LAT: "A car bomb and a smaller explosive device detonated Tuesday morning close to a parking area for municipal employees in a town outside Baghdad, leaving 36 people dead and 54 wounded, according to police and hospital sources."
Insurgents are still targeting government employees, after all these years. It's not as bad as it used to be. Meanwhile, the US government is saying they are willing to keep 10,000 troops in Iraq past the end of the year, as long as Iraq makes the request.
Showing posts with label Car bombs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Car bombs. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Car bomb kills 13 in northern Iraq
"At least 13 people have been killed in a car bomb attack in northern Iraq, local security officials say.
They say that more than 30 people were injured in the blast outside a car sales centre in the town of Muqdadiyah, north-east of Baghdad."
They say that more than 30 people were injured in the blast outside a car sales centre in the town of Muqdadiyah, north-east of Baghdad."
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Car bomb kills 8 near Dujail
Blast kills Shia pilgrims in Iraq
"At least eight people have been killed and 20 injured in a car bomb attack north of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.
Officials said women and children were among those killed when the car, which was parked on the side of the road, blew up on Thursday afternoon.
Raysan Abood, an eyewitness, said the car was disguised by flags commonly flown at such commemorations and was playing mourning music, allowing it to penetrate the crowd of pilgrims."
Update: "A car bomb exploded near a procession of Shiite Muslim pilgrims south of the holy city of Samarra on Thursday, killing nine people, including one child, and wounding 39 people, 5 of them children, a police official said."
"At least eight people have been killed and 20 injured in a car bomb attack north of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.
Officials said women and children were among those killed when the car, which was parked on the side of the road, blew up on Thursday afternoon.
Raysan Abood, an eyewitness, said the car was disguised by flags commonly flown at such commemorations and was playing mourning music, allowing it to penetrate the crowd of pilgrims."
Update: "A car bomb exploded near a procession of Shiite Muslim pilgrims south of the holy city of Samarra on Thursday, killing nine people, including one child, and wounding 39 people, 5 of them children, a police official said."
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Three car bombs in Kirkuk
LA Times: "Reporting from Kirkuk, Iraq, and Baghdad — Three car bombs exploded Wednesday in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing seven people and wounding 67, Iraqi police said .
The explosions were a combination of timed bombs and a suicide attack that occurred mid-morning, nearly simultaneously. The first car bomb blew up as a police patrol passed. The second bombing was a suicide attack outside the front checkpoint for the headquarters for Kurdish intelligence. And the third blast took place not far from the compound's back side."
The explosions were a combination of timed bombs and a suicide attack that occurred mid-morning, nearly simultaneously. The first car bomb blew up as a police patrol passed. The second bombing was a suicide attack outside the front checkpoint for the headquarters for Kurdish intelligence. And the third blast took place not far from the compound's back side."
Thursday, January 20, 2011
They are cowards
They always have been. And they think they're going to heaven.
'No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Iraqi officials said the blasts were likely the work of al-Qaida. "The attacks were expected, because this is the biggest annual commemoration, with the highest number of pilgrims," Hussein Sadhan, a member of Karbala's provincial council, told The New York Times. "We are expecting more attacks by al-Qaida because the pilgrims are open and easy to target and while al-Qaida is invisible."
...And in Baquba, three more people, including a female journalist, were killed in a car bomb today. "I heard a massive blast and suddenly, there was a rain of shrapnel falling from the sky," Murtada Aiseh, a government employee, told Agence France-Presse. "I woke up in the hospital and found my wife near my bed; she suffered injuries to her right hand." '
'No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Iraqi officials said the blasts were likely the work of al-Qaida. "The attacks were expected, because this is the biggest annual commemoration, with the highest number of pilgrims," Hussein Sadhan, a member of Karbala's provincial council, told The New York Times. "We are expecting more attacks by al-Qaida because the pilgrims are open and easy to target and while al-Qaida is invisible."
...And in Baquba, three more people, including a female journalist, were killed in a car bomb today. "I heard a massive blast and suddenly, there was a rain of shrapnel falling from the sky," Murtada Aiseh, a government employee, told Agence France-Presse. "I woke up in the hospital and found my wife near my bed; she suffered injuries to her right hand." '
Dozens of Shia pilgrims killed
"Suicide bombers launched a series of deadly assaults on Thursday against pilgrims marching toward a shrine sacred to Shiite Muslims, the police said, and dozens were killed in a third straight day of attacks against an array of targets.
The pilgrimage, which was banned under Saddam Hussein, is expected to draw as many as 10 million people to the city of Karbala over 10 days. It has been an annual flash point for sectarian violence. Until this week, the holiday had been free of major bloodshed, and Iraqi security forces had claimed progress in their ability to protect the populace from violent extremist groups.
That progress evaporated on Thursday, as three car bombs along the roads leading to Karbala, some 60 miles south of Baghdad, killed at least 52 people and wounded 150, according to an official with the Iraqi police."
The pilgrimage, which was banned under Saddam Hussein, is expected to draw as many as 10 million people to the city of Karbala over 10 days. It has been an annual flash point for sectarian violence. Until this week, the holiday had been free of major bloodshed, and Iraqi security forces had claimed progress in their ability to protect the populace from violent extremist groups.
That progress evaporated on Thursday, as three car bombs along the roads leading to Karbala, some 60 miles south of Baghdad, killed at least 52 people and wounded 150, according to an official with the Iraqi police."
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
IEDs killed 21,000 Iraqi civilians in last 5 years
"Insurgents in Iraq killed more than 21,000 civilians and wounded another 68,000 people with homemade bombs over the past five years, according to newly released data from the Pentagon.
The highest number of casualties came in 2007, coinciding with the worst sectarian violence and the surge in U.S. military forces to quell it. In that year, 7,295 people died — nearly 20 a day — from improvised explosive devices, says the Pentagon. Another 21,970 Iraqis were wounded.
The devices include roadside bombs, car bombs and suicide bombers."
The highest number of casualties came in 2007, coinciding with the worst sectarian violence and the surge in U.S. military forces to quell it. In that year, 7,295 people died — nearly 20 a day — from improvised explosive devices, says the Pentagon. Another 21,970 Iraqis were wounded.
The devices include roadside bombs, car bombs and suicide bombers."
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Bombings in Najaf
BBC reports:
AFP reports
The violence in Najaf (Néjéf) occurs just days after a Saudi cleric insulted Sistani, the top Shia cleric who rarely leaves his home in Najaf. After Hizballah defended Sistani, the "Angry Arab" condemned Sistani as an agent of the American occupation.
Read Tarek Amr's post "The Clerics War".
I doubt the Angry Arab will be angered by the violence in Najaf. He is angered only when Americans do the bombing. He is angered only by "occupation". And he pretends to care for all Iraqis.
'Three bombs have exploded in the Iraqi city of Najaf, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens of others, reports say.
