Baghdad Bomb Kills 121, Wounds Hundreds

Suicide Truck Bomber Hits Iraqi Market With 1 Ton Of Explosives

(CBS/AP)  Iraq's senior Shiite cleric called for Muslim unity and an end to sectarian conflict — his first public statement in months on the worsening security crisis.

The Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged all Muslims to work to overcome sectarian differences and calm the passions, which serve only "those who want to dominate the Islamic country and control its resources to achieve their aims."

In the northern city of Kirkuk, eight bombs exploded within two hours, beginning with a suicide car bomber who targeted the offices of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani, leader of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, police said. Two people were killed in the first explosion, which devastated four nearby houses.

Nobody claimed responsibility for the attacks in the oil-rich region, but concerns have been raised that insurgents have fled north to avoid the impending crackdown in Baghdad. Ethnic tensions also have risen in the area over a Kurdish bid to incorporate it into their autonomous region to the north.

"We are upset and angry about the existence of a party office in our area," Um Khalid, a 52-year-old Turkomen housewife, said as she examined her home, damaged in the first explosion. "Had the office not been here, the suicide bomber would not have chosen to explode his car near our houses."

Razqar Ali, a Kurdish leader and head of Kirkuk provincial council, accused the militants of trying to destabilize the city.

"They want to depict the city as unsafe to provide a pretext to other groups to interfere," he said, an implicit reference to Turkey's objections to the Kurdish efforts.

Turkey, Iraq's northern neighbor, is pressuring the Iraqi government to protect the interests of the Turkomen, ethnic Turks who once were a majority in the city. Ankara also fears Iraqi Kurdish ambitions could fuel hostilities with Kurdish separatists at home.

In Mosul, northwest of Kirkuk, armed insurgents and Iraqi forces fought for several hours and authorities imposed a temporary curfew on the city. There was no immediate word on casualties. Police spokesman Brig. Abdul Karim al-Jubouri said Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. air power were moving in.

Gunmen also attacked a police checkpoint at the northern entrance to Samarra 60 miles north of Baghdad, killing four policemen and wounding another, police said, adding that three militants were killed and one was wounded in the fighting that lasted for about 30 minutes.

In Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, a convoy of 15 cars carrying gunmen brandishing weapons and banners declaring the establishment of an "Islamic State" drove through the Sunni town while businessmen quickly closed their stores for fear of trouble.

The show of force followed the Iraqi government's announcement on Tuesday that it had arrested a provincial leader of al Qaeda in Iraq and broken a major cell in the area.

[feelfree1]

usadvisor101,

You sound very angry, yet quite comfortable in your ignorance. Do a little reading.

[firststate]

usadvisor101
Actually I'm in Delaware, I just heard qbout the situation in MN and tracked down the details. I'm steamed that our governemnt would treat one of our own soldiers that callously.

Stay safe

[feelfree1]

usadvisor101,

Re: "that statement was a lie about us forces training the mehdi army."

As I have already mentioned, if you are really a U.S. advisor, it is easy to see why we are being defeated so badly, on so many fronts.

You are obviously a victim of your own propaganda, and you will never be capable of any meaningful analysis until you can learn from your mistakes.

Here is the source for my story. If you can debunk any of it with anything more substantial than vacuous denial, come back and let us know.

www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IA11Ak03.html

[acauble1]

I never supported this war to begin with.

However, as recently as a month ago I thought:

- We shouldn't leave Iraq prematurely, otherwise the chaos over there would only get worse and potentially involve the whole Middle East region as opposed to just Iraq.

Now, my thoughts are:

F'CK THEM! F'CK THEM ALL!! LET THEM ALL KILL EACH OTHER OR DEFEND THEMSELVES. NO MORE AMERICANS SHOULD BE KILLED FOR THIS BS!
.
.

[lars008-2009]

ISLAM IS A VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW!

ISLAM PRACTICES SLAVERY OF NON MUSLIMMS
ISLAM PRACTICES APARTHIED OF NON MUSLIMMS
ISLAM PRACTICES RAPE OF NON MUSLIMMS
ISLAM PRACTICES GENOCIDE OF NON MUSLIMS

ALL ARE VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND ARE CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

[bluestardad]

Bush and Congress are Staying the Course!

[firststate]

usadvisor101
got to get to bed to get up to stay inside because of the cold. It's not supposed to get above freezing til maybe next weekend. I'll think about going outside then. Have a good one. Don't be a stranger on here.

