[link|http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/03/18/international0724EST0518.DTL|Car bombs vs law and order]

Excerpt:

A car bomb exploded as a British military patrol passed by in the southern city of Basra Thursday, killing five Iraqi civilians, police said. One man was arrested.

Several people were injured in the explosion in central Basra. Ambulances rushed to the area to evacuate the wounded. Iraqi police and British forces tried to push the crowd back.

Four men and a boy died, police Capt. Ihsan Hadi said.

The owner of the car that exploded had been seen parking the vehicle and walking away moments before the blast, according to witnesses. Residents detained him and handed him over to police.

I say:
Lots of car bombs in Iraq lately. This is something the Jews in Israel are all too familiar with.

Will the people cave in to terrorism, or will they fight in any way they can? Under Saddam, many of them caved in as a way of life. Have they learned their lesson? The Shiites and the Kurds fought, though. And Basra is Shia country.

Note well: the crowds grabbed the perp and turned him over to the authorities. A random sampling of locals have chosen sides,
and they did not choose the side of those who were killing them.
If only the Spaniards had as much common sense.

[link|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/#carbomb|On Angelfire]