The numbers may look identical. But it was not the same bombing. Early last week, the Times' Stephen Lee Meyers, based in Iraq, reported (and I commented on) the bombing in Tikrit that took roughly 50 lives--give or take a dozen, more likely give. The number of wounded was, of course, enormous and also uncertain.
Alas, the Times news staff in Iraq is getting basic training in how cruel people can be to one another. On Thursday, John Leland, like Meyers, a brave and careful correspondent, brought us the grim news that 52 Iraqis in pilgrimage to the Shi'a holy city of Karbala were taken out in a series of three car bombings. About 150 people were wounded, just about the estimate for the wounded in Tikrit. Roughly 10 million Shi'a are expected at the shrine in the holiest days of their calendar. They are praying for the return of the "hidden Imam," the "guided one." Maybe soon. Maybe not at all.
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