Initial reports suggested that the bombs were detonated near a market in the city centre, filled with shoppers in the early evening.'
AFP reports
"A car bomb exploded near a mosque and two other bombs blew up in a retail market in the city, 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of Baghdad, according to a security official."
The violence in Najaf (Néjéf) occurs just days after a Saudi cleric insulted Sistani, the top Shia cleric who rarely leaves his home in Najaf. After Hizballah defended Sistani, the "Angry Arab" condemned Sistani as an agent of the American occupation.
Read Tarek Amr's post "The Clerics War".
I doubt the Angry Arab will be angered by the violence in Najaf. He is angered only when Americans do the bombing. He is angered only by "occupation". And he pretends to care for all Iraqis.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
White House condemns Baghdad bombings
'The White House on Tuesday condemned the coordinated bombing attacks in Baghdad that killed more than 100 people.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Iraqi leaders who recently passed an elections law are moving the country in the right direction, and that ''there are clearly those who are threatened by that.''
The coordinated attacks struck Baghdad Tuesday, including two suicide car bombers and another vehicle that blew up near government sites. At least 118 were killed and hundreds wounded in the worst wave of violence in the capital in more than a month, authorities said.'
Iraqis eagerly await condemnation from our Arab brothers.
Meanwhile, the Angry Arab is angry about the alcohol ban and occupation, but I haven't heard him call Sistani a puppet in a few days, and I don't hear Arabs encouraging "resistance" in Iraq these days. That is considered progress in the Arab world.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Iraqi leaders who recently passed an elections law are moving the country in the right direction, and that ''there are clearly those who are threatened by that.''
The coordinated attacks struck Baghdad Tuesday, including two suicide car bombers and another vehicle that blew up near government sites. At least 118 were killed and hundreds wounded in the worst wave of violence in the capital in more than a month, authorities said.'
Iraqis eagerly await condemnation from our Arab brothers.
Meanwhile, the Angry Arab is angry about the alcohol ban and occupation, but I haven't heard him call Sistani a puppet in a few days, and I don't hear Arabs encouraging "resistance" in Iraq these days. That is considered progress in the Arab world.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Iraqi lives worth less
As the the death toll in Iran reaches into the dozens and outrages American leaders, the "resistance" in Iraq and other jarab continue to mass murder Iraqis in the numbers we have become accustomed to seeing there, without the outrage expressed by the President. It's as if Iraqi lives are worth less than Iranian lives. It reminds me of the comment by Madeline Albright, about the sanctions being worth the price. Iraqis have always been expendable, especially to the 3arab jarab.
'Dozens dead' in Baghdad bombing
At least 60 people have been killed by a bomb blast in the eastern Sadr City area of Baghdad, say officials.
Iraqi police said the bomb went off in a market place in the predominantly Shia area of the Iraqi capital.
More than 130 people were also reported to have been injured in the blast, one of the worst in Iraq this year.
It comes less than a week before US soldiers pull out of all Iraqi cities in advance of a complete withdrawal by the end of 2011.
continued
'Dozens dead' in Baghdad bombing
At least 60 people have been killed by a bomb blast in the eastern Sadr City area of Baghdad, say officials.
Iraqi police said the bomb went off in a market place in the predominantly Shia area of the Iraqi capital.
More than 130 people were also reported to have been injured in the blast, one of the worst in Iraq this year.
It comes less than a week before US soldiers pull out of all Iraqi cities in advance of a complete withdrawal by the end of 2011.
continued
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Iraqi Islamic Party denounces market bombing
Death toll from twin Iraq car bombs rises to 51
'BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The death toll from twin car bomb blasts in a crowded Baghdad market rose to 51 Thursday, police said, and the country's main Sunni political party condemned the attack on a heavily Shi'ite Muslim area.
The car bombs Wednesday, which also wounded 76 people in the capital's sprawling Sadr City slum, followed a series of other attacks in the past two weeks that have stirred fears of a return to broader sectarian bloodshed in Iraq.
A third car bomb was found in a parked taxi cab and detonated by security forces.
The Iraqi Islamic Party, the main political party in parliament representing the country's once dominant Sunni minority, denounced the attack as a blatant attempt to trigger renewed fighting between Sunnis and Shi'ites.
"The bloody hands want Iraqis to feel fear," the party said in a statement.
"These explosions in Sadr City are part of a big conspiracy by Iraq's enemies. We call on all political groups and the Iraqi government, and especially the security forces, to quell this sedition." '
'BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The death toll from twin car bomb blasts in a crowded Baghdad market rose to 51 Thursday, police said, and the country's main Sunni political party condemned the attack on a heavily Shi'ite Muslim area.
The car bombs Wednesday, which also wounded 76 people in the capital's sprawling Sadr City slum, followed a series of other attacks in the past two weeks that have stirred fears of a return to broader sectarian bloodshed in Iraq.
A third car bomb was found in a parked taxi cab and detonated by security forces.
The Iraqi Islamic Party, the main political party in parliament representing the country's once dominant Sunni minority, denounced the attack as a blatant attempt to trigger renewed fighting between Sunnis and Shi'ites.
"The bloody hands want Iraqis to feel fear," the party said in a statement.
"These explosions in Sadr City are part of a big conspiracy by Iraq's enemies. We call on all political groups and the Iraqi government, and especially the security forces, to quell this sedition." '
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Bombing Markets in Shia Neighborhoods
I wonder if we'll see this story on Dahr Jamail or Uruknet. Do people ask why they murder women and children? Do people wonder why markets in Sunni Arab neighborhoods are not bombed like this? Would that be too 'sectarian'??
Iraq car bomb kills 25, politicians deadlocked
'BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb in a busy Baghdad market killed 25 people and wounded 60 on Tuesday, while parliament adjourned without any action on constitutional reforms aimed at stopping sectarian violence.
The bombing at a popular outdoor market in southwestern Amil was Baghdad's worst car bombing since 35 people died on May 6 in nearby Bayaa, another Shi'ite district repeatedly targeted in attacks blamed on Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.'
Massive Car Bomb Destroys Baghdad Market
Iraq car bomb kills 25, politicians deadlocked
'BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb in a busy Baghdad market killed 25 people and wounded 60 on Tuesday, while parliament adjourned without any action on constitutional reforms aimed at stopping sectarian violence.
The bombing at a popular outdoor market in southwestern Amil was Baghdad's worst car bombing since 35 people died on May 6 in nearby Bayaa, another Shi'ite district repeatedly targeted in attacks blamed on Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.'
