October Already Deadliest Month Of '06

(CBS/AP)  Bombs ripped through crowds of shoppers stocking up on sweets and other delicacies ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, killing at least five people, police said Sunday.

The carnage in the Shurja wholesale market, Baghdad's oldest and largest, marked the second time in as many days that open-air bazaars have been targeted, the latest attacks in a surge of violence over the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, which ends on Sunday for Sunnis.

The death toll in Saturday's bomb and mortar attack on a market in Mahmoudiyah, just south of the capital, rose to 19 on Sunday, with scores injured, said Lt. Mohammed Khayun, a police spokesman.

American officials said the Bush administration will present Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, with a timetable aimed at giving Iraq's military greater control of its security, the New York Times reports. Specific milestones, such as disarming sectarian militias, would be included in the timetable, the officials said.

So far this month, an average of about 43 Iraqis have been killed each day, according to an Associated Press count. That compares to an average daily death toll of about 27 since April 2005. The AP count includes civilians, government officials and police and security forces, and is considered a minimum based on AP reporting.

The actual number is likely higher, with many killings left unreported. The United Nations estimates about 100 Iraqi civilians are killed each day.

Alongside the soaring death toll among Iraqis, 79 U.S. troops have died this month, surpassing the year's previous monthly high of 76 in April. With more than a week left in the month, October is on course to be the deadliest month for American service members in two years, a development U.S. officials blame partly on the increased vulnerability of American forces during a major two-month security sweep in Baghdad.

The U.S. military said the latest victim is a Marine who was killed in fighting in Anbar province west of Baghdad. The Marine died yesterday from his wounds.

In other developments:

Iraq's Defense Ministry is warning citizens to beware of insurgents disguised as soldiers. Officials say militants wearing army uniforms are telling Baghdad residents to report suspicious activity. The insurgents have handed out cards with mobile phone numbers printed on them. The Defense Ministry thinks it's an effort to identify and target informants.

CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reports that some troops are frustrated by the constraints they're facing while trying to stop the violence: "The military aren't able to operate freely at all. They are completely restricted and limited by the politics. For example they can't act against certain militias or certain high-value targets because of their connections inside the government and unless the Iraqi government gives them permission."

At least 15 people were killed in other violence around Iraq, including nine dead in clashes between rival Shiite and Sunni tribes south of the capital. The bullet-riddled bodies of two men were found dumped in Baghdad's Baladiate neighborhood, police Capt. Mohamed Abdul-Ghani said. The men had been bound and blindfolded and showed signs of torture, making them the likely victims of sectarian death squads.

Fierce clashes broke out Saturday night between the Shiite Kufeifan tribe and their Sunni Juheishat rivals in Shujeiriya, south of Baghdad, said police spokesman Mohammed al-Shamari.

A member of former dictator Saddam Hussein's Baath party, Ali Hussein Sultan al-Zargan, was shot while standing outside his home in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, at 9:00 a.m (0600 GMT), police Lt. Othman al-Lami said.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials sought to play-down an unusually candid assessment of the security situation made by a senior U.S. State Department official in an interview Saturday with Al-Jazeera television, a pan-Arab satellite channel. Alberto Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, said the U.S. had shown "arrogance" and "stupidity" in Iraq, but added that Washington was ready to talk with any Iraqi group except al Qaeda in Iraq to facilitate national reconciliation.

State department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters Fernandez afterward said he didn't think reports of his comments were an "accurate reflection of what he said." Asked whether the Bush administration believed that history will show a record of arrogance or stupidity in Iraq, McCormack replied "No."

A senior Bush administration official questioned whether the remarks had been translated correctly.

"Those comments obviously don't reflect our position," said the official, who asked not to be identified because a transcript was not then available for review.

President George W. Bush reviewed Iraq strategy with top war commanders and national security advisers on Friday and Saturday, but indicated little inclination for major changes to an increasingly divisive policy.

"Our goal in Iraq is clear and unchanging: Our goal is victory," Bush said in his weekly radio address Saturday. "What is changing are the tactics we use to achieve that goal."

