BAGHDAD, April 2, 2007
Baby, GI Among Iraq Truck Bomb Victims
Kirkuk Suicide Attack Kills At Least 15 Near School, U.S. Troops Seen At Site
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A medic helps a wounded man in Kirkuk, Iraq, 180 miles north of Baghdad, April 2, 2007. (AP Photo/Emad Matti)
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Girls in school uniforms lie at a hospital bed in Kirkuk, Iraq, on April 2, 2007. (AP Photo/Emad Matti)
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Interactive American Heroes Profiles of U.S. soldiers who've died in Iraq, a look at the war's toll and pictures of mourning.
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Interactive Iraq: 4 Years Later The conflict wears on as the nation struggles to rebuild.
Turkey, which has been fighting a Kurdish insurgency for decades, also has warned Iraq against such a move.
Monday's blast bore the hallmarks of a series of al Qaeda suicide bombings aimed at further provoking sectarian tension and fighting. It followed three suicide bombings last week by suspected al Qaeda fighters. More than 600 people died in sectarian attacks in Iraq last week alone.
The Kirkuk blast also was the third in seven days where suicide attackers hit targets with their bombs hidden under loads of flour, a commodity that has been scarce in some outlying districts. The government only recently resumed shipping flour rations to some areas.
The U.S. military reported late Monday that a U.S. soldier was killed by a vehicle-bomb in Kirkuk. There were no other reported car or truck bombings in the city Monday. Two other U.S. soldiers were reported killed Monday in Anbar province, west of Baghdad.
Videotape by an Associated Press cameraman at the scene in Kirkuk showed at least four wounded U.S. soldiers and one badly damaged American Humvee. The soldiers were being treated by Army medics, with one seated while having gauze bandages wound around his bloodied head.
Another soldier, whose nose was bleeding, was standing and waving directions at others. A third soldier was carried away on a stretcher, and the fourth was being treated on the ground with his feet elevated against shock.
U.S. troops had been visiting an Iraqi criminal investigations unit at the Rahim Awa compound in a predominantly Kurdish neighborhood in north Kirkuk, city officials said.
The attacker rammed the truck into the concrete blast barriers protecting the back of the compound at about 11:30 a.m., Kirkuk police spokesman Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir said.
Qadir, the Kirkuk police spokesman, said many of a group of 20 children walking home from a nearby school were among the 187 wounded in the truck bombing.
Shireen Kareem, 32, said her children were inside the school and were not injured.
"I was horrified and frightened," she said. "I ran to the school like mad and they were lucky that they were still in school when the explosion took place."
The force of the blast also wrecked four structures in the area, including a municipal building. One of the 14 killed was a newborn girl, Qadir said.
The ancient city of Kirkuk has a large minority of ethnic Turks as well as Christians, Shiite and Sunni Arabs, Armenians and Assyrians. The city is just south of the Kurdish autonomous zone stretching across three provinces of northeastern Iraq.
Iraq's constitution sets an end-of-the-year deadline for a referendum on the status of Kirkuk, where Kurds now are believed a majority of the population. That means a referendum on attaching the city to the Kurdish autonomous zone would pass easily.
On a separate legislative issue, Sunni politicians denounced remarks attributed to al-Sistani opposing a draft law that would allow former members of Saddam's ruling Baath Party to resume government positions.
Sunni lawmaker Dhafer al-Ani said "no person has the right (to reject the draft law) other than the parliament and I think that al-Sistani is wiser than that."
"If it is true that al-Sistani rejected the draft, then this will affect the people's opinion, but we will not allow anyone to affect the parliament decision. We are not in wilayat al-Faqih," al-Ani said, referring to the late Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's Islamic way of governance.
Another Sunni legislator, Omar Abul-Sattar said that "such a rejection is not suitable at a time when we are working for national reconciliation that will not be achieved if this draft is rejected. This will lead us to despair."
The proposal, long demanded by the U.S., is designed to appease Iraq's once-dominant Sunni Arabs in a bid to blunt the country's insurgency and return members of the Sunni minority to the political process. The law would allow those in the feared security and paramilitary forces to resume government positions but would exclude former regime members already charged with or sought for crimes.
Al-Sistani's opposition was revealed Sunday by Chalabi, the head of the committee dealing with the Baathists, who met with the cleric in the Shiite holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq. His remarks were reported Sunday by the AP.
