BAGHDAD, April 23, 2007
Nine U.S. Soldiers Killed In Suicide Blast
Elsewhere, At Least 46 Iraqis Die In Multiple Blasts
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Play CBS Video Video War Funding Deadlock Continues President Bush continues to press Congress to pass a war spending bill, but Democrats insist his strategy is flawed. Meanwhile, suicide bombings killed dozens in Baghdad. Karen Brown reports.
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Video U.S. Ambassador On Iraq Wall CBS News RAW: Ambassador Ryan Crocker says the U.S. will "respect the wishes" of Iraq's leader, who has ordered a halt to the construction of a wall around a Sunni enclave in Baghdad.
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Video Suicide Attacks Plague Baghdad U.S. soldiers began to build a 12-foot wall dividing two major Shia and Sunni neighborhoods as a means of helping ease tensions between them. Mark Strassmann reports.
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A U.S. soldier stands guard at the scene of a car bomb attack in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April 23, 2007. (AP Photo/Talal M. al-Dean)
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An Iraqi girl stands near a blast wall on April 22, 2007 in the Karrada neighborhood of Baghdad. U.S troops are building a wall, that the military says is for protection, around Baghdad's Sunni Azamiyah neighborhood. (Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images)
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Residents and police inspect a crater caused by a car bomb explosion in Baghdad, Iraq, April 22, 2007. Two suicide car bombers attacked a police station, killing at least 13 people and wounding 82, police said. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
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U.S. Army Sergeant Mike Wilson from Rochester, N.H., keeps an eye out while on a patrol, April 21, 2007 in Baghdad, Iraq. (Getty Images/Joe Raedle)
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A young girl watches soldiers outside her family's home in Al Majahreen, 25 miles east of Baghdad, as Sgt. Brandon Sayles, 24, from Hawaii stands guard, April 21, 2007. The 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division is back in Iraq for the third time since rolling into Baghdad in 2003. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
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Interactive Iraq: 4 Years Later The conflict wears on as the nation struggles to rebuild.
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Photo Essay Iraq In Pictures A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
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Interactive New Plan For Iraq Key elements of the plan, excerpts from the president's speech, reaction and more.
An Iraqi civilian was also wounded in the attack on Task Force Lightning soldiers in Diyala province, a volatile area that has been the site of fierce fighting involving U.S. and Iraqi troops, Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.
Of the 20 wounded, 15 soldiers were treated and returned to duty while five others and the Iraqi were evacuated to a medical facility for further care, the military said.
Identities were not released pending notification of relatives.
It was the second bold attack against a U.S. base north of Baghdad in just over two months and was notable for its use of a suicide car bomber.
On Feb. 19, insurgents struck a U.S. combat post in Tarmiyah, about 30 miles north of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding 17 in what the military called a "coordinated attack."
It began with a suicide car bombing, then gunfire on soldiers pinned down in a former Iraqi police station, where fuel storage tanks were set ablaze by the blast.
Militants have mostly used hit-and-run ambushes, roadside bombs or mortars on U.S. troops and stayed away from direct assaults on fortified military compounds to avoid U.S. firepower.
Suicide attacks elsewhere in Iraq killed at least 46 people and left more than 90 injured, including a car bomb that exploded near a restaurant Monday afternoon, killing at least 19 people and wounding 35, police said.
The attack occurred on a highway near Ramadi, a city 70 miles west of Baghdad, said Ramadi police Maj. Fuad al-Asafia, who provided the casualty figures.
U.S. troops raced to the scene, found a pickup truck parked nearby that was loaded with explosives and chlorine powder, and destroyed it in a controlled explosion, al-Asafia said.
Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, has long been a magnet for Sunni insurgents and a lawless haven for al Qaeda militants, but the U.S. military recently reported progress in securing and calming the city.
Earlier, four suicide bombers launched attacks in different parts of Iraq, killing 27 people and wounding more than 60, according to police and politicians.
Two parked car bombs also exploded outside the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, killing two civilians, and a drive-by shooting wounded two guards at Tunisia's Embassy in the capital, police said.
Meanwhile, the American ambassador said Monday the U.S. would "respect the wishes" of the Iraqi government after the prime minister ordered a halt to construction of a three-mile wall separating a Sunni enclave from surrounding Shiite areas in Baghdad.
Any plan to build "gated communities" to protect Baghdad neighborhoods from sectarian attacks was in doubt after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said during a visit to Sunni-led Arab countries that he did not want the 12-foot high wall in Azamiyah to be seen as dividing the capital's sects.
However, confusion persisted about whether the plan would continue in some form: The chief Iraqi military spokesman said Monday the prime minister was responding to exaggerated reports about the barrier.
"We will continue to construct the security barriers in the Azamiyah neighborhood. This is a technical issue," Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said. "Setting up barriers is one thing and building barriers is another. These are moveable barriers that can be removed."
