Last week saw the Iraqi government and National Assembly in the ignominious position of trying to convince Iraqis that they should deal with the Al-A'ema Bridge disaster as if it, along with the round of tragedies daily faced, is somehow part of everyday life.

True, the government opened an investigation into the disaster on the bridge while in a well- publicised move senior government officials donated hundreds of millions of Iraqi dinars to the families of the victims. But these appear to be largely face-saving measures.

Hashim Al-Hashimi, from the Baghdad Sadr office, told Al-Ahram Weekly there was no question of Sunnis being behind the bridge tragedy. "What happened last Wednesday should open the eyes of all Iraqis to the urgent need to unite. The strenuous efforts of the residents of Adhamiya [a Sunni district in Baghdad] to rescue Shias from the river clearly showed that Sunnis and Shias are brothers."

"When the panic started and thousands were rushing to escape," Al-Hashimi continued, "it was the American forces and their Iraqi collaborators that blocked them."

The threat of civil war has long been used as an excuse for the occupation to continue. Indeed, it has reached the point where many Iraqis believe that the US is behind every sectarian kidnapping and killing since such events reinforce the argument that the occupation forces must remain.

While Nabil Salim, professor of political science at Baghdad University, dismisses such crude conspiracy theorising, he nevertheless points out that Washington's long-term goals could be served by civil war. "There is a plan against Iraq and its aims could be achieved through civil war," he says. "Iraqis are well aware of this and daily make sacrifices to prevent that war from becoming a reality."

Political analyst Nouri Al-Tamimi points out that at least 10 residents of Al-Adhamiya lost their lives attempting to rescue Shias from the river. Such sacrifice, he argues, exposes the myth of civil war. "This conflict between Sunnis and Shias," he says, "is an American idea."

Fadhil Ali, who jumped into the river and was plucked from the water by a resident from Al-Adhamiya, described the moments leading up to the tragedy.

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http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/759/re5.htm