Yesterday's suicide bombing of an Iraqi army recruiting center killed 41 and wounded over a hundred. This is only the latest of dozens of attacks on Iraqi police and army facilities. It has not diminished the number of volunteers, or, at least not to the point where the recruiters are running out of men willing to serve. While for most men, the dangerous police and military work is mainly a job, the continuing attacks on Iraqis by terrorists has inflamed the population. For a long time it was popular to blame the United States for the attacks, but eventually reality worked its way through to most Iraqis and they realized that if they were to be free and able to run their own affairs, they would have to deal with the terrorists (Iraqi and foreign) in their midst. This was helped along by a long running American psychological warfare campaign that stressed the self-reliance angle, and reminded everyone that, while Saddam was captured, most of his blood soaked henchmen are still out and about. Apparently, attacks like this increase the number of recruits wanting to take part in the war on terror.

The damaged pipeline in southern Iraq is expected to be back in use today. Rapid pipeline repair technology exists, however, thanks to situations like that in Colombia, where leftist rebels have been blowing up oil pipelines for decades, and forcing the oil companies to figure out how to make rapid repairs or go out of business.