At Least 122 Killed In Iraq Violence

Suicide Bombers Target Shiite Marketplaces In Baghdad And Town North Of Capital

(AP)  Five suicide bombers struck Shiite marketplaces in northeast Baghdad and a town north of the capital at nightfall Thursday, killing at least 122 people and wounding more than 150 in one of Iraq's deadliest days in years.

The savage attacks came as a new American ambassador began his first day on the job, and Senate Democrats ignored a veto threat and approved a bill to require President Bush to start withdrawing troops.

At least 178 people were killed or found dead Thursday, which marked the end of the seventh week of the latest U.S.-Iraqi military drive to curtail violence in Baghdad and surrounding regions.

The suicide bombers hit markets in the Shiite town of Khalis and the Shaab neighborhood in Baghdad during the busiest time of the day, timing that has become a trademark of what are believed to be Sunni insurgent or al Qaeda suicide attackers.

Three suicide vehicle bombs, including an explosives-packed ambulance, detonated in a market in Khalis, 50 miles north of the capital, which was especially crowded because government flour rations had just arrived for the first time in six months, local television stations reported.

At least 43 people were killed and 86 wounded, police said.

In the north Baghdad bombings, two suicide attackers wearing explosives vests blew themselves up in the Shalal market in the predominantly Shiite Shaab neighborhood. At least 79 people were killed and 81 wounded as they jammed the market to buy provisions on the eve of the Muslim day of rest and prayer.

The carnage in Iraq cast a shadow over Ryan Crocker's first day as ambassador. He takes over in the midst of the U.S.-Iraqi security sweep, for which President Bush committed nearly 30,000 additional troops to dampen what had become uncontrollable violence in the capital.

The Senate's rare rebuke to a wartime commander in chief came in a 51-47 vote to provide $123 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Senators also ordered Mr. Bush to begin withdrawing troops within 120 days of the bill's passage, and set a nonbinding goal of ending combat operations by March 31, 2008.

"President Bush's policy is the right one. There has been progress; there is also much more to be done," the 57-year-old Crocker said at his swearing in at the American Embassy in Saddam Hussein's former Republican Palace, which is now in the heart of the heavily guarded Green Zone.

[mcvet]

It seems that the Talking heads are now telling us that BUSH has FINALLY, after 4 LONG years, come up with something that works. They say we can NOW see progress and the Sunni's aren't killing Shiite or the other way around as bad as they were. So now we can win IF we stay another 5 or 6 years, they say. Win WHAT!! Can anyone out there tell me what the HELL we stand to WIN that we haven't already won. Are we going to stop a civil war in this nation? Well just ask the folks in Bosnia that question. You can stall it but you can not stop it. This is INSANE. We went there to PROTECT THIS NATION. To remove WEAPONS and to distroy those who attacked us. There are NO weapons and those who attacked us are in ANOTHER country. What Bush wants is a model little country, a lap dog, that can be trained. That isn't going to happen folks.

[zoroastor]

Tell me again neo-cons how things are improving in Iraq. How is the surge working?
Before you answer, I'm not looking at this string of incidents in isolation. Nor should you. This is the reality in Iraq.

[formrusmcsgt]

More proof of the "squeeze the balloon" effect that occurs when fighting guerilla forces. You squeeze here, it expands there.

The neocons claim the surge is effective because there is a drop in deaths in Baghdad proper. It means nothing if the violence just shifts to other areas.

The attacks continue, just on different targets proving every time tha fallacy of a strategy that pits a standing army against guerilla forces.

The guerilla forces choose their time and place and are not stupid enouh to attack where we are, they'll attack where we are not.

[antoniof123]

Well, just another day in hell. We have brought this on ourselves it is time to pull out of Iraq. When you fight a war you are supposed to beat your emeny into the ground where they no longer have the will to fight back. That is why war is to be avoided at all cost. However, the cons think that war can be clean it is not and never will be. But they don't care because they get the poor to fight their wars. I say let's send the cons to Iraq and let them fight it out.

[observantx]

The civil war mushrooms out of control and Fearless Leader STILL doesn't get it. We surge troops into one area, and the insurgents surge out into another. Wack-a mole, cat and mouse, hide and seek.

Because of Bremer's and Rummy's bungling the chances of success are negligible. We'd have better luck trying to nail jelly to a tree. The problem is it's going to cost a lot more lives and limbs before we finally have to pull out with nothing to show for it except severe damage. Damage to our soldiers and their families, damage to our armed forces, damage to our world standing and moral authority, and because of this crew of thugs in our White House, severe damage to our security and our Constitution.