White House is under heavy bipartisan, pre-election pressure for a significant re-examination of the president's war plan.

Ahead of the traditional Eid al-Fitr feasting, Baghdad's Shurja market was especially packed with families shopping for food, clothing and household items among a warren of warehouses, stalls and shops.

Three people were killed and eight others injured in an initial bombing, while a second explosion half an hour late injured six more, police Lt. Ali Abbas said.

Another bomb hidden beneath a car killed two people and injured 10 others lined up outside the al-Farasha pastry and sweet shop in Baghdad's eastern New Baghdad neighborhood at 11:45 a.m. (0845 GMT), police Capt. Mohammed Abdul-Ghani said. About five minutes later, a mortar round crashed into a restaurant about 200 meters away, injuring two civilians and causing extensive damage to the eatery and nearby shops, Abdul-Ghani said.

As in those attacks, the assailants behind Saturday's bombing and mortar assault in Mahmoudiyah set off initial explosions to cause damage and draw crowds of rescuers and onlookers. A secondary attack was then timed to cause additional carnage.

Mahmoudiyah, a primarily Shiite Muslim city surrounded by rival Sunni communities, was the scene in July of one of the worst assaults on civilians in recent months when suspected Sunni gunmen sprayed grenades and automatic weapons fire in a market, killing at least 50 people, mostly Shiites.

[pakaal]

reketting:

When you say 'the majority of people voted for Bush', are you talking about the 2000 election or the 2004 election?

When you say 'we can win in Iraq' and 'establish Democracy', they now have a Democratic process in place - we saw it in action in the last election. Or are you saying the vote we helped administer wasn't Democratic?

When you say "The majority of the people in this country and most of the world including the terrorists in Iraq want us to get out of Iraq." Are you calling all the people of Iraq that were polled terrorists?

When you say "A majority of both houses voted to go to war with Iraq" are you saying that neither the Senate nor House were given misleading and false information to give them (and the rest of America) the impression that there was a connection between Saddam and Al-Qaeda, and about Saddam having WMDs and a nuclear processing program?

[reketting]

We can win in Iraq. We should stay in Iraq until we accomplished what we set out to do, establish a Democracy. The only way we can lose is if the people in this country lose the will to win and that is where we are heading.
The majority of the people in this country and most of the world including the terrorists in Iraq want us to get out of Iraq. So be it. The majority rules. It occurs to me most of the people in this country are siding with terrorists hm...But then some Liberals will tell you that we are the terrorists in Iraq and anyone opposing us there are freedom fighters. That should make some of us feel better.
By the way a majority of the people voted for Bush, were they right? A majority of both houses voted to go to war with Iraq, where they right? Hm..So much for the majority of the people in this country knowing what they are doing. They probably wont vote for the right people again at the coming elections.

[bluestardad]

If you like how things are going, Stay the course Vote Republican.

[bellal-2009]

SharnCedar, I understand your pain. There are few losses as sad as those of our honorable soldiers. And I understand your disgust with the young Wall Street hot shots. The 90's spawned a new breed of greed and capitalism. However, these personal philosophocial conflicts have always haunted mankind . Politics, unfortunately, will probably not solve your moral conflict. Religion may. Sometimes there is not peace to be found.

[tibu987]

A disproportionate amount of the young soldiers that have died while in the military have been Latins or Blacks. Why do you think that is?
Might it be that the military will take them and because there are no opportunities for them in civilian life.
Hmmmmm. A simple but interesting theory.
Does anyone really care?

[nynative1340]

The significant similarity to Vietnam is that we can not win against an enemy whose culture and determination we do not understand.

In addition, we haven't won a war since WWII. Why? Probably because that was the last time our country was actually threatened by an identifiable enemy. The odds were stacked against us but we had great military leaders and Roosevelt was successful in mobilizing the citizens to support the war.

Bush has not been able to identify the enemy; he still thinks it is Iraq. He sacked Saddam while bin Ladin and his al qaeda terrorists were escaping in Tora Bora. Bush has done little to mobilize the nation. Instead, his lies and deceipt have torn the nation apart. His administration has not let the military leaders run the war.

