36 killed in bomb attacks at 3 Baghdad hotels

The bombings, which killed 36 people and wounded 71, seemed to be the latest chapter of a campaign that began in August and that has hewn to a relentlessly political logic. With similar attacks in August, October, and December, insurgents have sought to wreck pillars of Baghdad’s government and civic life, proving that the government and its security forces are unable to preserve the state’s fledgling authority.

The targets yesterday were hotels that served foreign journalists and expatriate businessmen, and they were soon to house observers of the March 7 parliamentary elections, suggesting that the attack was aimed as much at shaping opinions abroad of the government’s durability as it was aimed at wreaking destruction.

“The attackers wanted to send a message to the world,’’ said Hazim al-Nuaimi, a political analyst here. “The message is that Iraq can’t provide security for foreigners.’’

The bombs cut through snarled traffic at rush hour and sheared off a facade of one hotel. In streets strewn with broken glass, where the scent of shorn eucalyptus trees mixed with the stench of charred flesh, some survivors rued a sense of the inevitable. In the past attacks - wrecking ministries, government offices, a courthouse, colleges, and a bank - the blasts had thundered across the capital, only to be followed by weeks of relative calm. With the passage of each peaceful day, they said, time for a recurrence seemed to be growing short.

“We had been expecting more,’’ said Abbas Salman, gazing at a street where rescue workers carried severed legs and arms through crowds of stunned onlookers.

The three bombs exploded within about 10 minutes of each other during afternoon rush hour. The first struck the Ishtar Sheraton at 3:28 p.m.; followed three minutes later by one at the Babylon Hotel; and then, at 3:37 p.m., by one at the Hamra Hotel. The Hamra and Sheraton are home to much of the capital’s foreign press corps. The Washington Post reported that three of its staff members were wounded by flying glass, though the injuries were not life threatening.

The blasts shook the city and shattered windows miles away. In neighborhoods near the hotels, which are within about a mile of each other, residents spilled into the streets wailing, as plumes of dust, smoke and debris wafted across the skyline. Staccato bursts of gunfire echoed through the streets, as security forces tried to cordon off the bombing scenes, some of them draped in the banners and flags of a major Shi’ite Muslim commemoration this week.

“By God, move!’’ one officer shouted. “Are you staring at people’s disasters?’’

Residents often answered with their own anger, in a striking sign of the lack of respect the security forces, particularly the police, are often shown in the capital.

“We have the right to complain!’’ one survivor shouted at a police officer.

Since last summer, the army and Interior Ministry forces have assumed sole responsibility for security after the withdrawal of US combat troops from the cities last summer.

At checkpoints punctuating nearly every street, intersection, and bridge, nearly all of the Iraqi forces deploy a bomb-detecting device that Britain has banned for export on the grounds that it is useless.

Iraqi officials have said they would begin an investigation into why the government paid at least $85 million to a British company, ATSC Ltd., for at least 800 of the bomb detectors, called ADE 651s.

But the Interior Ministry has yet to withdraw the device from duty, and some officials have continued to defend its effectiveness.

The highest toll, 16 dead and 33 wounded, was reported at the Hamra Hotel, situated in a densely populated but fortified neighborhood.