Massive Car Bomb Destroys Baghdad Market
AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images
Baghdad, IRAQ: An Iraqi holds the body of a child killed in a massive car bomb which tore through a market in the flashpoint Baghdad district of Amil, 22 May 2007. Initial reports put the number of dead at 24 and 39 wounded, the vast majority of which were women and children.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Hundreds Die in Baghdad
Does anybody deny that Iraqis are mass murdered in order to show the world that the new Iraqi government cannot provide security for its people and to prove that life was indeed better for Iraqis before 2003? It is obvious to me that insurgents are defeating the Iraqi government and US forces by mass murdering Iraqis - this has been their strategy all along, and it has been quite effective. Many Shia now think that US forces should leave. It makes me sick that Arabs (extremists, criminals, NOT ordinary Arabs) mass murder Iraqi Shia in order to turn the Shia against the Americans and the Iraqi government.
A Day of Bombs and Blood (Thanks Semite)
By PATRICK COCKBURN
Yesterday will go down as a day of infamy for Iraqis who are repeatedly told by the US that their security is improving. Almost 200 people were killed on one of the bloodiest days of the four-year-old war, when car bombs ripped through four neighbourhoods across Baghdad, exposing the failure of the two-month-old US security plan.
In the aftermath of the blasts, American and Iraqi soldiers who rushed to the scene of the explosions were pelted with stones by angry crowds shouting: "Where is the security plan? We are not protected by this plan."
Billowing clouds of oily black smoke rose into the sky over the Iraqi capital after four bombs tore through crowded markets and streets leaving the ground covered in charred bodies and severed limbs. "I saw dozens of dead bodies," said a witness in Sadriyah, a mixed Shia-Kurdish neighbourhood in west Baghdad where 140 people died and 150 were injured. " Some people were burned alive inside minibuses. Nobody could reach them after the explosion. There were pieces of flesh all over the place. Women were screaming and shouting for their loved ones who died."
The escalation in devastating bomb attacks by Sunni insurgents against Shia civilians is discrediting the US security plan, implemented by a "surge" in American troop numbers. Launched on 14 February it was intended to give the Iraqi government greater control over the streets of Baghdad. The Mehdi Army Shia militia, blamed for operating death squads against Sunni civilians, had adopted a lower profile and avoided military confrontation with the US but that is unlikely to continue in the wake of these devastating bomb attacks. The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is seen as being unable to defend his own people.
In the aftermath of the explosions, one man waved his arms and shouted angrily: "Where's Maliki? Let him come and see what is happening here." The enraged crowds throwing stones at American and Iraqi troops who arrived after the blasts also shouted: "Down with Maliki."
The worst attack was on Sadriyah meat and vegetable market in the centre of Baghdad. It had already been the target of one of Baghdad's worst atrocities when a suicide bomber blew up a Mercedes truck on 3 February, killing 137 people.
Some of the casualties yesterday were construction workers rebuilding the marketplace. One of the workers who survived, 28-year-old Salih Mustafa, said he was waiting for a minibus to go home when the bomb went off at 4.05pm. "I rushed with others to give a hand and help the victims," he said. "I saw three bodies in a wooden cart, and civilian cars were helping to transfer the victims. It was really a horrible scene."
There is no doubt that the bombs were directed at killing as many Shia civilians as possible. About half an hour before the Sadriyah blast, a suicide bomber had rammed a police checkpoint at the entrance to the great Shia bastion in Sadr City in east Baghdad. It is also the stronghold of the Shia nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The explosion killed 35 people and wounded 75, police say. Black smoke rose from blazing vehicles as people scrambled over the twisted wreckage of cars to try to rescue the wounded.
In another Shia neighbourhood, Karada, a parked car exploded, killing 10 people and wounding 15.
"The problem is that the Shia stopped killing so many Sunni but the Sunni are killing more Shia than ever," said an Iraqi official before the attacks yesterday. He added: "If this goes on, the Shia will exact revenge. Sectarian massacres will dwarf anything we have seen before."
The bombings came hours after Mr Maliki said that Iraqi security forces would take full control of the whole country by the end of the year. But last night, amid a torrent of public criticism, the Prime Minister ordered the arrest of the Iraqi army colonel in charge of security around the Sadriyah market.
And in another move that could weaken his position further, six ministers supporting Mr Sadr have just withdrawn from the government because of Mr Maliki's failure to demand that the US set a timetable for the withdrawal of its troops.
The 17-million strong Shia community, the majority of the Iraqi population, is increasingly hostile to the US presence while the five million Sunni generally support anti- American armed resistance. Only the Kurds fully back the US.
Responsibility for security in Maysan province was handed over by Britain to Iraq yesterday. "Then it will be province by province until we achieve [this transfer] before the end of the year," said Mr Maliki in a speech delivered on his behalf by the National Security Adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie.
But the transfer of political or security control by the US and Britain to Iraqi authorities has always been deceptive. Iraqis believe, with some reason, that real control remains in the hands of the occupying forces. Earlier in the year, British forces blew up a police headquarters in Basra and US helicopter-borne troops tried to kidnap two senior Iranian officials visiting Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi President.
The success of the US security plan in Baghdad depended less on an additional five American brigades than in fostering a belief by Iraqis that it was providing them with security.
The Sunni insurgents and Shia militias grew in strength in the Iraqi capital in 2006 because their communities were terrified of bombers, death squads and kidnappers. The US army and Iraqi army and police could only win acceptance if they provided a superior level of security, which they are notably failing to do.
"We've always said securing Baghdad would not be easy. We've seen both inspiring progress and too much evidence that we still face many grave challenges," Major-General William Caldwell, a US military spokesman, said.
A Day of Bombs and Blood (Thanks Semite)
By PATRICK COCKBURN
Yesterday will go down as a day of infamy for Iraqis who are repeatedly told by the US that their security is improving. Almost 200 people were killed on one of the bloodiest days of the four-year-old war, when car bombs ripped through four neighbourhoods across Baghdad, exposing the failure of the two-month-old US security plan.
In the aftermath of the blasts, American and Iraqi soldiers who rushed to the scene of the explosions were pelted with stones by angry crowds shouting: "Where is the security plan? We are not protected by this plan."
Billowing clouds of oily black smoke rose into the sky over the Iraqi capital after four bombs tore through crowded markets and streets leaving the ground covered in charred bodies and severed limbs. "I saw dozens of dead bodies," said a witness in Sadriyah, a mixed Shia-Kurdish neighbourhood in west Baghdad where 140 people died and 150 were injured. " Some people were burned alive inside minibuses. Nobody could reach them after the explosion. There were pieces of flesh all over the place. Women were screaming and shouting for their loved ones who died."
The escalation in devastating bomb attacks by Sunni insurgents against Shia civilians is discrediting the US security plan, implemented by a "surge" in American troop numbers. Launched on 14 February it was intended to give the Iraqi government greater control over the streets of Baghdad. The Mehdi Army Shia militia, blamed for operating death squads against Sunni civilians, had adopted a lower profile and avoided military confrontation with the US but that is unlikely to continue in the wake of these devastating bomb attacks. The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is seen as being unable to defend his own people.
