BAGHDAD, Nov. 24, 2006
Iraqis Burned Alive In Revenge Attacks
Mosques And Homes Burned, Unknown Number Killed Following Massive Attack On Shiite Slum
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Iraq: 5 Sunni Mosques Burned
Shiite gunmen apparently burned down five Sunni mosques killing 31 people despite an indefinite curfew in Baghdad today. Elizabeth Palmer reports that high-level talks may avert a civil war.
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Funerals Fill Baghdad Streets
November has become the deadliest month for Iraqi civilians, as the death toll from sectarian violence keeps climbing. Susan Roberts reports.
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Deadly Day For Iraqi Civilians
In northern Iraq, a car bombing killed at least 22 people after more than 200 died in the bloodiest attack since the war began. As Elizabeth Palmer reports, the country is in shock.
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A relative reacts while taking part in a funeral procession for a victim of the previous day's attacks, in Sadr City district of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 24, 2006. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
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Iraqis inspect the wreckage of the previous day's car bombing in Baghdad's impoverished district of Sadr City, Nov, 24, 2006. (Getty Images/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
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Women cry as friends and relatives take part in the funeral procession of the victims of previous day's bombing in Sadr City district of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 24, 2006. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
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Friends and relatives take part in the funeral procession of the victims of previous day's attacks in Sadr City district of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 24, 2006. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
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An Iraqi mourns over the coffin of a relative outside the morgue of a hospital in Baghdad, Nov. 23, 2006. U.S. forces killed four Iraqis and wounded eight more Thursday after a raid in Sadr City. (AFP/Getty Images)
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Iraqi soldiers at a nearby army post failed to intervene in Friday's assault by suspected members of the Shiite Mahdi Army militia or subsequent attacks that killed at least 19 other Sunnis, including women and children, in the same neighborhood, the volatile Hurriyah district in northwest Baghdad, said police Capt. Jamil Hussein.
Last night, Iraqi politicians representing all ethnic groups called for restraint, and unity, but today, the man whose word could do more than any other to to prevent reprisal killings didn't deliver, reports CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer.
At Friday prayers Mosqtada al Sadr did not forbid his followers to take revenge. Instead he made a series of hard-line demands including that:
Most of the thousands of dead bodies that have been found dumped across Baghdad and other cities in central Iraq in recent months have been of victims who were tortured and then shot to death, according to police. The suspected militia killers often have used electric drills on their captives' bodies before killing them. The bodies are frequently decapitated.
But burning victims alive introduced a new method of brutality that was likely to be reciprocated by the other sect as the Shiites and Sunnis continue killing one another in unprecedented numbers. The gruesome attack, which came despite a curfew in Baghdad, capped a day in which at least 87 people were killed or found dead in sectarian violence across Iraq.
In Hurriyah, the rampaging militiamen also burned and blew up four mosques and torched several homes in the district, Hussein said.
Residents of the troubled district claim the Mahdi Army has begun kidnapping and holding Sunni hostages to use in ritual slaughter at the funerals of Shiite victims of Baghdad's raging sectarian war.
Such claims cannot be verified but speak to the deep fear that grips Baghdad, where retaliation has become a part of daily life.
President Jalal Talabani emerged from lengthy meetings with other Iraqi leaders late Friday and said the defense minister, Abdul-Qader al-Obaidi, indicated that the Hurriyah neighborhood had been quiet throughout the day.
But Imad al-Hasimi, a Sunni elder in Hurriyah, confirmed Hussein's account of the immolations. He told Al-Arabiya television he saw people who were drenched in kerosene and then set afire, burning to death before his eyes.
Two workers at Kazamiyah Hospital also confirmed that bodies from the clashes and immolation had been taken to the morgue at their facility. They refused to be identified by name, saying they feared retribution.
And the Association of Muslim Scholars, the most influential Sunni organization in Iraq, said even more victims were burned to death in attacks on the four mosques. It claimed a total of 18 people had died in an inferno at the al-Muhaimin mosque.
The extreme violence continued to tear at the Iraq's social fabric even after the government had banned pedestrians and cars from the streets and closed the international airport until further notice in anticipation of a storm of retaliation for the five bombings and two mortar rounds which killed 215 in Sadr City on Thursday.
The airport closure forced Talabani to delay his planned Saturday departure for Tehran for meetings with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian leader also invited Syrian President Bashar Assad, but it now appeared he would not attend.
The chaos also cast a shadow over the Amman, Jordan, summit next week between Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Bush.
