BAGHDAD, Feb. 7, 2007
Iraqi Official Tied To Militia Jailed
Also, Military Says 13 Insurgents Killed In Air Strike, Locals Say 45 Civilians Dead
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Play CBS Video Video 7 Dead In Iraq Chopper Crash All 7 people aboard a U.S. military helicopter that crashed in Iraq have died. Also, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Congress again that he is still optimistic about Iraq. Aleen Sirgany reports.
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Video Bremer Quizzed On Iraqi Money Democrats say Paul Bremer, once head of the Iraq occupation, must answer as to where nearly $12 billion of Iraqi reconstruction money went. David Martin reports.
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Video U.S. Raids Iraqi Ministry U.S. troops arrested the Iraqi Health Ministry's second-in-command for allegedly financing Shiite death squads. Lara Logan reports.
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An Iraqi boy injured in a U.S. army air raid is rushed into a hospital in Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007. (AP Photo)
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Iraqis gather to inspect a wreck of a minibus that was destroyed in a car bomb blast in eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007. A parked car bomb exploded near a mosque in the predominantly Shiite Amin neighborhood, killing seven people and injuring another 10, police said. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
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An Iraqi army soldier controls traffic at a vehicle checkpoint in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007. U.S. officials confirmed the new security operation which will involve about 90,000 Iraqi and American troops and is seen by many as a last chance to curb Iraq's sectarian war was under way after a delayed start. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
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Hakim al-Zamili appears in this Jan. 17, 2007 file photo. Al-Zamili is accused of diverting millions of dollars to the biggest Shiite militia and allowing death squads use of ambulances and government hospitals to carry out kidnappings and killings. (AP (file))
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An Iraqi Army soldier searches a driver at a vehicle checkpoint in central Baghdad on Feb. 7, 2007. (AP)
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Shiite politicians allied with anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr denounced the arrest of Deputy Health Minister Hakim al-Zamili as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and demanded that the prime minister intervene to win his release.
CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan spoke to Ali-al-Shammari, the outraged Iraqi Health Minister, who protested the innocence of his deputy.
"I will not accept that he will work with me and at the same time he is kidnapping or killing other people," he said.
But Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his senior advisers remained silent. Al-Maliki, a Shiite, is under strong U.S. pressure to crack down on Shiite militias and has pledged not to interfere in the security operation to rid Baghdad's streets of gunmen from both Islamic sects.
Logan reports that al-Zamili is suspected of allowing al-Sadr loyalists easy access to Baghdad's hospitals, where the militants would often kill doctors, nurses, and family members who came to visit loved ones injured in the daily attacks - or to collect their bodies.
The arrest took place at 9 a.m., an hour after Iraqi government offices generally open. Iraqi troops pushed through the iron gates of the Health Ministry building in northern Baghdad, ordered people to drop to the ground and rushed to al-Zamili's ground-floor office, witnesses said.
One of al-Zamili's bodyguards said American soldiers accompanying the force asked everyone to step aside and approached the deputy minister, who introduced himself. A U.S. soldier handcuffed al-Zamili and led him away, the guard said on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisal.
AP Television News footage of al-Zamili's office showed overturned chairs and smashed computers along with scattered files and telephones on the floor. Dusty, white boot prints marked the door, apparently because the troops had kicked it in.
This arrest is seen in Iraq as a test of wills that will reveal how far the Iraqi Prime Minister is prepared to go in alienating his allies and supporting the latest U.S. effort to secure Baghdad, Logan reports.
Meanwhile, in Anbar province west of Baghdad, a U.S. air strike killed 13 insurgents in a raid on two safe houses where intelligence showed foreign fighters were assembled near Amiriyah, the military said. Five militants were detained and a weapons cache was found in an initial raid on a target near the safe houses.
Police and hospital officials in the area offered a conflicting account, saying the airstrike hit the village of Zaidan south of Abu Ghraib and flattened four houses, killing 45 people, including women, children and old people.
In other developments:
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- On the most recent account of corruption CBS News Reported via, KVTV Dallas article that billions of gallons of oil are being stolen because Iraq has no meters in place to gauge how much oil is being produced, pumped, or loaded on to tankers in the gulf. This has been going on now in Iraq for years. How can anyone know how much money or oil has been stolen under the watch of Coalition forces, it makes the United Nations Oil for food scandal pale in comparison. If you combine this blatant theft with the Slant drilling being done by Iraqi%u2019s neighbors there are unaccountable billions of dollars being stolen in Iraq right now. What type of management or leadership has been responsible in Iraq for the last four years? Iraqi and American Dollars by the tons have been sent to Iraq and lost, stolen or squandered. Who has been in charge of this oversite where is the accountability?
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- We do use books that call Jews 'apes' admits head of Islamic school
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23384657-details/We%20do%20use%20books%20that%20call%20Jews%20'apes'%20admits%20head%20of%20Islamic%20school/article.do?expand=true#StartComments - Reply to this comment
- Terrorism Awareness Project to wake up Americans
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/islamic-mein-kampf
buy yourself a sense of humor you fascist nazi Islamic muslims%u2026
http://www.henryk-broder.de/tagebuch/karikaturisten.html - Reply to this comment
- He's having Mark Foley dreams
- Reply to this comment
- Answer my question singingrick/lars008 - or are you too spineless to respond?