In the aftermath of the explosions, one man waved his arms and shouted angrily: "Where's Maliki? Let him come and see what is happening here." The enraged crowds throwing stones at American and Iraqi troops who arrived after the blasts also shouted: "Down with Maliki."
The worst attack was on Sadriyah meat and vegetable market in the centre of Baghdad. It had already been the target of one of Baghdad's worst atrocities when a suicide bomber blew up a Mercedes truck on 3 February, killing 137 people.
Some of the casualties yesterday were construction workers rebuilding the marketplace. One of the workers who survived, 28-year-old Salih Mustafa, said he was waiting for a minibus to go home when the bomb went off at 4.05pm. "I rushed with others to give a hand and help the victims," he said. "I saw three bodies in a wooden cart, and civilian cars were helping to transfer the victims. It was really a horrible scene."
There is no doubt that the bombs were directed at killing as many Shia civilians as possible. About half an hour before the Sadriyah blast, a suicide bomber had rammed a police checkpoint at the entrance to the great Shia bastion in Sadr City in east Baghdad. It is also the stronghold of the Shia nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The explosion killed 35 people and wounded 75, police say. Black smoke rose from blazing vehicles as people scrambled over the twisted wreckage of cars to try to rescue the wounded.
In another Shia neighbourhood, Karada, a parked car exploded, killing 10 people and wounding 15.
"The problem is that the Shia stopped killing so many Sunni but the Sunni are killing more Shia than ever," said an Iraqi official before the attacks yesterday. He added: "If this goes on, the Shia will exact revenge. Sectarian massacres will dwarf anything we have seen before."
The bombings came hours after Mr Maliki said that Iraqi security forces would take full control of the whole country by the end of the year. But last night, amid a torrent of public criticism, the Prime Minister ordered the arrest of the Iraqi army colonel in charge of security around the Sadriyah market.
And in another move that could weaken his position further, six ministers supporting Mr Sadr have just withdrawn from the government because of Mr Maliki's failure to demand that the US set a timetable for the withdrawal of its troops.
The 17-million strong Shia community, the majority of the Iraqi population, is increasingly hostile to the US presence while the five million Sunni generally support anti- American armed resistance. Only the Kurds fully back the US.
Responsibility for security in Maysan province was handed over by Britain to Iraq yesterday. "Then it will be province by province until we achieve [this transfer] before the end of the year," said Mr Maliki in a speech delivered on his behalf by the National Security Adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie.
But the transfer of political or security control by the US and Britain to Iraqi authorities has always been deceptive. Iraqis believe, with some reason, that real control remains in the hands of the occupying forces. Earlier in the year, British forces blew up a police headquarters in Basra and US helicopter-borne troops tried to kidnap two senior Iranian officials visiting Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi President.
The success of the US security plan in Baghdad depended less on an additional five American brigades than in fostering a belief by Iraqis that it was providing them with security.
The Sunni insurgents and Shia militias grew in strength in the Iraqi capital in 2006 because their communities were terrified of bombers, death squads and kidnappers. The US army and Iraqi army and police could only win acceptance if they provided a superior level of security, which they are notably failing to do.
"We've always said securing Baghdad would not be easy. We've seen both inspiring progress and too much evidence that we still face many grave challenges," Major-General William Caldwell, a US military spokesman, said.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Sadriya Hit Again
Baghdad bombs kill 66
A car bomb near a central Baghdad market killed 21 people Wednesday, a defence ministry official said, bringing to at least 66 the death toll from a spate of bombings in the capital.
The explosives-rigged car blew up in the Al-Sadriyah district, home to a mixed Kurdish and Shiite population.
The defence ministry official said another 74 people were wounded and added that women and children were among the casualties.
Markets are a frequent target for bombings by Sunni extremists bent on slaughtering Shiites, the majority community in Iraq which now heads the government and dominates the security forces.
The bombings have continued despite a massive security crackdown launched more than two months ago that has seen tens of thousands of Iraqi and US troops patrolling the capital's streets.
A car bomb near a central Baghdad market killed 21 people Wednesday, a defence ministry official said, bringing to at least 66 the death toll from a spate of bombings in the capital.
The explosives-rigged car blew up in the Al-Sadriyah district, home to a mixed Kurdish and Shiite population.
The defence ministry official said another 74 people were wounded and added that women and children were among the casualties.
Markets are a frequent target for bombings by Sunni extremists bent on slaughtering Shiites, the majority community in Iraq which now heads the government and dominates the security forces.
The bombings have continued despite a massive security crackdown launched more than two months ago that has seen tens of thousands of Iraqi and US troops patrolling the capital's streets.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Deadliest bomb in Iraq war kills 152
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi government raised the death toll on Saturday from a truck bomb in the town of Tal Afar to 152, making it the deadliest single bombing of the four-year-old war.
Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Abdul Kareem Khalaf said 347 people were wounded in Tuesday's attack on a Shi'ite area. There was another truck bomb in the mixed northwestern town on Tuesday, but it was small.
Khalaf said 100 homes had been destroyed in the main blast, which officials have blamed on al Qaeda. The explosion left a 23-meter (75-ft)-wide crater.
"It took us a while to recover all the bodies from underneath the rubble of the homes ... what did they achieve by using two tons of explosive to kill and wound 500 in a residential area?" Khalaf asked at a news conference.
Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Abdul Kareem Khalaf said 347 people were wounded in Tuesday's attack on a Shi'ite area. There was another truck bomb in the mixed northwestern town on Tuesday, but it was small.
Khalaf said 100 homes had been destroyed in the main blast, which officials have blamed on al Qaeda. The explosion left a 23-meter (75-ft)-wide crater.
"It took us a while to recover all the bodies from underneath the rubble of the homes ... what did they achieve by using two tons of explosive to kill and wound 500 in a residential area?" Khalaf asked at a news conference.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Dozens killed in revenge attack in Iraq
Dozens killed in revenge attack in Iraq
'BAGHDAD - Shiite militants and police enraged by deadly truck bombings went on a shooting rampage against Sunnis in a northwestern Iraqi city Wednesday, killing as many as 70 men execution-style and prompting fears that sectarian violence was spreading outside the capital.
The killings occurred in the mixed Shiite-Sunni city Tal Afar, which had been an insurgent stronghold until an offensive by U.S. and Iraqi troops in September 2005, when militants fled into the countryside without a fight. Last March,
President Bush cited the operation as an example that gave him "confidence in our strategy."
The gunmen roamed Sunni neighborhoods in Tal Afar through the night, shooting at residents and homes, according to police and a local Sunni politician. Witnesses said relatives of the Shiite victims in the truck bombings broke into Sunni homes and killed the men inside or dragged them out and shot them in the streets.'
