'The gates of Hell are open in Iraq'

On average, insurgents launch 50 attacks a day against U.S. or coalition forces and control over three dozen towns and cities.
USA TODAY

The Associated Press

Najia Hamad looks at a medical attendant treating her son, Jassim Hamad, in Ramadi, Iraq, yesterday. Jassim received shrapnel injuries during clashes between U.S. troops and armed insurgents.
Two years ago, the head of the Arab League was scolded by many for predicting that "the gates of Hell" would be unleashed if President Bush proceeded with his threat to invade Iraq.
But when Amr Moussa reprised his statement to a meeting in Cairo this week, there was no dissent. Instead, the former Egyptian foreign minister, an influential figure in the Middle East, got nods when he said "the gates of Hell are open in Iraq, where the situation is becoming more complicated and troubled."

U.S. plans had called for Iraq's new government and Prime Minister Ayad Allawi to be gaining respect and organizing for national elections now, but instead insurgents appear more powerful than ever.

By some counts, more than three dozen Iraqi cities and towns are in the hands of leaders hostile to the new government and the United States, and apparently able to dispatch gunmen and suicide bombers at will. The resistance that was spotty a year ago now launches an average of more than 50 attacks against U.S. or coalition forces a day.

The kidnappings continue. Gunmen kidnapped two Americans and a Briton today from a house in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood where many foreign companies are based, The Associated Press reported.

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