Heckovajob George.

Oh and here's your orange jumpsuit uniform and welcome to your new quarters. Oh him? That's Bubba, your new roomy. I hear he's been very anxious to meet you and get very close to you.

Light's out in ten minutes.

[formrusmcsgt]

so we go indebt to give israel billions???????? what kind of ally do we have here, that sits and ignores our huge debt we have incured, for the war their lobbyist helped talk us into!!!
Posted by usadvisor101 at 10:30 AM : Mar 29, 2007

Not to mention the attack by Israel on the USS Liberty or Jonathan Pollard.......some ally, indeed.

[wdrussell1]

As the General flails his arms and screeches 'this is not a civil war'.

[lawva]

oh, the grief
oh, what pride
another american
soldier died -
an i.e.d.
took his life
and she will never
be his wife.

oh, what grief
oh, the plight
no osama
in iraq tonight
no wmd, no yellow cake
how many crusades
will it take
before deed done is
no war won
just another
generation of
sons of a gun

[lars008-2009]

the war that fascist nazi Islamic muslims started and continues on yet today%u2026%u2026

The Truth about Islamic Crusades and Imperialism
Historical facts say that Islam has been imperialistic%u2014and would still like to be, if only for religious reasons. Many Muslim clerics, scholars, and activists, for example, would like to impose Islamic law around the world. Historical facts say that Islam, including Muhammad, launched their own Crusades against Christianity long before the European Crusades.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2005/11/the_truth_about_islamic_crusad.html
http://www.americanthinker.com/2004/08/the_muslim_crusades.html

[formrusmcsgt]

lars-

I see you still haven't sought any help for your Islamophobia...too bed.

[karlimhof]

Not to mention the attack by Israel on the USS Liberty or Jonathan Pollard.......some ally, indeed.
Posted by formrusmcsgt


here a partial copy of an email I received from a USS Liberty survivor. I'd like to share it with you - many here online like "honest_news" deny the facts ;




Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 6:12 PM
To: Karl ImhoF Subject: Re: USS Liberty


Unfortunately, it has been two years since we filed our War Crimes
Report. The
Department of Defense has not responded in any way, even though they are
required to do so. Privately people are told that "it has already been
investigated," which is not so. A retired Navy Judge Advocate General,
Rear Admiral Merlin Staring, called personally upon the Secretary of
Defense to urge their support and to elicit a response, but they declined.

We keep looking for other approaches, but if the US government does not
want to obey the law, there is little a citizen can do to compel compliance.

[karlimhof]

formrusmcsgt

as way of p.s. I continued my correspondence with this ex-USS Liberty officier and we discussed legal actions.

A DC law firm asks for $50'000 retainer estimating total cost $250'000+ to "try" to force the government to respond to its legal obligations to an official War Crimes Report by surviving members of our USS Liberty.

Absolutely scandelous.

[formrusmcsgt]

Some quotes from the time karlimhof, regarding the attack:

"I was never satisfied with the Israeli explanation. . . . Through diplomatic channels we refused to accept their explanations. I didn't believe them then, and I don't believe them to this day. The attack was outrageous "
-- US Secretary of State Dean Rusk

"...the board of inquiry (concluded) that the Israelis knew exactly what they were doing in attacking the Liberty."
-- CIA Director Richard Helms

"I can tell you for an absolute certainty (from intercepted communications) that the Israelis knew they were attacking an American ship."
-- NSA Deputy Director Oliver Kirby

"That the Liberty could have been mistaken for the Egyptian supply ship El Quseir is unbelievable"
-- Special Assistant to the President Clark Clifford, in his report to President Lyndon Johnson

"The highest officials of the [Johnson] administration, including the President, believed it 'inconceivable' that Israel's 'skilled' defense forces could have committed such a gross error."
-- Lyndon Johnson's biographer Robert Dallek in Flawed Giant, Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 430-31)

"A nice whitewash for a group of ignorant, stupid and inept [expletive deleted]."
-- Handwritten note of August 26, 1967, by NSA Deputy Director Louis W. Tordella reacting to the Israeli court decision exonerating Israelis of blame for the Liberty attack.

[lars008-2009]

FASCIST NAZI ISLAM SAYS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATES ISLAM LAW...
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
For example, in 1981, the Iranian representative to the United Nations, Said Rajaie-Khorassani, articulated the position of his country regarding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by saying that the UDHR was "a secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition", which could not be implemented by Muslims without trespassing the Islamic law.