Also in southern Iraq, a British soldier was killed and a second wounded when gunmen opened fire on them, British military spokeswoman Katie Brown said Monday. It was second British military death in two days. At least 136 British forces have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion — 105 in combat.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 73 CommentsPosted by singinrick at 07:58 PM : Apr 04, 2007
I'd "like" to not "call" you anything at all.
Stating you are an ignorant liar is a statement of fact, it is not "calling" you anything.
And, I have repeatedly posted the evidence from your own hand to support that statement of fact.
As have others.
Never mind what you know in your heart, your imaginary God should teach you the Ten Commandments. Lying (bearing false witness) and invoking the name of God for vain purposes (shall not use God's/Lord's name in vain) are included in that list of prohibitions.
Consult your nearest witch doctor or cult leader for details.
The first sentence is outright wrong. Christians and Jews live peacefully in Arab countries including Iran and Lebanon, else why would they stay there?
The second sentence just makes me laugh. Islam recognizes Jesus as a prophet but Judaism doesn't recognize Jesus at all. Don't you see the irony in this?
Posted by dirtydog55 at 01:59 AM : Apr 04, 2007
100% correct! My family doctor is Iranian and Jewish. Most of his family lives in Iran because they love their home country. He travels back and forth regularly and the only hassles he gets in from American Customs coming back, never from the Iranian government. Still I wouldn't get too worked up by rick. He's a religious bigot of the worst kind.
The first sentence is outright wrong. Christians and Jews live peacefully in Arab countries including Iran and Lebanon, else why would they stay there?
The second sentence just makes me laugh. Islam recognizes Jesus as a prophet but Judaism doesn't recognize Jesus at all. Don't you see the irony in this?
Do the math - what things are most meaningful to the God of Abraham, or Allah and or even Buddha. If you%u2019re a Christian take this simple test - would Jesus be a conservative? Would Jesus support tax cuts for the wealthy? Would Jesus support the death penalty? Or would he rather support the eternal soul of the individual and it%u2019s potential to repent or even just grow?
Would Jesus support a war based upon a potential threat? Which, as it turns out, was at best a perceived threat and at worst a lie?
Would Jesus support killing innocent children in the name of one%u2019s personal safety? Who are all these god-fearing conservatives kidding? The truth is, conservatives are not only devoid of any real moral fibre, they are also hypocrites as they continually point to their %u201Cgood%u201D and %u201Cgodly%u201D behavior to justify their immoral positions.
Posted by singinrick
-Again, big liar SickRick hits again. Jesus did not die on the cross. He just fainted. When he was hooked on the cross it was in the afternoon, after a long march in the city streets. He was exhausted. Once hooked, he fainted because of lack of oxygen coming to his brain. His head was hanging on one side, pinching and obstructing the aerial ducts of his breathing system.
-Jesus has been lifted on the cross for enough time to cause him to faint and make believe he died. He just fainted. Since it was Friday and Shabbat was about to take place, well Jesus was dropped, and covered with the white sheat (shroud) and brought to the tomb, where he was left for dead, which was untrue; death did not occur.
-After a greatly needed rest, Yeshoua (Jesus) recovered consciousness. So where is the miracle?
- Millions of short and medium-term fainted people wake up from the state of unconscieness. Where is the miracle if not the fact of recovering the consesciousness per se...?
Americans see nothing, hear nothing, do nothing. America is not at War. Our troops are at War. America is at the Mall. America is watching reality TV. America is overworked, underpaid, while the rich NeoCons are spending their massive tax cuts, driving their Hummers with "support the troops" bumper stickers (while their kids are in private colleges, not in Iraq!).
So consider one concept of what this War is about:
If the coffins of all our troops were lined up end to end, they would stretch down the highway for 4 long miles. Think about it next time you drive to work. Notice the coffins rushing by as you are doing 60 miles per hour, and think about all the fatherless kids, the grieving families - a result of the Cheney/Bush LYING us into needless War.
And thing about the dead Iraqis - their end to end bodies (no coffins for most), would go on and on for a couple HUNDRED MILES. That is the legacy of our fascist WAR PRESIDENT - a murderous thug.
JAIL BUSH and CHENEY for Mass Manslaughter.
Posted by tuckerndfw at 09:27 AM : Apr 03, 2007
Amen and amen. People like rick are at least as dangerous in their rhetoric as Muslim extremists are in theirs. Both incite war and death and both should pray that there really isn't a god (as I believe there's not) because if there is they'll both be roasting in hell forever.
