A Bad Day On A Bridge
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
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
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