'BAGHDAD - Shiite militants and police enraged by deadly truck bombings went on a shooting rampage against Sunnis in a northwestern Iraqi city Wednesday, killing as many as 70 men execution-style and prompting fears that sectarian violence was spreading outside the capital.
The killings occurred in the mixed Shiite-Sunni city Tal Afar, which had been an insurgent stronghold until an offensive by U.S. and Iraqi troops in September 2005, when militants fled into the countryside without a fight. Last March,
President Bush cited the operation as an example that gave him "confidence in our strategy."
The gunmen roamed Sunni neighborhoods in Tal Afar through the night, shooting at residents and homes, according to police and a local Sunni politician. Witnesses said relatives of the Shiite victims in the truck bombings broke into Sunni homes and killed the men inside or dragged them out and shot them in the streets.'
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Truck bombs kill dozens at Iraqi markets
I think people should stop declaring success until at least six months after the last car bomb in Iraq.
Truck bombs kill dozens at Iraqi markets
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD - Two truck bombs shattered markets in Tal Afar on Tuesday, killing at least 63 people and wounding dozens in the second assault in four days on a predominantly Shiite Muslim city hit by a resurgence in violence a year after it was held up as a symbol of U.S. success.
After the bombings, suspected Sunni insurgents tried to ambush ambulances carrying the injured out of the northwestern city but were driven off by police gunfire, Iraqi authorities said.
The carnage was the worst bloodshed in a day of attacks across Iraq.
A major Sunni Arab insurgent group reported its military leader was slain outside Baghdad, an assault likely to deepen an increasingly bloody rift between al-Qaida in Iraq and opponents of the terror group in Sunni communities west of the capital.
In Baghdad, a U.S. soldier and an American working as a U.S. government contractor were killed by a rocket attack on the heavily guarded Green Zone, U.S. officials said. Another contract worker suffered serious wounds and three were slightly wounded. A soldier also was wounded.
A U.S. Marine died during combat operations in Anbar province, a hotbed of Sunni Arab insurgents west of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.
U.S. soldiers, meanwhile, foiled two suicide truck bombers trying to attack their base in a small town 50 miles west of Baghdad and killed as many as 15 attackers, the military said. It said eight soldiers suffered wounds, all but one of them slight, during the firefight in Karmah.
Iraqi police reported at least 109 people killed or found dead nationwide. The toll included two elderly sisters — both Chaldean Catholic nuns in the increasingly tense city of Kirkuk — who were stabbed multiple times in what appeared to be a sectarian killing.
Most of the bloodshed in Tal Afar came when an explosives-laden truck was detonated by remote control as people gathered to buy flour it was carrying in the center of town, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad. A few minutes earlier, a truck loaded with vegetables blew up near a wholesale market on the city's north side.
Brig. Abdul Karim al-Jubouri, a spokesman for the provincial police, said the first blast killed at least 62 people and wounded 150. The other bomb killed one person and wounded four, he said.
Insurgents waiting in cars on Tal Afar's outskirts tried to intercept ambulances carrying the wounded to hospitals in nearby Mosul but fled when police escorts opened fire, said Husham al-Hamdani, head of the security committee in Mosul.
Jaafar Akram, a teacher at a school near the smaller explosion, said body parts were scattered about and vegetables lay in pools of blood.
"I instantly saw smoke, then I heard the blast," Akram said. "Thanks be to God the blast didn't occur during rush hour at the school. That reduced the disaster."
On Saturday, a man wearing an explosives belt blew himself up outside a pastry shop in Tal Afar's central market area, killing at least 10 people and wounding three.
Tal Afar, which is about 90 miles east of the Syrian border, is inhabited mainly by ethnic Turkomen. About 60 percent of the residents are Shiite Muslims and the rest Sunni.
The city was an insurgent stronghold until an offensive by U.S. and Iraqi troops in September 2005, when rebel fighters fled into the countryside without a battle. Last March, President Bush cited the operation as an example that gave him "confidence in our strategy."
But even though U.S. and Iraqi forces put up sand barriers around Tal Afar to limit access, the city has suffered frequent insurgent attacks — Tuesday's was the deadliest since the war started. Among the largest previous attacks were suicide bombings that killed 20 people on Sept. 18 and 30 on Oct. 11, 2005.
In other bombings Tuesday, suicide car bombers struck northeast of Ramadi, killing 10 people, and in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, killing two policemen and wounding four people, police said.
The vehicle bombings and an outbreak of sectarian clashes in southern Iraq underscored concerns that militants have fled the capital in response to the U.S.-led security crackdown, bringing violence with them to the hinterlands.
Nationwide, the number of deaths from car bombs has decreased slightly since the Baghdad security operation began Feb. 14, but it has more than doubled in areas outside the capital, according to an Associated Press tally.
Car bombs killed at least 349 people in Baghdad in the six weeks since the crackdown began, down from 525 such deaths in the preceding six weeks. But the numbers killed by car bombs outside the capital jumped from at least 100 in the earlier period to at least 233 in the latest six weeks.
In an interview with CNBC, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, a top U.S. commander in Iraq, said it was too early to say how long the expanded U.S. troop presence accompanying the Baghdad operation will be needed. He said it depended on how soon Iraqi forces can take on all responsibility for security.
"I believe that within five to six to eight months, we'll be able to make a good assessment of where they are in building their capacity, and based on that, we'll be able to make a decision on how long this surge will go," he said.
The Sunni insurgent group known as 1920 Revolution Brigades said its military leader, Harith Dhaher al-Dhari, was killed in Abu Ghraib just west of Baghdad. An Iraqi district official said attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at the man's car, but the U.S. military said suicide car bombers attacked his house.
The attack came as the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is reportedly making progress rallying Sunni Arab tribesmen into joining the fight against al-Qaida members in Anbar province west of the capital. Al-Dhari's group is among those rumored to be taking part in secret talks with the government.
Al-Qaida has responded with bomb attacks targeting leaders and key supporters of the tribes allied against them.
In the northern city of Kirkuk, police 1st Lt. Marewan Salih said the slain nuns — 79-year-old Margaret Naoum and 85-year-old Fawzeiyah Naoum, 85 — were killed in their home near the Cathedral of the Virgin. They lived alone and there was no sign of a robbery, he said.
Naoum was stabbed seven times as she stood in the garden just outside the house, while Naoum was stabbed three times while lying on the sofa inside as she was recovering from eye surgery last week.
Chaldean Catholics are an ancient Eastern rite now united with Roman Catholicism. Adherents live mainly in Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq and most speak a dialect of Turkish.
In Baghdad, U.S. Charge d'Affairs Daniel Speckhard said a rocket attack killed an American contract worker in the Green Zone, the heavily fortified area that is home to the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government offices. The U.S. military said an American soldier also was killed and a second soldier suffered unspecified wounds.
The identities of the dead were not released, and U.S. officials did not give the nationalities of the four wounded contract workers.
