February 11, 2009 5:29 PM
- Text
U.S. Woman Among 4 Killed In Iraq Ambush
(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.
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:
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.
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Scott Conroy Scott Conroy is a National Political Reporter for RealClearPolitics and a contributor for CBS News.
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