While the US President and the American Congress play their own games on the subject of withdrawal of the US troops from Iraq, the everyday bloodbath continues unabated in the strife-torn country.
“A car bomb exploded Saturday in the Shiite holy city of Karbala as the streets were packed with people heading for evening prayers, killing at least 58 and wounding scores near some of the country’s most sacred shrines, reports the Associated Press.
“Separately, the U.S. military announced the deaths of nine American troops, including three killed Saturday in a single roadside bombing outside Baghdad.
“The deaths raised to 99 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died this month (April) and at least 3,346 who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
“Saturday’s bombing was the deadliest attack in Iraq since April 18, when 127 people were killed in a car bombing near the Sadriyah market in Baghdad — one of four bombings that killed a total of 183 people in the bloodiest day since a U.S.-Iraq security operation began in the capital more than 10 weeks ago.”
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Meanwhile a senior serving US army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Yingling, said “the US had repeated the mistakes of Vietnam and so faced defeat in Iraq”, reports the BBC.
“Such criticism from a serving officer is rare, analysts say, although several retired generals have spoken out.
“Lt Col Yingling’s remarks come a day after the top US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, described the situation in Iraq as ‘exceedingly complex and very tough’.
Writing in the US Armed Forces Journal, Lt Col Yingling says that “Iraq’s grave and deteriorating condition in 2007 offers diminishing hope for an American victory and portends risk of an even wider and more destructive regional war.”
US military spokesman Lt Col Christopher Garver in Iraq told the Associated Press news agency “that Lt Col Yingling had written expressing ‘his personal opinions’. ‘We of Multinational Force Iraq are focused on executing the mission at hand,’ he said.”
A Los Angeles Times report highlights the continued insecurity the Baghdad residents face despite claims tall claims made by the authorities about returning normalcy.
“Mohammed Azzawi, his brother and a friend faced a bedeviling choice as they neared their home in one of Baghdad’s deadliest neighborhoods: They could take a road recently closed by U.S. troops where motorists jump the curb and drive on the sidewalk, or an open route haunted by abductions and killings.
“It is the sort of dilemma Iraqis encounter every day as they navigate a city with increasing numbers of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers, but still dominated by danger and uncertainty.
“More than two months after the United States and Iraq launched a new plan to stanch the capital’s violence, life for residents has become a game of choices dictated by concrete barriers, traffic-choking checkpoints and the latest market bombing…”
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.