KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait, Jan. 17, 2007

U.S. Woman Among 4 Killed In Iraq Ambush

Democracy Group Ambushed By Gunmen; Meanwhile, 17 Dead In Sadr City Suicide Car Bombing

  • Play CBS Video Video Brutal Violence In Baghdad

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    Iraqis are reportedly outraged at reports that two of Saddam Hussein's loyalists were executed in a less than appropriate manner. Aleen Sirgany reports from Washington.

    • A wounded student rests at al-Kindi hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday Jan. 17, 2007. Twin car bombs tore through a leading Baghdad university as students left classes in the deadliest attack in Iraq in nearly two months.

      A wounded student rests at al-Kindi hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday Jan. 17, 2007. Twin car bombs tore through a leading Baghdad university as students left classes in the deadliest attack in Iraq in nearly two months.  (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

    • Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talks with Kuwaiti women at the US Embassy in Bayan, Kuwait City on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007 .Kuwait's emir told Rice that Washington should talk to Syria and Iran to improve the situation in Iraq, the country's foreign minister said Wednesday.

      Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talks with Kuwaiti women at the US Embassy in Bayan, Kuwait City on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007 .Kuwait's emir told Rice that Washington should talk to Syria and Iran to improve the situation in Iraq, the country's foreign minister said Wednesday.  (AP Photo/KUNA)

    • An Iraqi army officer said the attack on the Western convoy took place in Yarmouk, a predominantly Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad.

      An Iraqi army officer said the attack on the Western convoy took place in Yarmouk, a predominantly Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad.  (AP / CBS)

    • People stand by a car destroyed in a car bomb blast in Shiite district of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday Jan. 17, 2007.

      People stand by a car destroyed in a car bomb blast in Shiite district of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday Jan. 17, 2007.  (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

    • An Iraqi army soldier mans a checkpoint outside Baghdad's Mustansiryah Univeristy, a day after it was targeted by twin bombings, January 17, 2007.

      An Iraqi army soldier mans a checkpoint outside Baghdad's Mustansiryah Univeristy, a day after it was targeted by twin bombings, January 17, 2007.  (Getty Images/Ali Al-Saadi)

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(CBS/AP)  Gunmen in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Baghdad shot up a convoy of democracy workers in an ambush that took the lives of an American woman and three security contractors Wednesday, while a suicide car bomber killed 17 Shiites at a teeming Sadr City market.

The three-car convoy belonged to the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, according to Les Campbell, the not-for-profit group's Middle East director. He said the four dead included an American woman along with three security contractors — a Hungarian, a Croatian and an Iraqi. Two others were wounded, one seriously, Campbell said by telephone from Washington. Their names were withheld until their families could be notified.

“It appeared to be an attack with fairly heavy weapons, we don't know what kind,” Campbell said. “We have some information that a firefight ensued. Our security company responded to the attack.”

A colleague of the American woman who was killed described her as an "incredibly dedicated, motivated individual," reports CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan. The woman had been working in Iraq for several months. According to colleagues, all she wanted to do was make people's lives better.

An Iraqi army officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns, said the attack on the Western convoy took place in Yarmouk, a predominantly Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad.

Campbell said the ambush took place at midday as the group returned from a program elsewhere in Baghdad.

The National Democratic Institute, the group whose convoy was attacked Wednesday, supports democratic processes and institutions worldwide. Its staffers in Baghdad run training programs in democracy and political participation, as well as women's rights. The group has had staffers in Iraq since June 2003, though Campbell would not specify how many, for security reasons.

The organization is headed by former U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, reports Logan. The group is now re-evaluating their operations to decide if they will continue working in Iraq.

Kenneth Wollack, president of the organization, said in his Washington office that “this is a tragedy that has hit individuals that have been dedicated to the democratic future of Iraq.”

The American woman was the first full-time worker for the group to be killed in Iraq. A security contractor for the organization was killed in March 2004.

In other developments:

  • Kuwait's emir told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Washington should talk to Syria and Iran to improve the situation in Iraq, the Kuwaiti foreign minister said Wednesday. Rice came to Kuwait on Tuesday for a meeting on Iraq with her counterparts from the six Arab Gulf states plus Jordan and Egypt.

  • Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, back from a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, said Wednesday she is against President Bush's call to increase U.S. troops in Iraq. "I am opposed to this escalation," Clinton, D-N.Y., told CBS News' The Early Show. However, Clinton added, "I am for putting more troops in Afghanistan."

  • A former Iraqi Cabinet minister was home in suburban Chicago, a month after escaping from the Baghdad prison where he was serving time on corruption charges. Ayham al-Samaraie, the former minister of electricity, has both U.S. and Iraqi citizenship. Al-Samaraie was serving a two-year sentence on charges concerning about $2 billion in missing funds for contracts to rebuild Iraq's electrical infrastructure when he escaped Dec. 17 — he says with help from Americans — from an Iraqi-run jail. He says the charges against him were politically motivated.

  • Al-Jaafari told reporters after meeting the country's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani that followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr will end their six-week-old political boycott "very soon." Speaking about the 30 Iraqi legislators and six Cabinet ministers who follow al-Sadr, whose return is being discussed with the Shiite bloc in parliament, al-Jaafari said "the suspension of activities by the Sadrist bloc will end very soon, God willing." The boycott has kept them from parliament and Cabinet offices since they walked out over the late November meeting between Mr. Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Amman, Jordan.

    Meanwhile, a suicide car bomb struck a market in the Shiite district of Sadr City and police said 17 people died, a day after a blast targeting university students killed 70 in what appeared to be a renewed campaign of Sunni insurgent violence against Shiites.

    Few foreigners and even fewer women have been caught up in Iraq's recent wave of violence as many Western groups have left and those who remain have tightened security and curtailed their movements after a series of kidnappings and beheadings. The last known American female civilian to be killed was Marla Ruzicka, a 28-year-old rights activist from California who died in a car bombing in April 2005.

    Continued



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    Add a Comment See all 80 Comments
    by sandy777-2009 January 18, 2007 10:19 AM EST
    fascistusa ........you must be one of those muslim sickos.....dream on.....
    Reply to this comment
    by January 18, 2007 2:34 AM EST
    mh4cbs1 wrote:

    "Cheney to Bush conversation:

    VP Cheney: " How many times do I have to tell you George... As long as we end up with the Oil, we get our permanent Military Bases in Iraq, we set up a friendly Iraqi regime that will play ball with us, then who the F**K cares ahow many sucker middleclass kids must Die! Remember how we both dodged Vietnam (Laughter). Scr*w the troops (More Laughter). And I told you those Iraqis are all heathens, SO let the whole f***ing country become a deserted, smoking wasteland -- the Oil will still be there for our taking, and we'll be there to take it!"

    Later that day.... CBS News reports...
    The president warned that "deadly acts of violence will continue, and we must expect more Iraqi and American casualties.""

    Hmmmm - if only that wasn't so accurate.
    Reply to this comment
    by mdc76082 January 18, 2007 2:28 AM EST
    mh4cbs1, very, very good. Bravo! I like it.
    Reply to this comment
    by mdc76082 January 18, 2007 2:26 AM EST
    Jeez, did I come in at a bad time? Wow! Ok, so we've lost women from the Armed Forces and I'm sure maybe a Red Cross worker or two, why is this news? War doesn't discriminate in anyway shape or form. Just fact.
    Reply to this comment
    by mh4cbs1 January 18, 2007 2:21 AM EST
    Cheney to Bush conversation:

    VP Cheney: " How many times do I have to tell you George... As long as we end up with the Oil, we get our permanent Military Bases in Iraq, we set up a friendly Iraqi regime that will play ball with us, then who the F**K cares ahow many sucker middleclass kids must Die! Remember how we both dodged Vietnam (Laughter). Scr*w the troops (More Laughter). And I told you those Iraqis are all heathens, SO let the whole f***ing country become a deserted, smoking wasteland -- the Oil will still be there for our taking, and we'll be there to take it!"

