Face saving measures have been the only official response to the Al-A'ema Bridge disaster, reports Nermine Al-Mufti Last week saw the Iraqi government and National Assembly in the ignominious position of trying to convince Iraqis that they should deal with the Al-A'ema Bridge disaster as if it, along with the round of tragedies daily faced, is somehow part of everyday life. True, the government opened an investigation into the disaster on the bridge while in a well- publicised move senior government officials donated hundreds of millions of Iraqi dinars to the families of the victims. But these appear to be largely face-saving measures. Hashim Al-Hashimi, from the Baghdad Sadr office, told Al-Ahram Weekly there was no question of Sunnis being behind the bridge tragedy. "What happened last Wednesday should open the eyes of all Iraqis to the urgent need to unite. The strenuous efforts of the residents of Adhamiya [a Sunni district in Baghdad] to rescue Shias from the river clearly showed that Sunnis and Shias are brothers." "When the panic started and thousands were rushing to escape," Al-Hashimi continued, "it was the American forces and their Iraqi collaborators that blocked them." The threat of civil war has long been used as an excuse for the occupation to continue. Indeed, it has reached the point where many Iraqis believe that the US is behind every sectarian kidnapping and killing since such events reinforce the argument that the occupation forces must remain. While Nabil Salim, professor of political science at Baghdad University, dismisses such crude conspiracy theorising, he nevertheless points out that Washington's long-term goals could be served by civil war. "There is a plan against Iraq and its aims could be achieved through civil war," he says. "Iraqis are well aware of this and daily make sacrifices to prevent that war from becoming a reality." Political analyst Nouri Al-Tamimi points out that at least 10 residents of Al-Adhamiya lost their lives attempting to rescue Shias from the river. Such sacrifice, he argues, exposes the myth of civil war. "This conflict between Sunnis and Shias," he says, "is an American idea." Fadhil Ali, who jumped into the river and was plucked from the water by a resident from Al-Adhamiya, described the moments leading up to the tragedy. "There were thousands crossing the bridge. Suddenly we heard someone shouting, 'beware, there is a suicide bomber'. I threw myself into the river. Hundreds of others were pressed against an iron fence that broke, and they all fell into the water. The official investigation should find out why the fence broke, and examine whether or not it had been tampered with earlier." Following the disaster, Moqtada Al-Sadr appeared for the first time in a year at Kufa Mosque to give the Friday sermon. Most of Wednesday's victims were followers of the young cleric and his message was unequivocal. "Resistance will continue," he told the gathered worshippers. Sunnis and Shias also gathered at the headquarters of the Lawyers' Union in an event marking the anniversary of the American kidnapping of Abdul-Jabbar Al-Kubaisy, secretary-general of the National Front for the Liberation of Iraq. Those attending the meeting demanded action as speaker after speaker insisted that condemnation was no longer enough. And the first action, they argued, should be to reject the draft constitution. "If they fail in launching a civil war to divide Iraq, then the constitution will do the job for them," said Ibrahim Al-Kubaisy of the Iraqi Patriotic Alliance. Salih Al-Motlak, spokesman of the National Dialogue Council, told the gathering that Sunni members of the Constitution Committee had resisted enormous pressure to sign the draft constitution. Rumours abound of the offer of bribes of up to $5 million. Against such a backdrop many within the Iraqi government must have hoped the announcement that the trial of Saddam Hussein, along with many of his most senior officials, would begin in October would have provided some relief from criticism. Such hopes proved misplaced as public attention turned to Telafer, a city 600km northwest of Baghdad, which came under attack from 5,000 US troops. The majority of Telafer's 400,000 inhabitants are Turkomen. Mohamed Taher, working with a rescue team in Telafer, told the Weekly that they had so far managed to erect just 400 tents for the displaced. "We need urgent help," he said. "We have no medicines and no drinking water."