[seven-pesos]

never met a southerner that i ever liked.

the south is america's most militaristic and political right wing region.

there are more military bases in the south than any of part of america.

the south is paid to fight america's wars and protect america from our adversaries.

unfortunately, the south never learned how to win any wars...

1)jefferson davis lost the civil war
2)johnson lost the vietnam war
3)bush loses the iraq war.

i say: what are we paying those southerners for?

maybe we should get puerto rico to fight america's wars.

ha,ha,ha.

never a war the south couldn't lose.

[micma-2009]

lars008/singinrick

Which one of Bush's plans do you think has been most effective:

Stay the course part 1?

Stay the course part 2?

Stay the course part 3?

Stay the course part 4?

[bluestardad]

STAY THE COURSE GUESS THESE SUNNIS DID NOT GET THEIR SHARE OF THE 363 TONS OF MONEY OR THE 300 BILLION AMERICAN TAX DOLLARS! THEY JUST BETTER UP THE ANTI AND KILL SOME MORE PEOPLE!

[j-whitman]

5 1/2 Years Later - Bush's 'War on Terror' draws fire as misguided venture.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070329/ts_nm/security_usa_dc;_ylt=AnhZo9K9Gdbz2XCIfdGX6vnMWM0F

[gunownerdan]

Religious nuts have never been able to get along with other religious nuts even if they are of the same faith.
No person should ever die over ancient fairytales!

[zoltaric]

Cool! 100 less muslim retards to deal with

[formrusmcsgt]

Religious nuts have never been able to get along with other religious nuts even if they are of the same faith.
No person should ever die over ancient fairytales!
Posted by GunOwnerDan at 02:54 PM : Mar 29, 2007

Some never outgrow a child's need to believe in them....

[formrusmcsgt]

thought we're supposed to be making progress as of recently...this doesn't sound like progress.
Posted by jh6379 at 03:05 PM : Mar 29, 2007

Just watch Fox News tonight and you'll see reports of success......

[condumism]

I'm still looking for an answer as to what the Republicon Party stands for??? I see that all reamaining Bush supporters still buy into Iraq as the cause of 9/11, Iraq as the center piece in the War on Terror, thus making Iraq a terminal threat to the USA. So please tell me cons, besides fantasies based upon lies, what is it that Republicon Party stands for these days? Clearly you cons are all delusional now that your in the purist form of fascism. Since your party doesn't stand for anything other than GREED, arrogance, pure self-centeredness, why not face the facts that the Republicon Party is no more than a regional party that only represents the original Confederate States. May I suggest the old confederacy secede from America? May I also suggest our new Democratic Congress make war profiteering a treasonous crime against America, punishable by death. This would quickly end the Rethuglicon Industrial War Machine that's done NOTHING good for america since its inception.

[jebby_one]

neo-commie professes;

Religious nuts have never been able to get along with other religious nuts even if they are of the same faith. No person should ever die over ancient fairytales!

-------------------

haaaa .. so when have you noticed anti-religion commie nuts getting along?

Well, sometimes they can for a while, like right after they've executed everyone who disagreed with them.

[j-whitman]

Let's face it,,, Any signs of progress is pure hyped propaganda.. Now the Iraq government wants to put in power elements of Saddam's party.

[formrusmcsgt]

ha
aaa .. so when have you noticed anti-religion commie nuts getting along?

Well, sometimes they can for a while, like right after they've executed everyone who disagreed with them.

Posted by Jebby_One at 03:18 PM : Mar 29, 2007

One doesn't have to be a "commie" to not buy into fairy tales, Jebby.

[searingtruth]

Once again the depth and breadth of the lies spread by Bush and his henchmen are as an ocean which covers all land.

Just Monday Bush and accomplices, headed this week by the once respected John McCain, were claiming that not only had things turned around in Baghdad, but that there were actually streets that foreigners could walk down without armed escort.

More than one embedded reporter actually in Baghdad was flabbergasted. One of the most memorable said that McCain's statements were incredible, and that his he could barely be heard over the gun battles behind him and the helicopters above him.

He also incredulously asked that McCain tell him where the "safe" streets were, and then come to Baghdad so that he and the Senator could stroll them together. He said that the truth was that no foreigner, especially an American, would last more than 20 minutes alone on the streets of Baghdad.

