By Andrew L. Jaffee

Where does nation building stop and personal (Muslim) responsibility start? Maybe we miscalculated in Iraq. Maybe we went in too early and with too few personnel. Maybe our faith in democracy and familiarity with a heterogeneous, assimilated society blinded us to recognizing the deep sectarian divisions in Iraq. Yes, elections were held, but resulted in a parliament mirroring (emphasizing?) the country’s sectarian divide. Maybe…

The Soviet Union’s (Russian Empire’s) melt-down was relatively peaceful — except, for example, the massacre of Lithuanian protestors in Vilnius in 1991. On the other hand, Tito’s fall in Yugoslavia led to years of unprecedented horrors.

We can soul search all we want, but cannot forget that Iraq’s Muslims are in need of some serious soul-searching. How could any people — neighbors — commit such crimes against each other, all in one day?

A truck bomber carrying food supplies killed eight Iraqi schoolgirls and a baby in the northern oil city of Kirkuk on Monday as suspected Sunni militants executed 21 Shiite workers north of Baghdad. …

Another 178 people were wounded in the blast that took the facade off the police station and smashed through cement blocks …

Many of the wounded were pupils at the nearby school and local residents …

In another brutal attack, suspected Sunni militants massacred a group of 21 Shiite workers overnight after laying an ambush north of Baghdad. …

In the Shiite town of Khalis, also in Diyala, a roadside bomb killed five people and wounded 23, including 16 women …

In Baghdad, four Iraqis were killed in bombings …

In southern Iraq, a British soldier died after being shot while on patrol in Basra …

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Related: United States, Islam, Iraq, Society

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