Gunmen slay 11 relatives of Iraqi journalist

Unidentified gunmen slaughtered 11 family members of an Iraqi journalist in Eastern Baghdad:

Baghdad, Nov 26, 2007 (VOI) –Unidentified gunmen killed eleven members of a family of an Iraqi journalist residing in Jordan, including his wife and children, in a raid on his house in the area of al-Shaab, eastern Baghdad, an Iraqi press watchdog said on Monday.

About seven gunmen raided the house of Diaa al-Kawwaz, the editor-in-chief of the Shabakat Akhbar al-Iraq (Iraq News Network), during the early hours of Sunday, shot down eleven members of his family, including his wife and children, and escaped to an unknown place," Ibrahim al-Siraji, the head of the Iraqi Association to Protect Journalists, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

Shabakat Akhbar al-Iraq is a web site posting news reports about Iraq from the Jordanian capital Amman.

Iraqslogger is reporting this item as well, but it's behind the pay wall.

Comments

[mudkitty]

If that doesn't send a message...then...then what? Then same old same old. Might makes right.

[Squidink]

Another">http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009269221">Another article claims it was five gunmen in a four-wheel drive vehicle -- they killed two married couples and seven children. Then blew up the house for good measure.

[Squidink]

Cui bono? It's hard to find info on this. The only Iraq News Network I can find is staunchly anti-occupation.

[Cass]

"Cui bono?"

Could be a group affiliated for the moment with Americans, could be a group opposed for the moment to Americans, could have nothing to do with either. We're at a point, as in the Lebanese Civil War, where there's no reasonable answer to such a question, and it hardly even matters.

[mudkitty]

Could they get away with it? That's the question.

[Cass]

Considering that there's hardly any government in Iraq, and what government there is could be one of the prime suspects, I'd say, "very likely".

[mudkitty]

So at this point, the only question is, why only 11 members of the family?

[Cass]

For answers to questions beyond this, you might just want to refer to Freud on the "Thanatos Drive".

[Squidink]

"Could be a group affiliated for the moment with Americans, could be a group opposed for the moment to Americans, could have nothing to do with either."

Exactly. I'm still trying to find out which "Iraq Network News" this news director was affiliated with, since it might shed light on who would bother slaughtering 7 children related to the guy. It probably matters to somebody. I'm just curious. I don't really care -- they're brown people, after all, right? Right? Oh crap... nobody's agreeing.

[cfrost]

We're at a point, as in the Lebanese Civil War, where there's no reasonable answer to such a question

And like the Israelis in Lebanon, we’ll eventually leave after we’ve finally figured out that all the kings horses and all the kings men surging forever will not make the sun rise in the west over Baghdad. Eventually, like Syria in Lebanon, Iran will move in to apply the necessary brutality that will lance the boil, but not actually cure the infection. And like the Israelis in Lebanon, in coming decades we’ll periodically bomb Iraq for reasons that seem kind of clear at the time, but quickly blend into the hazy memory of whatever it was that brought us to Iraq in the first place to accomplish whatever it was we thought we were doing there. Meanwhile Iraq will remain a cozy place for fanatics and men with guns and no conscience.

Iraq will still be a mess long after Cheney’s pacemaker can no longer pace the nasty piece of gristle that’s his excuse for a heart and long after Dubya has chainsawed the last remaining twig of “brush” on his Crawford spread.