While our governments, America's included, continue to hide their heads in the sand [even ostriches aren't stupid enough to really do that!] there are wake up calls to be found wherever we look.  In Norway, shoot-outs and rapes plague the populace.  When 98 cars a day burn in France, and marches in London proclaim Hezbollah as "our army", you would think alarm bells would be going off all over the place!  In Iraq, Omar at ITM is the only voice proclaiming a stop to the insanity. 

"Iraq is a country in a state of war with terrorists and extremists and those enemies must not be offered a chance to cause more death, inflict more damage on the society and provoke unfavorable reactions and that's why I believe it's the government's duty to protect lives and avoid offering the terrorists and extremists a free chance to use occasions like today's to further destabilize Baghdad.

What I'm trying to say is that Iraq is at war and the government has the constitutional cover through the "National Safety Law" to prohibit all sorts of mass gatherings that often end up with tragic loss in civilian lives until the governmnet is sure about its ability to protect such gatherings. Iraq is in an emergency situation therefore the government must not shy from making whatever decisions to protect the people and keep the society form frictions that might result in catastrophic outcomes."

I disagree with Omar that his government should stop congregations such as this Shi'ia celebration because they are an expression of his country's freedom, I agree that someone in the media should acknowledge the root of the problem.  The Islamofacists have declared war on ALL of the civilized world.  Right?

Oh, I'm sorry.  You knew that?  Then can you please tell me why the drive-by media does not seem to have received the message?  The problem with Omar's solution is that if Iraqis stay home, rather than attend their religious ceremonies, elections, or other activities, their response declares that the other side wins.  We cannot afford that option.  God bless Iraqis for their bravery!

Meanwhile, the entire weekend was given over to the drive-by media's circus of Jonbenet Ramsey's "confessed killer" who was flown back into the US in business class....and that, somehow, was the dominant story all weekend? 

Where were the reports on the Iranian missiles hitting villages in northern Iraq?

“Iranian forces have since 9:00 a.m. (0500 GMT) hit several villages near the mountainous Kandil region and killed two civilians,” Rustom Judi, a local leader from the PKK, said late on Friday.  He said that Iranian artillery bombarded “eight villages and today was the second day of strikes in the same region” near the Iranian border."

Can someone please tell me why this blockbuster story has not been on any new source?  Oh, right!  Silly me.  I forgot they had their heads in the sand.