Grieving Breaks Moment of Silence in Iraq

Many Iraqis fell silent at noon Wednesday.

But the mothers could not.

Motorists stopped their cars. Merchants left their shops. Police and citizens, children and adults saluted the flag and bowed their heads for three minutes to honor the victims of suicide bombings last week, in the country’s first such memorial.

In one Baghdad neighborhood, wails and sobs broke the quiet. The outbursts of grief came from black-veiled women crouched around a circle of silk flowers and framed photos -- a makeshift shrine marking the site of a car bomb that killed 27 Iraqis, most of them teenagers and children.

“Ali, come back home. He is still here. Come back home,” one woman cried. Another mother scooped dirt from the ground and poured it over her face and head.

The Iraqi government called for the nationwide moment of silence to remember the Iraqis and one American soldier killed July 13 in Baghdad and the nearly 100 people killed Saturday in a massive bombing in Musayyib, 40 miles to the south.

Participation around the country was spotty. Some people ignored the call, saying it was a futile gesture that would never stop Iraq’s violence. Just three hours before the memorial, another bomber blew himself up outside an army recruiting center in central Baghdad, killing at least 10 other people, police said.