BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 4, 2006
Baghdad Bombings Shatter Lull In Violence
2 Car Bombs Kill At Least 13 As Iraq Prepares To Execute Saddam's Co-Defendants
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Play CBS Video Video Will Iraq Unite? Jim Axelrod talks to Katie Couric about the implications of Saddam Hussein's execution on reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq. David Martin has the latest on the troop surge.
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Video Search For Contractors Goes On A group of private contractors were kidnapped as their convoy headed into Iraq. An Iraqi official says there has been a ransom demand for the four Americans and one Austrian. Elizabeth Palmer reports.
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Video "Shadow Army" In Iraq Tens of thousands of civilians deployed in Iraq provide logistical support for the troops, but face grave danger as they transport supplies around the country. Armen Keteyian has more details.
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Iraq's Interior Minister, Jawad al-Bolani, displays new firearms licenses for Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, president Jalal Talabani, parliament speaker Mahmud al-Meshhedani and another official after a press conference in Baghdad on Jan. 4, 2007. Al-Bolani stated that the interior ministry has formed an investigative committee to look into a cell phone video of the execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. (Karim Kadim-Pool/Getty Images)
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A U.S. Army soldier looks down as an Apache helicopter flies over him on the outskirts of Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, on Jan. 3, 2007, during a joint raid with the Iraqi Army. 10 suspects were detained and terrorist material and weapons were seized in the raid. (AP Photo)
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Saddam Hussein's brother-in-law, Arshad Yassin Al Nassiri, center with head gear, accepts condolences from unidentified well-wishers regarding the former Iraqi president's execution, at his residence in Doha, Qatar, on Jan. 3, 2007. (AP Photo)
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Interactive Held Hostage Details on foreign workers and soldiers captured by insurgents in Iraq.
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Interactive Iraq: A Turning Point? New Congress, change at the Pentagon, study group report; what does the future hold?
The explosions went off one after another at 10:30 a.m. in the Mansour neighborhood, setting fire to a gas station and incinerating at least a half dozen cars. In addition to the dead, police said at least 25 people were wounded.
Firefighters sprayed streams of water on the wreckage as soldiers and civilians staggered around in a daze. "What do they want from us? What do they want from us?" one Iraqi soldier asked, referring to those behind the blasts. Blood pooled among scattered containers for propane and kerosene, near where tea cups lay toppled on a blanket spread over wood crates.
A woman in a black Muslim veil sat weeping on a curb outside Yarmouk hospital, where victims were taken. The wounded lay on stretchers crowded into the hallway inside.
Mansour is a primarily Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad. During Saddam's regime, it was home to the most elite Iraqi families; many international embassies remain there, though shuttered.
Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell said this week there had been a "downturn" in violence during the four-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which began last weekend. Thursday was the first day after Eid for both Sunnis and Shiites. Caldwell acknowledged the possibility that violence could surge again.
Police said 47 tortured bodies were found dumped across Baghdad on Thursday, up from 27 a day earlier.
Despite the burgeoning row over Saddam's hanging as well as a call for restraint from the United Nations, Iraqi officials said Thursday they planned to execute two of the executed dictator's co-defendants in the coming days.
"Nobody can stop the carrying out of court verdicts," Sami al-Askari, an adviser to the prime minister, told the BBC's Arabic service. "The court's statute does not allow even the president of the republic or the prime minister to commute sentences, let alone grant a pardon. Therefore, no pressure can stop the executions."
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour appealed to Iraq not to execute Barzan Ibrahim, Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of the Revolutionary Court. Saddam and the two men were sentenced to death for the killing of 148 Shiites.
In Washington, lawyers for al-Bandar filed another request for the U.S. Supreme Court, this time to Justice John Paul Stevens, to block his transfer to Iraqi custody. Chief Justice John Roberts turned down an identical request on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Iraq's interior minister said whoever recorded Saddam's hanging on a cell phone camera would be punished, and al-Askari said two Justice Ministry guards were being questioned.
"The investigation committee is interrogating the men. If it is found that any official was involved, he will face legal measures," al-Askari said, referring to a committee set up by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to determine the video's origin and punish those involved.
The grainy video shows Saddam being taunted in his final moments Saturday, to shouts of "Go to hell!" and "Muqtada, Muqtada" — a reference to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who commands a Shiite militia responsible for violence against Saddam's fellow Sunnis.
Some officials have suggested the execution chamber was infiltrated by militiamen, but prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon, one of 14 official witnesses to the hanging, told Iraqi state television that wasn't the case.
"For reality and history, I say none of the militias attended the execution — only guards from the Justice Ministry," al-Faroon said. "I believe there wasn't any legal abuse, only moral violations."
The video also shows the former leader's death, when he drops through a trapdoor on the gallows and swings from a rope, his neck twisted and eyes open.
"The case of the filming of Saddam's execution is very critical," Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told reporters. "We made arrests and the investigation is going on. ... We'll punish them."
He did not give details on the suspects or say what punishment they might face.
The video was splashed on television screens and Web sites, startling the world with its ghastly depiction of Saddam's death and the chaos that preceded it. Many Iraqis loaded it onto cell phones.
In the southern city of Basra on Thursday, more than 1,500 people demonstrated to express approval of Saddam's execution and condemn governments that opposed it. The peaceful rally began at the offices of the Dawa party and ended at the provincial governor's building. The prime minister, who pushed for a speedy execution of Saddam, is a leader of the Dawa party.
In other developments:
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- I agree with Treuprogress: He is right on. The proof is that we are on the offensive. Despite the carping of the "elites" who would tell us that all cultures are the same, we are now gettin a dose of just how decent our country is.
