Iraq is in chaos. The steady escalation of violence between US-led coalition forces and local militias has resulted in hundreds of casualties, most of them civilians. A spree of kidnappings is the latest outrage, and among the hostages are seven Chinese citizens. 

The detainees are reportedly in good health and not handcuffed, but it remains unclear what the kidnappers plan to do with them.

According to Sun Bigan, head of the team responsible for the re-establishment of the Chinese Embassy in Baghdad, a list of the captives has been presented to the interim Iraqi interior minister and great efforts are being undertaken to locate and rescue them.

Insurgents in Iraq have claimed to be holding a number of foreign citizens hostage in an effort to negotiate a ceasefire prior to the full withdrawal of occupation forces.

But no political pretext can justify targeting innocent civilians.

Whatever calm could be said to have existed in Iraq was shattered last weekend against an increasingly dismal backdrop of the fiercest fighting between US-led forces and militias loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, when US troops stepped up actions against the centers of Iraqi armed resistance.

As US troops enveloped the Sunni Triangle city of Fallujah in response to the murder and mutilation of four US contractors there two weeks ago, a new and more dangerous front opened in the south, braced with members of Iraq's powerful Shi'ite Muslim majority.

US President George W. Bush keeps assuring the public the militia forces represent a tiny, freedom-hating fringe. But that fringe is willing to spill blood on the streets.

The street-to-street fighting seems only to be intensifying an already desperate situation. The risk is that the fighting in Fallujah may end up only giving the mutually hostile Sunni and Shi'ite factions a common cause.

Hence, the United States is in serious danger of overplaying its hand and creating a broader Iraqi rebellion.

Even President Bush, campaigning for re-election in November with Iraq high on the agenda, acknowledged it had been a tough week in Iraq and said it was hard to tell if the violence would ebb soon.

"I know what we are doing in Iraq is right, right for long-term peace, right for the security of our country," Bush said at Fort Hood, Texas, where he prayed with US troops on Easter Sunday.

With the coalition forces' superior firepower, is asymmetrical warfare the right course of action for the Iraqi resistance? Can it bring an end to guerrilla war and the targeting of civilians and innocent noncombatants?

In fact, the escalating violence has further strained the credibility of the transition plan for Iraq, starting with the June 30 handover of sovereignty to unelected Iraqis.

"A lot of us here in Baghdad and elsewhere were appalled by the loss of life and destruction in Fallujah because there was too much force used," Governing Council member Adnan Pachachi reportedly said.

The deeper the US tries to penetrate Iraqi society, especially with tanks and troops, the more legitimacy it needs.

It is impossible to build a better Iraq unless there are Iraqi leaders willing to stand up to extremism, United Nations participation to give the effort international legitimacy and a credible exit strategy.

The United States and the coalition forces should make best efforts to end the occupation.

(China Daily April 13, 2004)