Could a smile with the Iraqi flag be added to gupshup as a sign of support for our brave Iraqi brothers?
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Less than an hour after a suicide bomber detonated an explosives vest outside an army recruiting center here Wednesday, killing at least six people, Iraqi security officials were talking about the next working day.
“We’ll be open first thing in the morning,” said Sgt. Abbad al-Zarah, a commander with the security platoon in charge of securing the site. “And there’ll be recruits.”
The morning blast outside the center was the seventh attack there this year, including a suicide bombing 10 days earlier at the same gate that killed 21 would-be recruits, the Interior Ministry said.
But the barrage of lethal attacks has not stopped recruits from returning. Two days after the July 10 attack, where a bomber snuck past guards and detonated a bomb among waiting recruits, a line formed on Damascus Street for applications. “I had to turn people away,” said Ahmed Hatem Muhsin, a guard at the gate. "People in Iraq are strong. Stupid and strong.
"The site is the only recruitment center for the Iraqi army in the capital. The center is surrounded by 8-foot-tall concrete barriers, watch towers and barbed wire. Guards carrying Kalashnikov rifles pat down would-be recruits as they come through the one entrance to apply for soldiering jobs.
Officials at the Multinational Security Transition Command, responsible for training and equipping Iraqi security forces, have fortified the center, including erecting the barriers and training guards, said Lt. Col. Fred Wellman, the command’s spokesman.
American security specialists will review the incidents to see whether more protection is needed, he said.
“It’s frustrating, and we’re doing everything we can to protect these recruits,” Wellman said. “We’ve hardened this area a lot already. Unfortunately, when a lot of people gather in groups, they’re going to be targeted.”
The guards - soldiers with the 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division - also have been trained to instruct recruits to disperse while waiting rather than line up on the street or gather in groups, Wellman said.
After Wednesday’s attack, a tower guard recalled seeing a man walking up and down Damascus Street before the bombing, al-Zarah said. His behavior was not suspicious enough to warrant immediate action.
The bomber, who wore a shirt over his explosives vest, then tried to enter the complex but was turned away by guards for not having proper identification, he said. At about 9:20 a.m., the bomber then crossed Damascus Street and walked to where a soldier was handing out applications to a group of recruits under the shade of a tree, al-Zarah said. The blast sent body parts 40 yards across the street, over the barrier walls and into the complex, he said.
Later, sandals, shredded clothes and women’s shoes littered the sidewalk, still pooled with victims’ blood. Cracked Pepsi and Fanta bottles sat in a charred plastic container, from where a vendor had sold refreshments to recruits.
Shreds of clothes, pieces of flesh and a section of the vest hung from the branches of the tree. Iraqi army officials picked through the debris, looking for identification cards of the dead and wounded.
Iraqi army officials have changed the entrance several times after previous blasts and strengthened their searches of recruits coming into the center, al-Zarah said. But to better fortify the center they need better equipment, such as metal detectors, he said.
As the center reopens today, however, more recruits are expected. “They’ll be back tomorrow, same amount of people as today,” said 1st Lt. Khalid Fihan, a platoon leader with the 5th Brigade, which is stationed near the center. “They need jobs.”
Salaries in the army begin at about $330 a month, higher than the national average. But the draw to the dangerous recruitment line is more than money, Wellman said.
“The army was a noble profession before Saddam (Hussein) politicized it, and today I think there is a growing admiration for service to the country,” he said. “Clearly, risking your life just to sign up has to mean it’s more than just a good payvcheck.”