Like JFK, Bush and Condi are dedicated to bringing freedom and liberty to people under the yoke of dictatorships. If you do not agree with such a policy, then you are Arab Phobic. They deserve to have a vote, freedom of speech, freedom for women and children, and religion, just like you do ! - Reply to this comment
- "Confusion Confusion"
According to the DoD, as of December 2006 there are approximately 323,000 trained and equipped Iraqi Security Forces(92 Iraqi Army battalions0. The DoD also confirms that as of the end of last year Iraqi's are in the lead in more than half of Iraq%u2019s territory, with Coalition forces providing assistance in certain key roles such as logistical support.
Were we not told that "as the Iraqi's stand up we will stand down?" If Iraqi's are in the "lead" in more than half the country, why are we proposing to send more troops to Iraq? Why are we not standing down our troops from areas where Iraqi's are in the lead and redeploying them to "hotspots"?
Personally, I do not dispute that the numbers of Iraqi's reported as trained. I don't even dispute that they are in the "lead." However, if our troops have not stood down, it can only be because the Iraqi's are probably not up to the job. Since the Iraq election, the number of US troops has remained stable (at between 138,000 to 140,000). This is a strong underlying indicator of both the confidence in and capability of Iraqi forces.
Remember the description is "taking the lead" not "taking control." As in so many instances with this war, we appear to be getting only half the story from the administration. - Reply to this comment
- "**No attacks on US soil since we went into Iraq. Connect the Dots**
Posted by trueprogress at 01:45 PM : Jan 04, 2007"
I guess that the many thousands of Americans who lost lives and limbs don't count, eh?
I bet you are foolish to think that Americans dying for foolish causes is good as long as they don't die at home, right. LOL
"Your ignorance is not your fault". LOL
We blame the successful propaganda and brainwashing of the warmongers and their apologists in the business media for the lack of intelligent thought and action of the part of the average American citizen. - Reply to this comment
- To Ceestes: Your ignorance is not your fault. The big media does not report:
1. Omar al-Faruq was a major leader of Al-Quaeda, killed by our troops, in Iraq. See Al Jazeera. It was a big deal.
2. Atta met with Iraq intellengencein Prague on May 30, 2000, barred to fly, he took a bus! to meet the Iraqui agents.
3. Captain Farouk Hijazi top aid to Saddam admits numerous meetings with Al Q.
4. Pres. Clinton Feb 18, 98, Saddam greatest threat.
5. Feb 23, 98 Fatwa issued in support of Iraq from Bin Laden, 4 days after Iraqi intel met with his men.
6. Saddam on audio tape planning biologic attack on NYC.
**No attacks on US soil since we went into Iraq. Connect the Dots** - Reply to this comment
- Question is do we even have the arms and armour and necessary armoured vehicles for these guys or are they going to be less armed than those before them?
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- To True Progress - awww jeez - you have no idea what you are blathering on about do you? First, few AQ are in iraq - least according to our own generals. Second, Sunnies are battling not themselves but shiites. The tribes in Iraq (sunnis, shiites and kurds) have been warring with each other between 8 and 13 centuries. It's the shiites who are strict religious muslims - the sunnis aren't which is why Iraq up till the invasion was the most advanced arab nation with women freely allowed education and working in top spots in companies, governement and hospitals. Shiites don't believe in education other than religious studies.
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- The single worst crime a national leader can commit is to launch a war of choice. A war for personal reasons or gain. To send our troops into battle as anything other then as a last resort to defend America and American interests. George W. Bush is guilty of committing this most grievous of crimes. Now he wants to send in even more of our troops in to be murdered in Bush's personal war, but even worse to die in vain in a lost cause. The biggest shame of our judicial system is that we no longer execute people by burning them at the stake, because no person in recent history anywhere in the world deserves that punishment more then George W. Bush.
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- No trueprogress we are not. Another lie. Al-queda is not even in Iraq. What is going on in Iraq right now is a civil war. That is the biggest reason for US deaths. Then there is the insurgency, which is NOT Al-Queda, but a group of people who are trying to overthrow the US invaders. Al-Queda might want to establish themselves, but they CAN'T, because the country is in such a state of upheaval.
All that *** about defeating Al-Queda there is just that, ALL CRAPPOLA. You have fallen for another Bush lie. Al-Queda was NEVER in Iraq, and is NOT there now. - Reply to this comment
- Bush is a JFK Progressive !
All you yahoo Muddle Heads don't get it. We are killing the Islamic Radical, Al Queada there. You don't get the news of this, not your fault, but everyday we are finding them, disrupting their plans, and killing their leaders. This is called war.
That the Sunnis etc are killing each other only shows their barbarism, and tribalism. Not our fault. So....next time you Pacific Radio nut heads hear, "Who are we to judge...their culture is better than ours", just remember - not true. We brought them a chance for democracy ! We are fullfilling JFK pledge to bring freedom to the world . Bush is a progressive ! You guys are reactionary Arab Phobic who believe they don't deserve a chance for liberty . Shame on you.
JFK ! - Reply to this comment
- Bush is a JFK Progressive !
All you yahoo Muddle Heads don't get it. We are killing the Islamic Radical, Al Queada there. You don't get the news of this, not your fault, but everyday we are finding them, disrupting their plans, and killing their leaders. This is called war.
That the Sunnis etc are killing each other only shows their barbarism, and tribalism. Not our fault. So....next time you Pacific Radio nut heads hear, "Who are we to judge...their culture is better than ours", just remember - not true. We brought them a chance for democracy ! We are fullfilling JFK pledge to bring freedom to the world . Bush is a progressive ! You guys are reactionary Arab Phobic who believe they don't deserve a chance for liberty . Shame on you.
JFK ! - Reply to this comment
Ex-NBA ref Tim Donaghy 