Of course days later McCain just outright lied and said that he had never made these claims (even though a video clip showed him making the statements just 10 seconds before his response), and he tried to totally re-characterize and restate his position, which was that Baghdad was still very dangerous, everyone needed armed escorts, but that things really were getting better. Really.
ST


"Truth is transcendent, as evidenced by our inability to escape it."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[dsutton13]

It is important that we leave Iraq sometime in the near future. The surge is having a positive effect but it will not stop all acts of violence. There is now way on earth our troops can stop ALL the violence, no matter how many we place there. How we leave is just as important as leaving. A phased withdrawal, without a artificially imposed date certain pull out schedule, based on our military commanders estimates of the Iraqi security forces strength is the best way to go. As certain Iraqi units are able to take over area's currently being patroled by US troops...we send those troops home. Step, step, not here's the dates, times, and flight schedules regardless of how things are going on the ground. Tipping our hand to the radical islamist by giving them a schedule to PLAN BY is not just plain foolish, its moronic. We could and should start a phased plan withdrawal in the near future...but forget the articial, politically driven, dates, and times that GUARANTEE failure.

[formrusmcsgt]

If you want the truth about how secure the situation is in Iraq you need look no further than the fact that our officials still, after four full years of occupation, have to make unannounced trips to Iraq sneaking in like terrorists.

[j-whitman]

dsutton13 -- The surge is doing exactly what it has done every time we've tried it.. - We go in, they go out,,,,, We chase them, they come back --- Conditions simply aren't what Bush says, not even in his "Model City" in the north.... Much worse.

[j-whitman]

Even people in the Emerald City are told "Do not step outside without helmets & armor.. Rocket attacks are daily. -- That's the Green Zone

[formrusmcsgt]

Step, step, not here's the dates, times, and flight schedules regardless of how things are going on the ground.
Posted by dsutton13 at 03:22 PM : Mar 29, 2007

For the last four years the Bush administration has been claiming to be training Iraqis to take control of the situation and they still are not capable of doing so.

How many more years would you recommend that we waste in this obviously futile effort?

[sdb101-2009]

I was pro-Bush, but now I'm thinking the idiot left has a good strategy (hypothetically speaking)-why risk our soldiers lives when our goal is to defeat the muslims. Let's pull out of Iraq and let the civil war rage out of control. They can wipe each other out for us. Then let Iran and Saudi Arabia battle for control over the mideast, while depleting their armies/resources.

We westerners should just play "referee" maybe arm both sides and make sure no one gets their hands on any nukes while the muslims go on their epic killing spree. Once a 'new power' emerges, which is obviously going to be extremely radical-then we get in there, destroy them and mop up the mess. Problem solved, no more islam in the mideast. In the meantime we should focus on the West to kill the cancer of Islam in our countries.

I have muslim friends who I thought were truely "moderate", but having had some discussions with them, I'm now convinced there's no such thing as a moderate muslim-they're just as screwed up and as destructive as the Osamas of this world and I couldn't care less if they got annihilated as well. *** ISLAM and its brain-dead zombie followers. *** the stupid cowardly LEFT for blindly defending our enemies who seek to destroy us. More than half of the US population wants to win this war-so there's enough of us that are willing to see this through to victory-neither the muzzies or the left can stop us.

[j-whitman]

It's high time all good Americans stood up & started paying attention ----- Bush's whole 'War on Terror' is a total failure.

[micma-2009]

Bushism:

"I think -- tide turning -- see, as I remember -- I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of -- it's easy to see a tide turn -- did I say those words?" --George W. Bush, asked if the tide was turning in Iraq, Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

[formrusmcsgt]

More than half of the US population wants to win this war-so there's enough of us that are willing to see this through to victory-neither the muzzies or the left can stop us.
Posted by sdb101 at 03:32 PM : Mar 29, 2007

Not in your or my lifetime, pal......

[rafterman1]

*** the stupid cowardly LEFT for blindly defending our enemies who seek to destroy us. More than half of the US population wants to win this war-so there's enough of us that are willing to see this through to victory-neither the muzzies or the left can stop us.

The ragings of someone with no real argument. The Left isn't against winning the war. The Left is against stupidity, bad strategy and throwing away the lives of US soldiers needlessly in a hopeless cause - fighting someone else's civil war. The arrogance of the Right will lead us down the same path that ancient Rome went - destruction.

[sdb101-2009]

stupid word-nazis: the blanked out word was 'fu ck' in my previous post.

