I’m not saying that they should be hidin… er, on vacation. But while it falls short of honorable, the motivation is certainly rational.
[quote=“NYT”] The governor of a southern Iraqi province was assassinated today by a roadside bomb, officials said, in the latest attack to open up the prospect of escalating violence among Shiites.
The killing of the official, Muhammad Ali Al-Hassani, was the second time this month that a provincial governor was assassinated. On Aug. 11, the governor of Qadisiya Province was killed in a roadside bomb attack in a southern region that has been a battleground between Shiite factions.
In today’s attack, Mr. Hassani was leaving his house in the Rumaitha area of Samawa in Muthana Province for his office when he and a number of his security personnel were killed by the bomb, an Iraqi army commander said.
”The governor was in continuous battles with the militias in the area,” said Gen. Habeeb Al-Husseini, the commander of 10th division of the Iraqi army in Samawa. “I believe this attack came as retaliation on his attempts to eliminate their influence”.[/quote]
Not that ‘rational’ is any excuse. Nor is it being accepted as such on the ground… at least, not in the sectors controlled by al Sadr, where they can actually round up a street crowd without having them blown away.
But blaming the government, and blaming the Americans, and bombing away in frustration isn’t exactly helping.