- Reply to this comment
- I was there, midtown
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- Goodnight Rick, remember sleep with one eye open, those nasty al qaeda boys are coming whooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaa
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- Truth of the matter is Dems are a spineless breed. Also it doesn't hurt that keeping Bush in power gaurantees more tragic f*ck ups and ensure dems success in 08. Why do you think republicans are distancing themselves from Bush.
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- Singinrick, this is the point, I don't care how you live your life. It has no bearing on the subject at hand. For all you know I could be a devout christian, who chooses not to wear his religion on his sleeve, maybe like 99% of the people here I like to debate the issues, and not inject my faith into everything
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- singingrick/lars008:
Tell me this - why are you so cowardly that you allow others to do the fighting for you?
Why is it that you support Bush and his policies, as well as the War on Iraq and the murder of innocent civilians, and yet, you won't go and fight in Iraq? - Reply to this comment
- singinrick wrote:
"Ok mcdazz,
If President Bush has committed so many "crimes" as you say don't you think he would be impeached by now?
There is no crime being committed here and you know it. All you want to do is point fingers at our president, blame him for everything, even though a majority of democrats supported this war going in, including Pelosi, the Clintons, the list goes on and on....
But it's all Bush's fault though right! Every bit of it! This is so childish mcdazz!
Even the MEDIA can't deny this, surprisingly enough!"
singingrick, do you think Saddam Hussein was put on trial as soon as he committed a crime? Hitler? Or any other criminal for that matter?
Bush should not only be impeached, but he should be put on trial in an International War Crimes court.
The fact that this is yet to happen (and most probably won't unfortunately) doesn't detract from the fact that he is responsible for an illegal war (and as we all know, a war based on lies and false "intelligence") and for the deaths of tens or hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.
The democrats could impeach him, if they wanted, but for some reason they are too cowardly to pursue this.
But it doesn't mean that he isn't guilty of crimes. - Reply to this comment
- Rick I see you don't like your dumb logic when its turned around and fired right back at you
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- "Iran hates Bush"
Singinrick
Earth to rick, everybody hates Bush - Reply to this comment
- You call Mcdazz an athiest because he has never said he believes in Jesus Christ. I have met some fine people who when asked about the subject informed me that they were christian, had I not asked them I probably would have never known. Some people are too busy living their lives as a christian to preach.
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- Typical Rick, if you don't stand on a pulpit and ram religion down peoples throat you're not a christian, if you don't drool over Bush, well, you must be a card carrying member of Al queda. In some ways I envy Rick, it must be so much easier going through life without having to think.
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- I just love Ricks argumentative reasoning. Rick, I believe you gave oral *** to George Bush. What's my logic, well, you've never denied it.
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- scouser691 wrote:
"Mcdazz, be fair to rick now, someone has to stay behind in America and spout out mindless ignorant drivel"
lol - so true. - Reply to this comment
- singingrick (aka lars008) wrote:
"Where have you said you believe in Jesus Christ?
All we see on here is your constant bashing of Christians and hatred of those who stand up for God and calling them the liars and hypocrites.
Admit it, you just can't stand that I disagree with you so you resort to slandering and falsifications on this silly message board in an attempt to solidify your stance on things.
Putting a website up as a link on here showing what Muslim terrorists do to OUR INNOCENT AMERICAN CITIZENS is NOT spreading hate mcdazz, it's called reminding people of the TRUTH in this sick enemy we are facing in Radical Islam."
Firstly singingrick, please stop making me laugh - it's really hurting.
Secondly, I don't have to say that I believe in Jesus Christ for me to *actually* believe in Jesus Christ.
If you were a true christian, you would know what Jesus has said about that.
Thirdly, I don't bash all christians - only the fake christians - those who twist the words of Jesus for their own cause.
You know all about that singingrick/lars008.
Finally, if you were really a christian, you wouldn't be spreading messages of hatred as you are.
As I said before, you are inciting others to hate, as much as Jesus enemies conspired against him.
You're a fake singingrick/lars008 - a hypocrite, a liar and a fake christian.
Have a nice day. :-) - Reply to this comment
- But if you love Bush so much, then why aren't you in Iraq taking care of his business?
Mcdazz, be fair to rick now, someone has to stay behind in America and spout out mindless ignorant drivel - Reply to this comment
- singingrick (aka lars008) wrote:
"After we've got the Iraqis, then perhaps we should start with the Bush Administration.
Posted by mcdazz
-This is what you said right mcdazz? Are you denying that you share the same views as the prez of Iran and Hezbollah? You know they would like to see Bush handed over as well right? You do know they teach young children to hate America in Iran right? I hope you're aware of this. If not you need to educate yourself.
Funny you say after "we" are done with the Iraqis. Last time I checked it was the BUSH administration who is nabbing these bad guys. Then you turn around and say we should go after our own president next???"
Oh, singingrick, you are such an incredible idiot - but you do make me laugh (at you, not with you).
Do I share the same views as Iran and Hezbollah?
Not a chance.
Do I think that a Government Administration should be held responsible for their crimes?
Absolutely - that includes the Iraqi Gov, the US Gov, the Iranian Gov, the Israeli Gov, the English Gov etc etc.
You see, singingrick/lars008, unlike you, I refuse to let a Gov walk over me - especially a corrupt and inept Gov like the Bush Administration.
I believe in holding them responsible for their actions, whereas, you apparently appear quite happy to be walked over.
But if you love Bush so much, then why aren't you in Iraq taking care of his business?
I suspect it's because you're all talk and no action - like most cowards are.
Have a nice day singingrick. :-) - Reply to this comment