That's right whitman, the war's failed so lets revert to CONPLAN 6022 and bomb the living sh it out of those filthy ragheads.

I miss those days when wars were about annihilition of your enemy, not this sissy battle for "hearts and minds" BS.

[formrusmcsgt]

I miss those days when wars were about annihilition of your enemy, not this sissy battle for "hearts and minds" BS.
Posted by sdb101 at 03:45 PM : Mar 29, 2007

I miss those days when America fought wars against agressor nations rather than being agressors ourselves.....

[condumism]

My wife, a beauty from the former USSR, says the USA is clearly the new Soviet Union. She came up with this on her own with no coaching from me at all. And to those of US paying attention, she's absolutely correct.

[searingtruth]

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

"It's not a war on terror gone wrong, it's a war on American liberty gone right."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[sdb101-2009]

Not in your or my lifetime, pal......
Posted by formrusmcsgt


Its already happening chum. Bush will veto your side's latest attempt to make the West lose the war. Just watch what happens when Iran starts getting more cocky.

You leftists foolishly think the war is ending (or can be ended)-in fact this is WW3 against Islam and its just heating up. You ain't seen nothing yet.

[crater7]

LETS SEE, 250 Iraqi's killed and hundreds more wounded in the last three days. I guess this is not the area where Mccain, said you could walk down the street and feel safe. I SURE AM GLAD THE SURGE IS WORKING. I'm sure the Iraqi's feel safe now that SURGE is working.

[zoltaric]

Declare victory and leave!

[j-whitman]

sdb101,,
, Yes it is a failure.. Now, take a good close look at the world -- Don't you think in these day's when we put men on the moon, created the internet & much more,,,, Should figure out there is ALWAYS a political solution ?? --- We where not attacked by a country,, just by a cause.

[formrusmcsgt]

My wife, a beauty from the former USSR, says the USA is clearly the new Soviet Union. She came up with this on her own with no coaching from me at all. And to those of US paying attention, she's absolutely correct.
Posted by condumism at 03:50 PM : Mar 29, 2007

No argument here. In the 50's, 60's 70's and 80's it was the USSR that other countries feared as an aggressor nation that would invade them to effect a regime change to their liking.

Now, thanks to the neocons, we have inherited that mantle.

[davek455]

condumism - I used to get those mail order bride catalogs with russian/ukrainian women in, yes they're beauties, congratulations!

[sdb101-2009]

"I miss those days when America fought wars against agressor nations rather than being agressors ourselves....."
Posted by formrusmcsgt


And here's the divide between right and left in the West. All you need to do is pick up the Quran, educate yourself on our enemy and its brutal 1300 year reign of terror in this world and you'll start thinking like me.

Of course its because leftists like you stick your head in the sand on Islam that you'll never see muslims as an enemy and you'll never agree or understand why they hate us. We did not cause 9/11, but we did retaliate for it. But again, if you knew anything about Islam, you wouldn't be defending them.

[formrusmcsgt]

Just watch what happens when Iran starts getting more cocky.
Posted by sdb101 at 03:50 PM : Mar 29, 2007

Considering that the US is scrounging any fit body it can at the moment just to man the boondoggle in Iraq, what do you think will happen if Iran does "get more cocky"? We're gonna attack them with Halliburton employees? Get real.

[searingtruth]

Mirror

My friends, sometimes the most difficult thing about fighting evil is realizing that it actually exists, and then unambiguously and forcefully calling it what it is.

History shows time and time again that one of evils greatest strengths is its ability to disguise itself as good, or at least a temporary necessity, until that last fatal moment when its revelation becomes clear, indisputable, and inescapable.

So today let us take a clear and unadulterated look into the mirror at ourselves.

Just six years ago we were one of the most respected and admired defenders of democracy and human rights in history. Respected not only by our friends, but even begrudgingly by most of our enemies. In fact, even the fantastic power of our military paled in comparison to the overwhelming might of our moral authority.

Today we are a nation that operates secret prisons occupied by anonymous inmates, illegally abducted and held indefinitely without charge or representation. We are guilty of torture. We are guilty of murder. We are guilty of preemptive war of conquest. We are guilty of the wholesale surveillance of our population, suppressing all hope of privacy and free dissent. And we are guilty of disgracing our nation through the abandonment of even our most basic precepts of morality.

If this is not evil, then nothing we have ever fought against is evil, and nothing we have ever fought for is good.


Excerpt from A Future of the Brave
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com