Politicians loyal to radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatened to boycott parliament and the Cabinet if al-Maliki went ahead with the meeting. The political bloc, known as Sadrists, is a mainstay of support for al-Maliki. The Mahdi Army is the organization's armed wing.
Sadrist lawmaker Qusai Abdul-Wahab blamed U.S. forces for Thursday's attack in Sadr City because they failed to provide security.
“We say occupation forces are fully responsible for these acts, and we call for the withdrawal of occupation forces or setting a timetable for their withdrawal,” Abdul-Wahab said.
A U.S. helicopter patrolling above Sadr City came under intense fire from the ground and shot back, wounding two people Friday night, according to police 1st. Lt. Qassim Mohammed and witnesses.
The U.S. military said the helicopter had taken fire from six rockets launched from one site and destroyed the launcher. The military statement did not address whether there were casualties.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzil said there was no change in the president's plans to meet with al-Maliki on Wednesday and Thursday.
Al-Maliki is increasingly at odds with the Bush administration for his refusal to disband militias and associated deaths squads that are believed responsible for killing thousands of Sunnis since an al Qaeda attack last February blew up the Golden Dome Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad.
Mortar fire rained down again on Sunni Islam's holiest shrine in Baghdad, the Abu Hanifa mosque in the Azamiyah neighborhood, wounding at least five people. Several mortars crashed into the area Thursday night within hours of the attacks in Sadr City, one of them puncturing the dome of the shrine and damaging the interior, including its library.
Also, militia gunmen raided a Sunni mosque in the Amil section of west Baghdad, killing two guards, according to police 1st Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razaq.
And in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, Sunni insurgents blew up the dome of the important Shiite mosque of leading cleric Abdul-Karm al-Madani.
In the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar, 23 people were killed and 43 wounded when explosives hidden in a parked car and in a suicide belt worn by a pedestrian detonated simultaneously outside a car dealership, said police Brig. Khalaf al-Jubouri.
Altogether, 56 people were killed across in Iraq on Friday, and police said they found 31 bodies dumped throughout Baghdad, most of them tortured before being shot.
In Sadr City, cleanup crews continued removing remains of the dead from wreckage of the car bombs, and tents were erected throughout the ramshackle district for relatives to receive condolences.
Hundreds of men, women and children beat their chests, chanted and cried as they walked beside vehicles carrying the caskets of their loved ones toward the holy Shiite city of Najaf for burial. Despite Baghdad's curfew, al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, ordered police to guard the processions.
As the funeral processions reached the edge of Sadr City in northeastern Baghdad, the cars and minivans left most of the mourners behind and began the 100-mile drive south to Najaf, a treacherous journey that passes through many checkpoints and areas controlled by Sunni militants in Iraq's so-called “Triangle of Death.”
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 128 CommentsWe have to get past being being so PC that the Religious roots to all this violence cannot be aired.
To fully understand why this is true read *End of Faith* or *Letter to a Christian Nation* by Sam Harris.
I am a Republican. He has taken us for a ride. A ride to hell.
( supposedly "with our soldiers" for Thanksgiving vs meeting).... Enough of the HIDING, LYING, an DECEPTION!! and using our troops good name as a front for failed leadership. How much LYING can American stand or tolerate?????
OK, Americans chose Bush, Cheney et al., but they were lied to. Many times over. Impeach those people and while you're at it, accuse Blair, Berlusconi and Balkenende as well. They all deserve punishment.
That area of the world has been a hot bed for religiously motivated terrorist activity for many years now and all this was bound to come to a boiling point sooner or later, one way or another, no matter who we had in the office of president. Because of the "export" nature of religiously motivated terrorism, this is really a global civil war. We can run away now but we'll just have to deal with it again later. then we can all blame that president to.
Hello;
The Government DENIED that CHENEY was in IRAQ so as NOT to ENDANGER the SECURITY of the vice president.
Things are getting HOT in IRAQ. Haven't you heard?
I sincerely feel that Americans SHOULD NOT be involved in playing the role of MEDDIATOR between the SECTARIAN wars. This is DANGEROUS. Al Maliki already said that he COULD take care of this PROBLEM within six months, if GIVEN free rein.
Thanks,
rjm
Of course, the ones crying the hardest are the Euros like Germany, Spain and France, whose armies are unfit for anything but parades and garrison duty. They are contributing nothing in Afghanistan either, other than taking up space with their presence.
It is weak and lame to blame the US for a civil war now taking place in Iraq, fought by tribal, ignorant and easily led legions of backward pawns whose ridiculous culture of revenge and theological beliefs make it impossible for them to leave the 13th century.