The Vietnam war was started with a big Texas lie, and ended with Americans and more than a few S. Vietnamese fleeing for their lives from atop the U.S. embassy building.

The Iraq war was started with a big Texas lie, and I pray that it doesn't end in a similar manner.

[bluestardad]

What a horses hind end, if he had to serve in combat he would never have considered putting us in Iraq in the first place. These People running this war I would not trust to make me coffee.
Cut and Run is honorable compared to Send and Not Serve, Stay and be Stupid, Chide and be a Chicken Hawk, or Preach values and be a Pedophile. Remember there is a special gift for those of you who vote Republican, Mr. Foley%u2019s Special %u201CPage Probe Soap on a Rope%u201D guaranteed to help you achieve Mission Accomplished, especially made for those of you who are having trouble Staying the Course.

Special Note: This product will be discretely delivered in plain brown paper wrapping complete with plausible deniability and I do not recall disclaimer instructions. If you act right now you may get a free meeting with that Chief of Chicken Hawks, Pontiff of Pork, that great Salivating Swine, Rush Linbaugh.

[bluestardad]

Don%u2019t expect any type of serious policy change, redeployment of troops, ending of the Iraq war, shifting troops to Afghanistan or anything that remotely resembles common sense from this Administration%u2019s review of Iraq policies or the Baker Commission. Time and time again the American people have held out hope that this Administration will do the right thing and time and time again we have been let down. From Afghanistan, Iraq to Louisiana this administration%u2019s policies are not based on common sense or the will of the people who elected them. President Bush has been described that "He's not somebody who gets jumpy at polls." That translates to %u201CI do not care what the People who elected me think%u201D. But that is OK now too because he has exposed his true self to the American People and we are going to dethrone this administration and those who supported it starting November 7, 2006. The problem is how many more people will die because of its ineptitude before we the American People can intervene?

[peterbaldwin-2009]

The ideas bantered about make a certain amount of sense, but the problem is that in sum those plans are nothing but wishful thinking. We have been talking about the Iraqi Army needing additonal training for over three years now. I became a field artillery officer in 15 weeks at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Before I knew it, I was a doofless second lieutenant with a map on the ground in Vietnam asking my sergeant radio-telephone operator about procedures for calling in a fire mission. When I was assigned to the Nationl Guard as an obligor a year later at Camp Drum I was considered a geru. Oficer's Candidate School pumped out 90 day wonders by the thousands. It is taking longer to train the Iraqi soldiers than it took us to train , fight and win World War II. We have to face up to it. We can not train Iraqis to be traitors to their country. They will take a paycheck, but they will not fight for America. They will not crush their brothers in the militias. It's time for us to leave. These Republicans hate our young soldiers and hate the veterans returning home. We have a duty to act now and stop the senseless killing of our young troops. Their commander-in-chief is a yellow coward. These troops have been treated no better than we Vietnam veterans.

[jn122736]

While I agree the Vietnam and Iraq conflicts are not the same, the most striking similarity here is the restrictions on our soldiers in combat. In Vietnam our forces were not allowed to use maximum force against some North Vietnamese cities, and some places, like Haiphong harbor and the Chinese border areas, were completely off limits to bombing. This meant the soldiers were forced to be standing targets for unseen attackers in the jungles. No wonder there was some detestable actions by our soldiers in Vietnam.
The situation in Iraq is different in the fact the jungles of Vietnam are replaced by the inability to tell a terrorist from a civilian until they attack and they can and do attack from any house, resident or otherwise. In Iraq the same guys are forced to serve under these conditions by continuous re-deployment, not to mention insufficient troops and equipment.
At least two soldiers are being prosecuted for murder in which the prosecutors are asking for the death penalty.
Of course they should be tried and if found guilty, punished, but, if ever there were extenuating circumstances%u2026.
Our military should be given all needed resources and allowed to do their job as they are trained to do or brought home whether or not the war was justified in the first place.