Petty Crime-A Victory? Blog #10

Chelsea Smothers

Blog #10

4/1/2010

7:12 PM

When the prime minister of Turkey arrived in Baghdad to promote business ties between his country and Iraq, roadside bombings, jewelry heists, and the slaughtering of six women and a man in Mosul that may have been related to prostitution, caused a sort of chaos to begin. More than a dozen people were killed in this frenzy. The attacks are reflecting the changing of violence in Iraq today. There is a noticeable increase in assassinations and robberies and a decrease in large-scale, coordinated explosions that take aim towards innocent civilians. Three bombs went off outside a market in Baghdad and the gunmen stormed two jewelry shops. Four people were killed and nine were wounded by the gunmen that stormed the two jewelry shops, said a Ministry of Interior official. The gunmen got away with cash and jewelry, which security officials believe were wanted to raise money for insurgent groups, due to past crimes that were similar to this one. Even though the nature of violence changes, the threat of larger attacks by insurgent groups affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq, still remains. On the outskirts of Hilla, one person was killed by a bomb attached to a car, and two improvised explosives devices hit a joint Iraq Army and police patrol, in which it killed two and wounded three. Six women and one man were killed, in Mosul, after a gunmen stormed into their home. The overall violence in Iraq has dropped intensely.
I am not so sure that I would agree with the fact that the petty crime is a victory. I realize that the overall violence has decreased for innocent civilians, but nevertheless, there is still crime happening, so i can not see that as a victory. It is a positive aspect, though, that the large-scale, coordinated explosions aimed toward innocent civilians has decreased. But, it is surely not a win-win situation, due to the fact that it only decreased because assassinations and robberies have now increased. I will call it a victory when all crimes have decreased, and wishfully thinking, cease to happen at all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/world/middleeast/29iraq.html?_r=1