It was the second rocket attack on the zone in less than a week. A Katyusha rocket exploded just 50 yards from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as he spoke with reporters there Thursday during an unannounced visit to the city.
Truck bombs kill dozens at Iraqi markets
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD - Two truck bombs shattered markets in Tal Afar on Tuesday, killing at least 63 people and wounding dozens in the second assault in four days on a predominantly Shiite Muslim city hit by a resurgence in violence a year after it was held up as a symbol of U.S. success.
After the bombings, suspected Sunni insurgents tried to ambush ambulances carrying the injured out of the northwestern city but were driven off by police gunfire, Iraqi authorities said.
The carnage was the worst bloodshed in a day of attacks across Iraq.
A major Sunni Arab insurgent group reported its military leader was slain outside Baghdad, an assault likely to deepen an increasingly bloody rift between al-Qaida in Iraq and opponents of the terror group in Sunni communities west of the capital.
In Baghdad, a U.S. soldier and an American working as a U.S. government contractor were killed by a rocket attack on the heavily guarded Green Zone, U.S. officials said. Another contract worker suffered serious wounds and three were slightly wounded. A soldier also was wounded.
A U.S. Marine died during combat operations in Anbar province, a hotbed of Sunni Arab insurgents west of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.
U.S. soldiers, meanwhile, foiled two suicide truck bombers trying to attack their base in a small town 50 miles west of Baghdad and killed as many as 15 attackers, the military said. It said eight soldiers suffered wounds, all but one of them slight, during the firefight in Karmah.
Iraqi police reported at least 109 people killed or found dead nationwide. The toll included two elderly sisters — both Chaldean Catholic nuns in the increasingly tense city of Kirkuk — who were stabbed multiple times in what appeared to be a sectarian killing.
Most of the bloodshed in Tal Afar came when an explosives-laden truck was detonated by remote control as people gathered to buy flour it was carrying in the center of town, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad. A few minutes earlier, a truck loaded with vegetables blew up near a wholesale market on the city's north side.
Brig. Abdul Karim al-Jubouri, a spokesman for the provincial police, said the first blast killed at least 62 people and wounded 150. The other bomb killed one person and wounded four, he said.
Insurgents waiting in cars on Tal Afar's outskirts tried to intercept ambulances carrying the wounded to hospitals in nearby Mosul but fled when police escorts opened fire, said Husham al-Hamdani, head of the security committee in Mosul.
Jaafar Akram, a teacher at a school near the smaller explosion, said body parts were scattered about and vegetables lay in pools of blood.
"I instantly saw smoke, then I heard the blast," Akram said. "Thanks be to God the blast didn't occur during rush hour at the school. That reduced the disaster."
On Saturday, a man wearing an explosives belt blew himself up outside a pastry shop in Tal Afar's central market area, killing at least 10 people and wounding three.
Tal Afar, which is about 90 miles east of the Syrian border, is inhabited mainly by ethnic Turkomen. About 60 percent of the residents are Shiite Muslims and the rest Sunni.
The city was an insurgent stronghold until an offensive by U.S. and Iraqi troops in September 2005, when rebel fighters fled into the countryside without a battle. Last March, President Bush cited the operation as an example that gave him "confidence in our strategy."
But even though U.S. and Iraqi forces put up sand barriers around Tal Afar to limit access, the city has suffered frequent insurgent attacks — Tuesday's was the deadliest since the war started. Among the largest previous attacks were suicide bombings that killed 20 people on Sept. 18 and 30 on Oct. 11, 2005.
In other bombings Tuesday, suicide car bombers struck northeast of Ramadi, killing 10 people, and in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, killing two policemen and wounding four people, police said.
The vehicle bombings and an outbreak of sectarian clashes in southern Iraq underscored concerns that militants have fled the capital in response to the U.S.-led security crackdown, bringing violence with them to the hinterlands.
Nationwide, the number of deaths from car bombs has decreased slightly since the Baghdad security operation began Feb. 14, but it has more than doubled in areas outside the capital, according to an Associated Press tally.
Car bombs killed at least 349 people in Baghdad in the six weeks since the crackdown began, down from 525 such deaths in the preceding six weeks. But the numbers killed by car bombs outside the capital jumped from at least 100 in the earlier period to at least 233 in the latest six weeks.
In an interview with CNBC, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, a top U.S. commander in Iraq, said it was too early to say how long the expanded U.S. troop presence accompanying the Baghdad operation will be needed. He said it depended on how soon Iraqi forces can take on all responsibility for security.
"I believe that within five to six to eight months, we'll be able to make a good assessment of where they are in building their capacity, and based on that, we'll be able to make a decision on how long this surge will go," he said.
The Sunni insurgent group known as 1920 Revolution Brigades said its military leader, Harith Dhaher al-Dhari, was killed in Abu Ghraib just west of Baghdad. An Iraqi district official said attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at the man's car, but the U.S. military said suicide car bombers attacked his house.
The attack came as the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is reportedly making progress rallying Sunni Arab tribesmen into joining the fight against al-Qaida members in Anbar province west of the capital. Al-Dhari's group is among those rumored to be taking part in secret talks with the government.
Al-Qaida has responded with bomb attacks targeting leaders and key supporters of the tribes allied against them.
In the northern city of Kirkuk, police 1st Lt. Marewan Salih said the slain nuns — 79-year-old Margaret Naoum and 85-year-old Fawzeiyah Naoum, 85 — were killed in their home near the Cathedral of the Virgin. They lived alone and there was no sign of a robbery, he said.
Naoum was stabbed seven times as she stood in the garden just outside the house, while Naoum was stabbed three times while lying on the sofa inside as she was recovering from eye surgery last week.
Chaldean Catholics are an ancient Eastern rite now united with Roman Catholicism. Adherents live mainly in Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq and most speak a dialect of Turkish.
In Baghdad, U.S. Charge d'Affairs Daniel Speckhard said a rocket attack killed an American contract worker in the Green Zone, the heavily fortified area that is home to the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government offices. The U.S. military said an American soldier also was killed and a second soldier suffered unspecified wounds.
The identities of the dead were not released, and U.S. officials did not give the nationalities of the four wounded contract workers.
It was the second rocket attack on the zone in less than a week. A Katyusha rocket exploded just 50 yards from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as he spoke with reporters there Thursday during an unannounced visit to the city.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
The Burning of Mutanabbi Street
An excellent post by IraqPundit about the Burning of Mutanabbi Street:
'On Monday, a car bomb exploded on Baghdad's Mutanabbi Street, killing 26 people and injuring scores more. Wanton murders like this remain frequent in the capital, with "insurgent" ghouls intentionally blowing up young schoolgirls and women in outdoor markets. Still, there was an extra ache in the terrible news from Mutanabbi Street, an old byway dear to the memory of all Baghdadis for its booksellers, its bookbinders, its stationers, and its cafes. The poignant image of the wrecked street, with countless bits of burning paper floating down on the stunned residents, reflected an attack not only on Baghdad's people, but on the city's heart and memory as well.
