Some 200 Shia were murdered in the last two days in Iraq, most of them on their way to Karbala to commemorate the death of the Imam Hussein 1300 years ago. One hundred and thirteen of these victims of relentless Sunni atrocities were lured to a faked aid station for pilgrims in Hilla where they were slaughtered, according to Alissa J. Rubin in Wednesday's Times. Another 30 of the victims were sitting at café drinking tea and playing table games. The café as a choice spot for mass killing entered history during the Algerian civil war, where Arab nationalists blew up pieds noirs and the French retaliated in turn. In spades. Remember the Battle of Algiers (trailer here). I've already noted the magnificent and magnificently written book, A Savage War of Peace, by Alistair Horne. OK, you want to withdraw from this civil war. Do you think the savagery will stop? Whatever errors and deceptions of which the Bush administration is culpable, you have to admit that its goal now is to stop the fratricide, an honorable goal. Except that it's not fratricide. The Sunni and Shia are no more brothers than the Tamils and Sinhalese. So, why don't you make yourself clear? That you wished Saddam Hussein still in power.