What If the Firebombing of Baghdad Were a Nightclub Fire?
By RON JACOBS 1000s Dead in Fire Following American Attack BAGHDAD, IRAQ,2003. A raging fire ignited by a barrage of military pyrotechnics ripped through the city here late at night, leaving at least 15,000 people dead and tens of thousands more injured. The inferno in the city was the deadliest military attack in Iraq in 12 years and one of the worst in the country’s history, with the death toll exceeding that of the January 16, 1991 beginning of the war with the United States, which killed hundreds of citizens and destroyed much of the City’s infrastructure. Survivors described a ghastly scene that began when the US military launched cruise missiles minutes after 11 p.m. and a shower of fire appeared to ignite buildings in the center of the city. The authorities said the fire spread almost instantly to other buildings in the area as more cruise missiles landed. Numerous witnesses said the city center was almost instantly engulfed in flames and citizens bolted for doorways and smashed