Yet all sense of poignancy vanished for me when I saw The Washington Post's account of the bombing, which included the following breathtaking assertion: "When Saddam Hussein was in power, Mutanabi [sic] Street exuded a defiant spirit that reverberated through its bookstores and the famed Shabandar Cafe. Here, intellectuals, over cups of sweet tea, engaged in lively debates."
What an astonishing thing to claim. Suggesting that Saddam's regime tolerated a "defiant" café culture is, in its own way, another blow at Baghdad's heart and memory. It isn't merely that the statement is untrue, it's deeply unjust to the Baghdadis of intellect who had to live through Saddam's years of unrestrained brutality. Far from enjoying openly defiant cafe debates, such figures risked prison, exile, and even death because of their views. Furthermore, even if the Post's reporter is writing out of simple ignorance, the result is another sign of a revisionist "softening" of the memory of Saddam's rule, one that suggests that even he had his saving graces.
It's certainly true that Mutanabbi Street was once a gathering place for Baghdad's intellectuals. If Cairo is the great city of Arab writers, Baghdad was once the great city of Arab readers, and Mutanabbi Street was where they went to browse the new arrivals, Arab and foreign. The street goes back to Ottoman times; the bakeries that made the bread for the Turkish garrisons were nearby. Under the British-imposed monarchy that ruled the newly created Iraq, the city's journalists, poets, and thinkers would gather there to debate the changes that were sweeping across a modernizing and then-optimistic Middle East. By mid-century, the monarchy was gone, and Iraqi poets were advancing a "Free Verse" movement that was revolutionizing Arabic poetry. They too gathered in the street's cafes. But that was before Saddam tried to paralyze the Iraqi mind.
Saddam banned many books, and filled Mutanabbi Street with informers. Suggesting that a defiant café culture flourished there under his rule is not only absurd, it's cruel. Baghdad featured brave and defiant men and women, but they certainly weren't expressing their subversive ideas in public cafes, or requesting dangerous books along Mutanabbi Street. This was a world where Sartre was banned, Kafka was banned, Orwell was certainly banned, even Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 was banned. The most interesting books one might find along the street appeared when Baghdadis who had been impoverished by the sanctions regime were forced to sell their beloved old volumes.
Iraqi intellectual life was a tragicomedy under Saddam. Don't forget that he fancied himself a great novelist, and that Baghdad's literati had to shower him with praise for his embarrassing junk, proclaiming him the flower of Iraqi letters. Do you suppose they made even carefully veiled jokes at his expense at the Shabandar Café?
After Saddam was overthrown, and before the "insurgency" began its almost daily massacres, there was a spate of stories about the revival of Iraqi intellectual life: a suddenly multiplying Iraqi press, revived university activity, newly free writers and playwrights, etc. Among the most frequent such stories, because it was easy to do, was the revival of Mutanabbi Street, where the booksellers quickly were enriching their stocks. A touching detail of those reports was that among the newly available books most in demand were up-to-date technical volumes. Saddam had made even those unavailable. Now it has become possible to assert that such a regime tolerated a defiant café world.
By revisionist increments, sometimes (as in this case) by apparent ignorance, the memory of Saddam's brutality may be giving way to a softer image of his rule. A major example of this process is the common claim that , after all, women could pursue relatively liberated professional lives under his regime. But women owe no more to Saddam than do intellectuals. Baghdad women began removing the veil and entering professions in the early 20th century, when women throughout the region were challenging traditional barriers. When Saddam came along, successful careers remained open primarily to those women who embraced Baathism. It was not liberation, it was a setback, just as the supposed tolerance of a defiant Mutanabbi Street is an illusion.
By the way, Mutanabbi Street is named for one of the greatest of Arab poets, a 10th century native of Kufa whose most famous line is, "I am known to night and horses and the desert, to sword and lance, to parchment and pen." His is an apt name for a street of poets and booksellers, his line an apt evocation of the poet as warrior, and the power and resilience of the word. The Iraqi word has had much to survive in its modern history. Those Baghdadis now clearing away the wreckage of Mutanabbi Street, and sweeping up its precious, charred pages, know that it will survive this too.'
'On Monday, a car bomb exploded on Baghdad's Mutanabbi Street, killing 26 people and injuring scores more. Wanton murders like this remain frequent in the capital, with "insurgent" ghouls intentionally blowing up young schoolgirls and women in outdoor markets. Still, there was an extra ache in the terrible news from Mutanabbi Street, an old byway dear to the memory of all Baghdadis for its booksellers, its bookbinders, its stationers, and its cafes. The poignant image of the wrecked street, with countless bits of burning paper floating down on the stunned residents, reflected an attack not only on Baghdad's people, but on the city's heart and memory as well.
Yet all sense of poignancy vanished for me when I saw The Washington Post's account of the bombing, which included the following breathtaking assertion: "When Saddam Hussein was in power, Mutanabi [sic] Street exuded a defiant spirit that reverberated through its bookstores and the famed Shabandar Cafe. Here, intellectuals, over cups of sweet tea, engaged in lively debates."
What an astonishing thing to claim. Suggesting that Saddam's regime tolerated a "defiant" café culture is, in its own way, another blow at Baghdad's heart and memory. It isn't merely that the statement is untrue, it's deeply unjust to the Baghdadis of intellect who had to live through Saddam's years of unrestrained brutality. Far from enjoying openly defiant cafe debates, such figures risked prison, exile, and even death because of their views. Furthermore, even if the Post's reporter is writing out of simple ignorance, the result is another sign of a revisionist "softening" of the memory of Saddam's rule, one that suggests that even he had his saving graces.
It's certainly true that Mutanabbi Street was once a gathering place for Baghdad's intellectuals. If Cairo is the great city of Arab writers, Baghdad was once the great city of Arab readers, and Mutanabbi Street was where they went to browse the new arrivals, Arab and foreign. The street goes back to Ottoman times; the bakeries that made the bread for the Turkish garrisons were nearby. Under the British-imposed monarchy that ruled the newly created Iraq, the city's journalists, poets, and thinkers would gather there to debate the changes that were sweeping across a modernizing and then-optimistic Middle East. By mid-century, the monarchy was gone, and Iraqi poets were advancing a "Free Verse" movement that was revolutionizing Arabic poetry. They too gathered in the street's cafes. But that was before Saddam tried to paralyze the Iraqi mind.
Saddam banned many books, and filled Mutanabbi Street with informers. Suggesting that a defiant café culture flourished there under his rule is not only absurd, it's cruel. Baghdad featured brave and defiant men and women, but they certainly weren't expressing their subversive ideas in public cafes, or requesting dangerous books along Mutanabbi Street. This was a world where Sartre was banned, Kafka was banned, Orwell was certainly banned, even Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 was banned. The most interesting books one might find along the street appeared when Baghdadis who had been impoverished by the sanctions regime were forced to sell their beloved old volumes.