[firststate]

usadvisor101
At least he's done playing super general, I saw a clip where he was somewhere that required his removing his shoes. Bigass holes in the toes of both socks. Guess he's too busy robbing the bank to buy socks.

We've all got to do something about the VA hospitals. I don't know if you're aware of the marine in MN who committed suicide after begging to be admitted. He got the "we've got a waiting list speech." I've been on a rant to get people to just email their senators and congressman to get something done. Fix it and then investigate it to he11, but fix it. With the new budget request we're going to be borrowing over $5300.00 a second to spend over there. Another $100/second would give close to $8.5 million a day to fix it. That just chapped my A$$. If you aren't aware of this mess go to: http://www.startribune.com/462/story/963363.html, it's his town's paper. We owed him better.

I think you're right about the dad-son thing. Apparently he's always been the family screwup, Jeb was supposed to be the one to run in 2000, but he lost his first try in Florida, so maybe W thought he'd show 'em. His dad wasn't the brightest bulb, but he listened to people who were. Whatever went on, that family and their close friends aren't the one's losing the kids.

[firststate]

The best minds available told bonzo as they had told his dad that he could expect the exact situation we are facing now if we removed Saddam, bush 41 listened. Our chimp decided he was smarter. The decider got that wrong,too. He11, he's not smarter than Barney.

As a direct result of the Commander-InCompetent's ego nearly 3,100 of our finest, brave young men and women have given their lives proving the folly of his pride. Still, he will not learn.

[feelfree1]

usadvisor101,

Negroponte oversaw similar death-squad operations South America during the Iran/contra conspiracy, and he got away with it. Seems pretty naive to me to be so certain that he might not try this tactic in Iraq.

Thanks for the discussion.
Again, good evening.

[feelfree1]

usadvisor101,

Re: "feelfree hate to keep schooling ya, but the source of heroin is the poppie."

Claiming that opium is the same thing as heroin is like claiming that gasoline is the same thing as crude oil.

Re: "afghanistan is ten times better than it was under the taliban."

I hope that you will understand if I don't take your word for it.

Good evening.

[searingtruth]

"Her face of horror could not be seen so I blanked it out. No innocence. No ignorance. Just summary guilt. And death."
SearingTruth

"The blood. All of that blood. Dried and brittle and bound to her skin. To act as if I did not notice, as if I did not care. To search, to salvage, to endure, to live. To return. Broken."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[feelfree1]

Sorry, not heroin, but opium.

[feelfree1]

usadvisor101,

Re: "i dont think antiwar protesters should be crying about poppies"

If you fail to see the significance of billions and billions of dollars of herion money being funneled to Afghan war/drug-lords, then you really don't have any business advising anyone, now do you?

[feelfree1]

usadvisor101,

You are living in a dream land. If the Mahdi Army was 'completely crushed' in the battle of Najaf, then how were hundreds of their ranks, out of thousands, taken into custody just last week?

Furthermore, no mock-election conducted under the boot of a brutal and illegal occupation force will ever be viewed by many as having any legitimacy. Failure to recognise this is yet another reason why the U.S. will never prevail in Iraq.

[searingtruth]

"We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield."
George Orwell

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[searingtruth]

"Which morality shall we claim?
That of magnanimous oppressor and murderer in substitute of heartless oppression and murder?"
SearingTruth

"Death. I saw only death. And a promise from evil that death would soon subside."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[feelfree1]

Woops.

"directly resulting in Afghanistan recovering form negligible poppy cultivation, to the leading global supplier of the globe."

...should be, "directly resulting in Afghanistan recovering from having negligible poppy cultivation, to again being the leading global supplier of heroin."

Proofreading never hurts.

[firststate]

usadvisor101
You should bear in mind that the Shia got the short end from the Sunni and Baathists for years. Given their penchant for revenge, it may just as easily have been they who started taking out discrete numbers of Sunnis even before the golden dome mess. Al malikis government has also consistently been directing the security forces against Sunnis and their rarer alQaeda allies. I'd hate to hazard a guess at which side is more responsible for the madness. As an outsider, I'd guess that both sides have been waiting for the opportunity to get at each other for years, but were restrained by Saddam. Then, in our alleged leader's wisdom, we took Saddam out, thereby inviting Iran and sectarian violence in. Unfortunately, you can't believe any of the parties involved, including our administration. They all tell whatever part of the truth suits their purposes.

[searingtruth]

"And so death begat death, and suffering begat suffering, until all had been consumed, and all cause lost."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com