Baghdad's deadliest bombing, yet again

(Smoke rising from Ministry of Justice building immediately after the twin car bombing- Reuters)

"It was something horrible I can't describe," said a friend of a colleague who works in the Provincial Council building, one of two buildings struck by mega-truck bombs yesterday in the middle of Baghdad.

Her head was still throbbing late into the night from the impact that toppled blast walls and reduced employees to chunks of flesh. Immediately after the bombing, security told her there was a suicide bomber inside the premises. She thought of hiding her daughter, who also worked in the building. But it was just one of hundreds of crazy rumors circulating, as once again, violence crushed all other senses in Baghdad.

Another colleague's wife worked close to the Ministry of Justice building that was bombed simultaneously by another truck bomb. She sustained wounds to her leg and body from flying glass, and went to one of the overloaded hospitals for treatment. She was lucky. With 155 reported dead and over 500 wounded, hospitals in the area were severly overloaded. A colleague who's sister is a doctor said casualties from the catastrophic bombing of last Aug. 19 were under-reported on a gov't. official's order. If true, the same underreporting could happen with yesterday's numbers. Yet, these two deadly strikes at ministries just outside the green zone have wreaked their intended political fallout- no one trusts the Iraqi gov't. to protect them.

What's amazing- This bombing was planned in almost exactly the same way as the Aug. attack, with almost the same loss of life and limb (a few blocks away 122 were killed when the Finance and Foreign Ministries were simultaneously bombed on Aug. 19).

A video played repeatedly on Sharqia TV yesterday, shows a camera from the point of view of an Iraqi Army Humvee capturing one of the buildings just as the bomb goes off. According to the Timothy Williams's NYT story, blast walls were removed weeks before this bombing, the same mistake the Maliki gov't. made before the Aug. bombing.

Two large, bomb-laden vehicles must have navigated almost the same checkpoints as in Aug. Ironically, Obama's U.N. Secretary, Susan Rice, had toured the bombed out Foreign Ministry the day before. But it's obvious the insurgents' goal was to strike at the Maliki government, and proved outside the Green Zone, they can still pretty much hit with impunity.

Watch out for more accusations against ex-Baathists shielded in Syria, and for the Maliki gov't. to rush out some suspect in front of cameras. There's a national election to worry about scheduled for January. Unfortunately, that is what all this blood is about. As Prime Minister Maliki seeks another term, he keeps rushing to present Iraq as having turned the corner on extreme violence.

Removing blast walls and refusing help from American troops seems to have backfired again.