Al-Moussawi noted similar walls were in place elsewhere in the capital — including in other residential neighborhoods — as part of a nearly 10-week-old security operation. But hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Azamiyah to oppose what they called "a big prison."
"The main aim of these barriers is to protect civilians and to guarantee that security forces are in control and prevent terrorists from moving between areas," al-Moussawi said.
The U.S. military announced last week that it was building a three-mile long concrete wall in Azamiyah, a Sunni stronghold whose residents have often been the victims of retaliatory mortar attacks by Shiite militants following bombings usually blamed on Sunni insurgents.
But al-Maliki ordered construction halted on Sunday and U.S. officials said that the plans could change.
"Obviously we will respect the wishes of the government and the prime minister," U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said Monday.
He said the barrier was aimed at protecting Azamiyah, not segregating it. Sunni leaders and residents of the neighborhood, however, complain that it is a form of discrimination that would isolate the community.
Monday's first suicide car bomb attack occurred near the northern city of Mosul at 10:10 a.m. when a suicide attacker detonated his car in front of an office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani, leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, an official with the group said. At least 10 people were killed and 20 wounded in the attack in Tal Uskuf, a town nine miles north of Mosul, said Abdul-Ghani Ali, a KDP official.
Ghanim Hazim, 37, a shop owner in Tal Uskuf, said dozens of people rushed past his store to the site of the blast to help the wounded, who "were screaming and asking for help as they lay buried under big pieces of debris."
He said residents of the predominantly Christian town were in deep shock because it was the first terrorist attack in their tight-knit community since the Iraq war started.
"This attack shows that no place in Iraq is free from the terrorists and their evil deeds," Hazim said in an interview as firefighters and police began removing the dead and wounded.
In other developments:
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- The war in Iraq, or should I say the war on "terror", fabricated from the very beginning with lies and deception, has done nothing to improve our "world image". Time will tell how many generations of sons, daughters, parents, relatives and friends, of the unknown real number of tens of thousands of slain Iraqis, will forever hate the US. How great a number of them will become terrorists against the US, and against our future generations, our children?
- Reply to this comment
- According to backwardsbush.com and barring a miraculous impeachment, there are 636 days, 9 hours and @ 49 minutes left in the reign of George W., King of the WORLD and Protector of the Universe from Terrorism.
1.20.09 Mark this date on your calendar and share with others this date as a day of celebrating freedom and DEMOCRACY anew. This date should be a national holiday right along side the 4th of July. We should celebrate and "party like it's 1999" and in fact, isn't that about the last time anyone felt like partying? - Reply to this comment
- I have had enough of the death I will never again vote for a GOP member. I would rather see a dead monkey win then any member of the GOP thank you for this war on the world.
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- Nine U.S. Soldiers Killed In Suicide Blast
Elsewhere, At Least 46 Iraqis Die In Multiple Blasts
CARE TO COMMENT, SENATOR McCAIN??? - Reply to this comment
- HAS ENOUGH SOLDIERS BEEN KILLED TO SUPPORT ISRAELI INTREST IN THE MIDDLE EAST? REPUBLICAN QUOTA FOR DEAD SOLDIERS HAS BEEN MET FOR TODAY!
According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted in June, 52 percent of Americans now believe the President deliberately distorted intelligence to make a case for war. In an Ipsos Public Affairs poll, commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org and completed October 9, 50 percent said that if Bush lied about his reasons for going to war Congress should consider impeaching him. The President's deceit is not only an abuse of power; it is a federal crime. Specifically, it is a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, which prohibits conspiracies to defraud the United States.
http://www.democrats.com/node/12313
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051114/delavega
If you think Americas sacrifice is worth it contact your ELECTED OFFICIAL and tell them http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
The House Speakers email address: AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov
info@gop.com Here is the Republican Party email address too!
democraticparty@democrats.org Here is the Democratic Party email address also! - Reply to this comment
- If only it was Bush who was responsible for this ongoing failure, wouldn't that make it all easier. But its our whole system, from Congress to the military brass to the greedy dumb citizens who want victory without any personal involvement or cost.
Iraq is a good mirror for us to look at, like holding a mirror up to a crack addict so they can see their devastated faces.
We are an addict nation, addicted to growth and greed, whether its the millions of immigrants or the sprawling real estate boom, we are self-destructing like any crack addict as we enjoy the rush of easy credit and economic growth. It feels too good to stop, so the sacrifice of men in Iraq will have to continue, we must look for our next hit like any sick addict. - Reply to this comment
- There's a Mrs. Fontana that tells the story of how after her husband died in Iraq she was invited along with other widows to the White House to meet President Bush.
The widows stood in line as the Prez greeted them. When it came to her turn one of the Prez' aides whispered in his ear something like "This person right here is Mrs. Fontana and her husband got killed in Iraq on their 10th wedding anniversary."