    Later that day.... CBS News reports...
    The president warned that "deadly acts of violence will continue, and we must expect more Iraqi and American casualties."
    Reply to this comment
    by j-whitman January 18, 2007 1:44 AM EST
    Fascistusa,,, Now that you asked,, It'a been heading that way since before WW 2 or shortly after.. With unchecked presidential powers we are at the closest point yet,, They insist on Gonzales replacing all our judges with thier own people,, That's when it's complete...
    Reply to this comment
    by fascistusa January 18, 2007 1:31 AM EST
    White Woman News Alert.

    Now they'll never get those Guici Shoes they wanted. ***. And next week was the Big Sale.

    Spreading Democracy. Manifest Destiny. Save the Union. Freed The Slaves. Remember the Alamo. 9/11. Never Forget.

    Sound Familiar?

    Just how long HAS America been Fascist??
    Reply to this comment
    by j-whitman January 18, 2007 1:12 AM EST
    Past your bedtime, huh??
    Reply to this comment
    by j-whitman January 18, 2007 1:12 AM EST
    Miltpan,,,,
    Have you noticed anything from this excersise of ours ????

    Americans never lose the will to fight, neither do those in other countries - Again Bush & Cheney Lie,, only fools beleve thier rehtoric on anything..

    Reply to this comment
    by miltpan72 January 18, 2007 1:09 AM EST
    Just wanted to make sure there were no asterisks on that one.

    Nighty night and make sure you scare as many people as you can ALL NIGHT LONG.

    And make sure you do the same thing all day tomorrow too.
    Reply to this comment
    by j-whitman January 18, 2007 1:08 AM EST
    miltpan,,, You couldn't debate your shadow, you have no experiance outside your room.
    Reply to this comment
    by miltpan72 January 18, 2007 1:08 AM EST
    Try something other than Fox
    Posted by j-whitman at 10:02 PM : Jan 17, 2007

    TRY SOMETHING OTHER THAN A FAT MAN LOAF IN YOUR FACE! and try getting your facts (and your buddies facts) straight. When you can do that, I'll debate with you
    Reply to this comment
    by j-whitman January 18, 2007 1:07 AM EST
    Miltpan,,, The southern border's wide open,, you can run there.
    Reply to this comment
    by miltpan72 January 18, 2007 1:06 AM EST
    Try something other than Fox
    Posted by j-whitman at 10:02 PM : Jan 17, 2007

    TRY SOMETHING OTHER THAN ***! and try getting your facts (and your buddies facts) straight. When you can do that, I'll debate with you.

    Reply to this comment
    by j-whitman January 18, 2007 1:06 AM EST
    Miltpan,,, The draft is coming, you'd better run all the way to Canada.
    Reply to this comment
    by j-whitman January 18, 2007 1:05 AM EST
    Miltpan,,, Running??? From what ???
    Reply to this comment
    by miltpan72 January 18, 2007 1:02 AM EST
    Miltpan,,, Back to Korea for a moment, you can't go door to door with a census in the north,, You can't even get in there without alot of pull.. Then you have to get the info past the minders & out. Getting accurate census info is impossible..
    Posted by j-whitman at 09:55 PM : Jan 17, 2007


    Hey Bud....the census was taken in July of '05. At any rate, I am sure the 23 million the census site mentioned is much more accurate than the 3 billion you as shole friend mentioned. We don't even have 3 billion in this country! Are you still going to argue about how you (or your buddy exusmcsgt) are right. The more you do, the more foolish you look. As I said before. I AM RIGHT.
    Reply to this comment
    by j-whitman January 18, 2007 1:02 AM EST
    Try something other than Fox
    Reply to this comment
    by miltpan72 January 18, 2007 12:58 AM EST
    As far as PC use,, you seem to be on alot also... Difference is I also have the news on.
    Posted by j-whitman

    Yep and your doors are locked and your curtains are closed. It scary out there in the real world! That must be the reaon you are not part of it. I'm gonna turn on the news and see if they say anything about the 3 billion koreans that Kim Jong ll killed. I'll let you know how the weather is when I come in from my run.
    Reply to this comment
    by j-whitman January 18, 2007 12:56 AM EST
    Miltpan you're not even close to right.
    Reply to this comment
    See all 80 Comments
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