It was another horrific act of violence in the Iraqi capital during another busy rush-hour morning. This time the scene was al-Tahrir Square, a busy intersection familiar to most Iraqis and foreign visitors as the centre of Baghdad. One of the nearby buildings was destroyed by the car-bomb blast. 'Many of those that died weren't burned by the explosion,' said Haydar Ahmad, a shopkeeper at the scene. 'They were buried alive by the collapse of the building.' Amid the debris and broken glass, angry Iraqi onlookers yelled and screamed. Some dug through the rubble in search of their lost friends and relatives. Others seemed bent on just finding someone to blame but rather than point the finger at the insurgents who were likely to have set off the massive explosion, they targeted the US-led occupation force. 'We want to get rid of the Americans as soon as possible,' one man screamed. 'We want them to leave our country.' Meanwhile US soldiers secured the area with razor wire and Bradley fighting vehicles while aiming their weapons at the crowd. 'Go away!' one soldier yelled at the incensed crowd. These days in Baghdad, soldiers rarely interact in any other way with Iraqis at such scenes. At nearby Kindi Hospital, the dead and wounded came in a flood. Adan Adouna, 45, who works in a leather goods shop, lay on a hospital bed, his left leg broken and shrapnel wounds to his face and torso. 'He was near the scene of the explosion, just walking to go work,' said Abdullah Ohmani, his close friend.' He held his friend's hand, refusing to allocate blame. 'These are tragedies that are happening in our country,' he said. 'I can't blame anybody. Things happen.' There have been at least 15 car bombings in Iraq since June 1 when United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi announced the new interim government, which is set to take formal control of the country on June 30.
