David F Mayer said:

>Osama Bin Laden (who almost certainly sent these maniacs) believes that
>the Shi'ites are heretics, enemies of true Islam, just as much as the Jews
>or the Americans. You can see this easily if you look up some of his quotes >about Islam.

Bin Laden or better yet Al Qaeda is almost certainly behind the attacks. Also it is certain the Bin Laden as a devout Sunni would like to kill as many Shia as possible. However this is probably not the motivation here. The motivation is probabaly to inspire hatred between Iraqi Arabs versus Kurds and Sunnis versus Shia in Iraq. By creating a civil war in Iraq, Al Qaeda diminishes the influence of the United States. If Iraq disintegrates into another Afghanistan of waring tribes then Al Qaeda will have a new safe haven that would be even better than Afghanistan was. This situation would negate America's victory against Saddam Hussein. The Iraqis need to understand that their worse enemy is now Al Qaeda.

Gary