Posted by karlimhof at 08:57 AM : Apr 03, 2007
That is my primary purpose in responding to people like Rick.
My grandfather was a Baptist preacher and he would be embarrassed by some of these so called "Christians" spewing their hateful garbage on the Internet.
I am an atheist, but I am not opposed to any religion. If religion helps a person be a better person, or make it through the difficulties of life, that is a good thing.
But, it is inappropriate to use the bible to try to beat others into submission, or, to demonize others. As is using the bible to elevate one's self over others.
Rick and other bible thumpers like him attempt to do all three.
Rick and other bible thumpers like him are an insult to all decent Christians everywhere.
Much like Bush supporters are an insult to all law abiding, Constitution supporting Americans (patriots).
Posted by tuckerndfw
Right on you are! Same as neocons too - ready to send off the boys to fulfill their personal agendas; neocons want world domination, Rick wants religious domination....both crocks of sheit!
Keep on denouncing these "false prophets" - they're why American foreign policy has taken us to where we are today.
Posted by singinrick
Wake up Rick! Wake up! The Bush War has killed, maimed, exiled, millions of people.... but you are in the deep sleep of denial....covering your eyes and ears in politico-christian words - meaningless words, words of convenience.
In life it's what you do that counts - illegally attacking Iraq, causing suffering to millions, will not be kindly looked upon by God, country, or history.
You have strayed - repent!
I am very well aware that according to most variations of the Jesus myth, God committed suicide (sort of since he didn't really die or give up anything) so murderers and other criminals would not face eternal punishment for their crimes.
If you want to believe that nonsense, that is entirely up to you. But it is a myth and is nonsense.
And, does nothing to mitigate the fact you are demonstrably a liar and ignorant.
Nor does it alter the fact that Jesus freaks all claim they want to be martyrs and (allegedly) consider martyrdom their highest calling. Same as Muslims.
And, BTW, remember Masada. Jews likewise share that desire and reverence.
Once again, you are a liar and ignorant.
The proof is in this statement:
"It is actually a punishable crime by the rules of Islam if you do not convert or submit to Islam over there."
Prior to the invasion of Afghanistan, Christian missionaries had been freely wandering around Afghanistan. They were eventually charged with proselytizing in a much publicized case that was headline news in all major media.
Especially in the Christian community. Two of the criminals (they admitted they were proselytizing after they returned to the US) were Baylor (a Baptist university) students.
You cannot possibly have missed those stories because they formed much of the propaganda demonizing the Taliban.
Given the fact you are a liar and ignorant, anything you claim can be safely ignored.
God Bless.
Posted by VictoriaRum at 06:56 AM : Apr 03, 2007
Since we have to ask (pray) for peace, does that mean "God" (whichever variation) prefers war?
Or, does that mean more people pray for war than for peace?
Praying is good but I wouldn't recommend substituting it for action.
Impeaching Bush & Cheney would more effectively result in peace than praying.
God Bless.
Posted by VictoriaRum at 06:56 AM : Apr 03, 2007
Praying has never brought about peace.
God Bless.
Posted by tuckerndfw at 06:25 AM : Apr 03, 2007
Not only oblivious, but in complete denial. Their manual condems all other religions as "false" yet they point to the Quran doing the same as being "barbaric". Go figure....
Posted by formrusmcsgt at 06:16 AM : Apr 03, 2007
It is somewhat amusing that "Christians" are totally oblivious to the similarities between their cults and Muslim cults.
Christian mythology is filled with stories about "martyrs," including the central character in Christian mythology, yet Christians totally ignore their own mythology in their zeal to denounce Muslims.
I think that's an example of what the bible calls "hypocrisy."
Posted by singinrick at 02:46 AM : Apr 03, 2007
And this same guy condemns martyr worship. Go figure....
Posted by singinrick at 01:49 AM : Apr 03, 2007
According to George Bush and at least one of his General Officers, the US military is operating on direct behalf of Jesus.
Which begs the question as to why Jesus needs to slaughter so many innocent men, women and children, including babies.
It appears Iraqis not only don't need Jesus, they don't much care for his tactics (murder, torture, rape, humiliation, kidnapping, confinement without charges or trials, wanton destruction of private property, etc. ad infinitum).
Based on Jesus' performance in Iraq, I can't see where his presence is of any benefit to anyone other than war profiteers.
singinrick
Sounds like you need Jesus as well.
Tired of extremists?
Fundamentalism is scary isn't it?
It robs people of their God-given ability to reason.
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