The Iraqis are blaming Baath party bitter enders hiding out in Syria for both the bombings in August that killed 122 and two powerful explosions that rocked ministry buildings today.
The targets last August were also ministry buildings - structures that had removed the blast walls protecting them. Today's attacks were on buildings that had moved the walls back from the street.
The details here from Jomana Karadesh of CNN:
At least 132 people were killed and 520 wounded in twin suicide car bombings in central Baghdad Sunday, officials said -- the deadliest attack on civilians in Iraq this year.Two car bombs detonated in quick succession near Iraqi government buildings about 10:30 a.m., an Interior Ministry official said.
One of the bombs exploded outside Baghdad's governorate building and the second one outside the Justice Ministry, about 500 meters (1,600 feet) away.
Plumes of smoke billowed from the sites of the attacks as victims fled, some with blood streaming down their faces. The streets were strewn with debris, including charred cars and chunks of concrete from damaged buildings. Some government buildings and others in the area were heavily damaged.
The bombings came a day after the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, visited the country for the first time, and on the same day Iraqi officials were due to try to break a logjam holding up a new election law. Iraqis are supposed to go to the polls in January, but parliament still has not passed the legislation, putting the balloting in limbo.
If it is indeed Saddam's former officers and government supporters, the chances are they are sending a message that they want to be included on the ballot in January, as well as take part in any power sharing talks - something for which they have been agitating for years. Prime Minister Maliki and the Shias will have none of it, of course, which opens the question of why Syria would suddenly be allowing this to happen. Assad knows full well where the Baathists are in his country and the idea he didn't have knowledge of their activities is suspect.
Now that there is a president in Washington more concerned with reaching out to him than containing him, Assad feels free to make trouble in Iraq, knowing that we won't say much of anything about it.
I'm so glad we have a smart foreign policy now, aren't you?
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