Iraqi intellectual life was a tragicomedy under Saddam. Don't forget that he fancied himself a great novelist, and that Baghdad's literati had to shower him with praise for his embarrassing junk, proclaiming him the flower of Iraqi letters. Do you suppose they made even carefully veiled jokes at his expense at the Shabandar Café?
After Saddam was overthrown, and before the "insurgency" began its almost daily massacres, there was a spate of stories about the revival of Iraqi intellectual life: a suddenly multiplying Iraqi press, revived university activity, newly free writers and playwrights, etc. Among the most frequent such stories, because it was easy to do, was the revival of Mutanabbi Street, where the booksellers quickly were enriching their stocks. A touching detail of those reports was that among the newly available books most in demand were up-to-date technical volumes. Saddam had made even those unavailable. Now it has become possible to assert that such a regime tolerated a defiant café world.
By revisionist increments, sometimes (as in this case) by apparent ignorance, the memory of Saddam's brutality may be giving way to a softer image of his rule. A major example of this process is the common claim that , after all, women could pursue relatively liberated professional lives under his regime. But women owe no more to Saddam than do intellectuals. Baghdad women began removing the veil and entering professions in the early 20th century, when women throughout the region were challenging traditional barriers. When Saddam came along, successful careers remained open primarily to those women who embraced Baathism. It was not liberation, it was a setback, just as the supposed tolerance of a defiant Mutanabbi Street is an illusion.
By the way, Mutanabbi Street is named for one of the greatest of Arab poets, a 10th century native of Kufa whose most famous line is, "I am known to night and horses and the desert, to sword and lance, to parchment and pen." His is an apt name for a street of poets and booksellers, his line an apt evocation of the poet as warrior, and the power and resilience of the word. The Iraqi word has had much to survive in its modern history. Those Baghdadis now clearing away the wreckage of Mutanabbi Street, and sweeping up its precious, charred pages, know that it will survive this too.'
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Car Bomb Kills 18 Kids in Ramadi
Of course Al Qaeda has never cared about Iraqi children, but it's interesting and sad to see the escalation in deadly attacks against Sunni Arab civilians in Anbar.
Iraqi TV: Soccer field car bomb kills 18 children
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A car bomb exploded Tuesday at a soccer field on the outskirts of Ramadi, killing 18 children, Iraqi TV reported.
The soccer field is in western Ramadi -- capital of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province. The children were playing on the field when the blast occurred, Iraqi TV reported. No other details on the attack were immediately available.
The soccer field attack followed terrorist bombings in Baghdad at a popular ice cream shop, a parking lot and a restaurant that killed eight people and wounded 24 on Tuesday.
Iraqi police say they believe new coalition security tactics are forcing insurgents to shift bombing attacks away from parked cars in the streets to alternative locations.
The new U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown forbids parking cars on Baghdad's main streets.
Tuesday's deadliest reported bombing took place in a popular ice cream shop in central Baghdad's mostly Shiite Karrada district. A suicide car bomber slammed into the shop, killing five people and wounding 10 others, according to an Interior Ministry official.
In the city's Tayaran Square, another bomber hid explosives inside a restaurant, where the blast killed two people and wounded eleven, the official said.
In a separate attack, Iraqi police said a car bomb blast Tuesday in a parking lot in the Karrada district killed one person and wounded three others.
Iraqi TV: Soccer field car bomb kills 18 children
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A car bomb exploded Tuesday at a soccer field on the outskirts of Ramadi, killing 18 children, Iraqi TV reported.
The soccer field is in western Ramadi -- capital of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province. The children were playing on the field when the blast occurred, Iraqi TV reported. No other details on the attack were immediately available.
The soccer field attack followed terrorist bombings in Baghdad at a popular ice cream shop, a parking lot and a restaurant that killed eight people and wounded 24 on Tuesday.
Iraqi police say they believe new coalition security tactics are forcing insurgents to shift bombing attacks away from parked cars in the streets to alternative locations.
The new U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown forbids parking cars on Baghdad's main streets.
Tuesday's deadliest reported bombing took place in a popular ice cream shop in central Baghdad's mostly Shiite Karrada district. A suicide car bomber slammed into the shop, killing five people and wounding 10 others, according to an Interior Ministry official.
In the city's Tayaran Square, another bomber hid explosives inside a restaurant, where the blast killed two people and wounded eleven, the official said.
In a separate attack, Iraqi police said a car bomb blast Tuesday in a parking lot in the Karrada district killed one person and wounded three others.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Rape allegations amid car bombings
Rape allegations amid Iraq car bombings
By Christian Berthelsen, Times Staff Writer
10:29 AM PST, February 21, 2007
BAGHDAD -- Questions about the alleged rape of a woman by Iraqi police swirled around the U.S.-led security operation in Iraq today, as car bombings and an assassination left at least 19 people dead around the country and another U.S. helicopter went down.
One of the car bombings involved another effort to explode chlorine gas canisters, the second time in two days that insurgents have used crude chemical weapons attacks to target civilians. At least two people were killed, 25 poisoned and eight others injured in the attack.
In the rape case, a 20-year-old Sunni woman first came forward Sunday with allegations that she was attacked by three Iraqi police officers who searched her house, accused her of aiding insurgents and took her to a local police station. She later went to a U.S. medical facility for treatment, which admitted her and released her the following morning. She described the alleged attack in an interview that began airing on television here Monday.
The Iraqi government quickly dismissed her allegations, clearing the officers after a one-day investigation and accusing the victim of being an impostor wanted on criminal warrants. In the process they named her and gave out other identifying details.
By Christian Berthelsen, Times Staff Writer
10:29 AM PST, February 21, 2007
BAGHDAD -- Questions about the alleged rape of a woman by Iraqi police swirled around the U.S.-led security operation in Iraq today, as car bombings and an assassination left at least 19 people dead around the country and another U.S. helicopter went down.
One of the car bombings involved another effort to explode chlorine gas canisters, the second time in two days that insurgents have used crude chemical weapons attacks to target civilians. At least two people were killed, 25 poisoned and eight others injured in the attack.
In the rape case, a 20-year-old Sunni woman first came forward Sunday with allegations that she was attacked by three Iraqi police officers who searched her house, accused her of aiding insurgents and took her to a local police station. She later went to a U.S. medical facility for treatment, which admitted her and released her the following morning. She described the alleged attack in an interview that began airing on television here Monday.
The Iraqi government quickly dismissed her allegations, clearing the officers after a one-day investigation and accusing the victim of being an impostor wanted on criminal warrants. In the process they named her and gave out other identifying details.
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