

pseudosoldier

on Sep 01, 2005

this is the ultimate goal of terrorist.

Very true. It's quite possible that there were no terrorists/insurgents/dissidents involved in this, that it sprung simply from overheard rumors and he-said/she-said. The atmosphere in Iraq is ripe for this sort of tragedy...

Locamama

on Sep 01, 2005

This is so sad. Even worse because if there wasn't such a real fear of terrorist attack this probably wouldn't have happened. Maybe its not a direct terrorist attack but I lay this at their feet anyway.

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