Blame Mohammed.
Selah
Curt but poignant.
Give them hell
Happy thanksgiving
Regardless of what started it or who's involved this is truly a global civil war between the 13th century and the 21 century.
1. I bet you fold like CHEAP luggage when the going gets tuff.
2. You blame Bush for everything.(even the weather, ie Katrina)
3. You offer no answers,solutions or ideas of your own. (If you have one, please, we are ALL listening.)
4.You speak as if ALL republicans jump for joy upon hearing this continuing tragic news out of Iraq. Most ALL of us don't like it either.
5.Worst President ever?? No major attack on US soil since 9/11. At the end of the day,Isn't that what it's TRULY ALL about?
When we get hit again, (make no mistake, we will)You will WISH Bush was back in charge. Hind sight 20/20.
As any good and decent man, Bush has done or tried to do everything right, and, has had both successes and failures along the way, this is REALITY. Let the politicians make it political.
Think about this,I AGREE with you on the basic premis, we need to get out of Iraq because it has turned into a civil war. Let them fight their own civil war, then go back when they try to go nuclear.(Iran)
In the meantime, Godspeed and enjoy...
We as Americans should support action that leads to a strong Iraqi government. This support should not be limited to action that does not involve us in civil war...since currently acivil war is defined as a break down in government.
So if Sunni and ***** via Iran and Syria are determined gain power in Iraq American policy should be to deliver the resources to the Iraqi government that nullifies the neighbors influence.
Democrates are u listening?
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Simple, radiobob-- make it a local issue. Make your voice heard with friends, family, your local media outlets-- they, especially, crave local POVs. Sometimes, a lone witness is all it takes to give others back their voice and conscience.
Iraq has moved beyond a strategic problem-- these people are a bleeding, humanitarian issue. Don't think al Jazeera isn't broadcasting every second of this carnage, which what a full-fledged civil war looks like in an urban setting. The last time the world saw this was the Balkans (Bosnia), and before that (probably) Lebanon.
Ultimately, citizen protest is what stopped Vietnam. When the pols finally got wind that staying with Nixon and secretly carpet bombing Cambodia and anybody else who got in the way was over the limit and unacceptable, they pulled back. They pulled back with enough determination to cut off funding for the war-- otherwise it would have meandered on under Ford. (radiobob pop quiz: Who was Ford's Chief of Staff?)
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Ford's Chief of Staff was none other than Der Herr General Reichsmarschall Donald "You Go with the Army You've Got" Rumsfeld.
I stumbled upon the factoid about Rumsfeld at this site--
http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/secdef_bio.html
and this site--
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Inauguration/story?id=122155
I draw a blank-- I am only a history buff, and I need that factoid. Was it your unit?
In the British model for partitioning, lines are drawn and refugees allowed to pass to their home sector. In the case of India, there was no effective officialdom to safeguard passage, and groups of refugees of opposite faiths set upon each other with massive carnage. Obviously, the way to avoid that is to have the US forces-- under auspices of the UN-- shepherd the respective groups. There is no other means to keep each side from attacking refugees of the other.
Yes, Iran would get something out of it, but so would the Saudis in secured protection for the Shia. The end point being, regional resolution of a regional problem. More than one diplomat has counseled an end to unilateralism from Bush, because he obviously does not have the attention of anybody-- least of all, those who count most.
Iraq is the epicenter of a web of political fault lines and a history predating the United States, so the height of folly is Bush imposing his vision of the Emerald City of Democracy. Only a neocon with oil reserves in his eyes would think like that... only a neocon would want to.
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Partitioning the country is likely, simply because (1) Iraq is not a nation, but a political amalgam crafted by Europeans after WWI (2) partitioning Iraq allows all sides to win something, since the violence stops, and there is no longer the issue of US withdrawal from Iraq, because there is no Iraq. The Sunnis join Syria, the Shia join Iran and the poor Kurds have no sponsor but us and a lot of diplomacy-- for example, letting Turkish Kurds migrate safely to the south to join the Kurds in North Iraq is the most likely scenario.
If the net were not important, why do you post here, unless to make an important point? Likely, you are typical of the web user who gets his news from the web (I carelessly use "web" and "internet" as the synonyms they are not, quite). And you get the depth of print and photos/video from multiple sources, about 12 hours ahead of the evening news, and maybe five or six hours ahead of radio spot news.
So, as you say, "*** on"-- someone, at least, is paying attention.
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