Man-made stampede in Iraq kills nearly one-thousand

One of the worst tragedies of the Iraq war occurred today.  Nearly one-thousand Iraqis were killed during a stampede that was set off out of fear that there was a suicide bomber in the area.  Today was supposed to mark one of the most important Shiite holidays as more than one-million people gathered into the streets in celebration.  As the Christian Science Monitor reports, the festivity turned into a man-made stampede and will go down as one of the worst things to ever happen since the invasion (Christian Science Monitor):

At 8 a.m., mortars and Katyusha rockets slammed into two neighborhoods near the shrine, killing 15 and injuring about 30.

An hour later, victims of poison - apparently in the free food andwater available along the pilgrims' route - trickled into hospitals,according to Iraq's Health Minister. A leading Shiite politicianalleged that 100 people were killed by poison.

Then at 10 a.m., the wave of the tragedy crested and broke. As tensof thousands of Shiite pilgrims poured onto the Bridge of the Imamstoward the shrine, backing up at the end of the bridge to be checkedfor explosives, men in the crowd began shouting there was a suicidebomber, survivors say.

The crowd then surged. Strong men pushed and shoved to get to safety. Children, women, and the old were trampled.

On the bank across from Khadimiya, home of Imam Kadhim's mausoleum,pilgrims unaware of the panic kept piling up at the foot of the bridge,serving as a tragic cork in a bottle.

The pilgrims caught in the middle of stampede began to stack up onthe bridge's span. Thousands tumbled over the railings, 50 feet intothe murky waters of the Tigris River. Many of the people were unable toswim.

As the Monitor went to press, Iraqi health authorities said at least700 mostly women and children were confirmed dead in the stampede, andat least 300 wounded. They said the death toll could top 1,000. It wasthe second most deadly incident at a Muslim pilgrimage; a stampede atMecca during the Haj pilgrimage in 1990 killed 1,426 people.

This is what happens when insurgents get into the psyche of peace-loving Iraqis.  Most civilians are scared out of their minds because security on the country's infrastructure is so depleted in certain parts of the country.  The U.S. either needs to get help from the international community in bringing in more boots to restore order, continue down Bush's road of 'staying the course' without much explanation, or we need to leave.  I like the first option the most.