Bush being Bush looks at Mrs. Fontana, shakes her hand and says, "Wow! A double whammy. Sorry to hear about that."
Mrs. Fontana said she immidiatly left the line to look for the nearest bathroom where she sat and cried her eyes out.
9 more US soldiers killed in Iraq? Tough luck. - Reply to this comment
- cbville72 wrote:
"I'll go ahead and tell those families if you tell the families of the Cole and the victims of the 1st WTC bombing. You should also tell the families of the victims that were poisined by Saddam's buddy chemical Ali since that was done under CLintons watch. Let me know when your finished."
Now we know you're an idiot.
Perhaps you could do a little research before tapping away at the keyboard - otherwise you reveal your true self - that of a moron.
Better luck next time. - Reply to this comment
- Erinye_fury
It's only a guess, but they might be referring to the powdered form of one of the pool chemicals commonly, and incorrectly referred to as Chlorine. - Reply to this comment
- When did chlorine become a powder? Anybody who has had even high school chemistry knows it is a halogen, a yellowish green gas element at ordinary temperatures. A quick check shows it melts at -150.7 F and boils at -29.27 F.
- Reply to this comment
- QUOTE: "U.S. troops raced to the scene, found a pickup truck parked nearby that was loaded with explosives and chlorine powder, and destroyed it in a controlled explosion, al-Asafia said."
QUESTION: How did somebody make a powder out of chlorine, a gas element at ordinary temperatures? It is a halogen, atomic number 17, in period 3 group 17 of the periodic table of the elements. It melts at -101.5 C (-150.7 F), and boils at -34.04C (-29.27 F). - Reply to this comment
- QUOTE: "U.S. troops raced to the scene, found a pickup truck parked nearby that was loaded with explosives and chlorine powder, and destroyed it in a controlled explosion, al-Asafia said."
QUESTION: How did somebody make a powder out of chlorine, a gas element at ordinary temperatures? It is a halogen, atomic number 17, in period 3 group 17 of the periodic table of the elements. It melts at -101.5 C (-150.7 F), and boils at -34.04C (-29.27 F). - Reply to this comment
- QUOTE: "U.S. troops raced to the scene, found a pickup truck parked nearby that was loaded with explosives and chlorine powder, and destroyed it in a controlled explosion, al-Asafia said."
QUESTION: How did somebody make a powder out of chlorine, a gas element at ordinary temperatures? It is a halogen, atomic number 17, in period 3 group 17 of the periodic table of the elements. It melts at -101.5 C (-150.7 F), and boils at -34.04C (-29.27 F). - Reply to this comment
- Nine more American families lives ruined in George Bush's oil war. NOT ONE IRAQI WAS INVOLVED IN 9/11!
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/main592330.shtml - Reply to this comment
- hows it goin randal, shoot some more chicken hawks bro!!!
Posted by usadvisor101 at 01:12 AM : Apr 24, 2007
Sleep well bro, your Air Force is on duty. Well until this old vet passes out asleep that is. lol! If you're still there drop by the Iranian part of this blog. Swingingdick is there preaching. lol! - Reply to this comment
- I see that some of the guests you mentioned have quietly excused themselves, maybe they choked on the bile they spew.
Posted by firststate at 12:38 AM : Apr 24, 2007
Let's hope that choking was to death. It'd serve the gutless little cowards right. I'd also swingdick and pwrslm to that "Honor Roll" of trolls. - Reply to this comment
- usadvisor101
I see that some of the guests you mentioned have quietly excused themselves, maybe they choked on the bile they spew. I don't want you to worry about it, but it might have been something you said. In which case you've earned hearty thanks and congratulations. Two things seem to get rid of them. Mentioning draft dodgers and asking about their DD-214 or MOS. There's usually one last chickenhawk squawk and they're gone. Well done. - Reply to this comment
- Yup, glad to know that things are SO MUCH BETTER in Iraq due to the Bush/McCain surge. Thanks for enlightening us Mr. McCain, and all of you other Bush bootlickers, about how GREAT things are over there NOW. Seems like we have been hearing the same thing now since about the time that BUFFOON Bush swaggered aboard the aircraft carrier delivering his MISSION ACCOMPLISHED speech. Now, 30000 US casualties and 500 billion dollars WASTED later, the end is no closer and these idiots in the Whitehouse will leave it to the next president to clean up. Just like that OTHER Texan, LBJ, did
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- This is from an Army Sgt. in Afaganistan now
"I find it ironic that the flags were flown at half-staff for the young men and women who were killed at VT, yet it is never lowered for the death of a U.S. service member," - Reply to this comment
- "I find it ironic that the flags were flown at half-staff for the young men and women who were killed at VT, yet it is never lowered for the death of a U.S. service member,"
- Reply to this comment
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
