BAGHDAD, May 5, 2007
Roadside Bombs Kill 8 U.S. Troops In Iraq
Americans Killed In Separate Attacks In Diyala And Baghdad As Sectarian Tension Rises
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Residents gather at the scene of a car bomb blast in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, May 6, 2007. (AP)
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
In all, at least 95 Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide Sunday, police reported. They included 12 policemen in Samarra, among them the city's police chief, who died when Sunni insurgents launched a suicide car bombing and other attacks on police headquarters.
The deadliest attack against U.S. forces occurred in Diyala, where six U.S. soldiers and a European journalist were killed when a massive bomb destroyed their vehicle, the U.S. military said. Two U.S. soldiers were wounded, the military said.
Two other American soldiers died Sunday in separate bombings in Baghdad.
The military Sunday also reported three other deaths: two Marines in a blast Sunday in Anbar province and a soldier who died Sunday in a non-combat incident in northern Iraq.
Those deaths raised to at least 3,373 the number of U.S. military members who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The market bombing occurred about noon in the Baiyaa district of western Baghdad, shattering vehicles, ripping roofs off nearby buildings and collapsing storefronts. Police said about 80 people were injured in addition to the 30 dead.
Following the horrific blast, blood pooled on the dirt streets. Hospital officials said two pickup trucks filled with body parts were brought to the morgue.
"I was waiting near a shop to lift some boxes, when I saw the owner of the shop collapse," said Sattar Hussein, 22, who works in the market. "I helped him inside the shop, but he was already dead. The next thing I felt was pain in my left shoulder and some people rushing me to the hospital."
Ali Hamid, 25, who owns a shop in the market, said he was selling soft drinks when the blast knocked him unconscious.
"The next thing I remember is some people putting me in a pickup with two dead bodies and rushing me to the hospital," he said. He called the attack "a terrorist act aimed at creating more sectarian tension and strife."
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, which followed allegations by Sunni politicians that Shiite militias have resumed their campaign to expel Sunnis from Baiyaa.
Most of the shops in the market were believed owned by Shiites.
That raised speculation that the bombing was carried out by Sunni hard-liners in reprisal for the alleged expulsions, which were believed to have slowed across the capital since the start of the Baghdad security crackdown Feb. 14.
The attacks in Samarra, a Sunni city 60 miles north of Baghdad, began when a suicide car bomber struck the police headquarters. Following the blast, dozens of insurgents, some wearing masks and wielding video cameras, opened fire on the building and at least one police checkpoint, witnesses said.
U.S. paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division came under small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire when they rushed to the scene, the U.S. military said. Two Americans were wounded and a vehicle was damaged.
The police chief, Col. Jalil Nahi Hassoun, and 11 other policemen were killed, officials said.
Samarra was the scene of the Feb. 22, 2006, bombing that destroyed a major Shiite shrine and triggered the wave of Sunni-Shiite reprisal attacks that has plunged this country into civil conflict. U.S. and Iraqi officials blame that bombing on al Qaeda, which has been active in the city for years.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 56 CommentsThe deadliest attack against U.S. forces occurred in Diyala, where six U.S. soldiers and a European journalist were killed when a massive bomb destroyed their vehicle, the U.S. military said.
Two other American soldiers died Sunday in separate bombings in Baghdad.
The military Sunday also reported three other deaths: two Marines in a blast Sunday in Anbar province and a soldier who died Sunday in a non-combat incident in northern Iraq.
Okay...6 in Diyala, 2 in Anbar, 2 in Bagdhad and 1 in noncombat...am I the only one that thinks this adds up to 11 and not 8? Even if we take the noncombat death out--that at least 10 soldiers died in combat today!!!!
It is a very dangerous thing to negate FACTS just because they are inconvenient to a mind set. Iraq NEVER flew airplanes into our buildings. THAT is a preemptive war of choice. Someone hits us..we ignore the true persecutor, and strike back at a country we do not like and we think we can beat--the true mark of a bully. At least 80% of the fighters came from Saudi Arabia--THEY flew planes into our building--but we love their oil, their money and Bush is neck deep in bed with them--so we ignore their link and attack a country that had nothing to do with 9/11.
The largest contributions America made to both World Wars was being a fresh set of soldiers not tired by years of combat and the bomb. America entered both world wars after they had been going on for years and both sides were exhausted and mentally stressed. By entering the theater so let in the war, we acted as much needed relief for the allies. It would be like 2 teams running a 1000 mile relay marathon and at about the 780th mile, we jump into to relieve the allied runners.
Why is America the number one country in the world today? It is not just our ingenuity and amazing hard work--the fact is, the World Wars so devasted Europe, China and Scandanavia (among other places)that we rose to ascendancy by default. We were the only major country that had never had bombings or damaged infrastructure of our country during the war. (Hawaii did not become a state until 1956). By being the last guys entering the war and the last guy standing intact--we were able to use our position as a launch pad for providing mfg, food, and other items for the rest of the world. It was our mfg base that was paramount to us becoming #1--the one thing we no longer have---having sold out to interests in other countries.
... Today, only the numbers are newsworthy. ...
heetseeker
"The death of a billion worlds is reflected in the eyes of one suffering child."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
heetseeker
To Bush and his henchmen it looks like a fascist America.
ST
"Republicans are in a unique historical position. They are the first group of people raised on this land, who call themselves Americans, that openly proclaim the virtues of torture, secret prisons, extra judicial abduction, universal surveillance, and dictatorial government."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
Any military offensive by its very nature is likely to result in casualties. It is therefore not surprising that an ever-increasing number of US troops are being killed in Iraq. In crude terms you could describe it as the "investment" in success. Indeed it seems that Amercians are now hardened to the seemingly endless parade of casualties. Although US troop deaths make the news, by themselves,they are no longer news.
Today, only the numbers are newsworthy. One or two US troops dead is relatively insignificant. Yet we can expect banner headlines for upwards of five or six dead. We are now in the numbers game in Iraq. Just like Vietnam. The dreaded body-count, where somebodys husband and somebody's son is reduced to a mere statistic and a number on an Excel spreadsheet.
The latest casualty figures show a consistent increase in the average number of US troops killed in Iraq. The average number of deaths for the first four months of 2007 is 87. This compares to an average of 56 in the first four months of 2006, 63 in 2005 and 63 in 2004. With 25 dead in the first 6 days in May, it seems as if this trend will not be bucked this month.
Success has a high price. If only we new what success looked like.
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
Posted by dlpracer at 09:58 PM : May 06, 2007
Thanks.
I'm not a professor, just channeling my elementary school teacher who was very picky about semantics. lol
Posted by dlpracer at 10:31 PM : May 06, 2007
You might also add that at the time it was formed it was not called al-Qaeda, but was in fact the Mujahedeen guerrillas and were funded primarily by the US via the CIA and through large weapons shipments sent to them through India. Back then during the Soviet occupation they were seen in America as heroes and resistance fighters. We trained them and we armed them. Hell Hollywood in the person of Sylvester Stallone even did a tribute to them in First Blood: Rambo III. Of course much like our other old buddy, Saddam Hussein, they turned on us when we turned our back on them.
Hunter S. Thompson in "The Great Shark Hunt."
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Well...maybe. But the insurgents and terrorists are taking the battle to the suburbs of Baghdad, to areas that were once "secure," and killing U.S. soldiers.
At the "lonely Iraq outpost" at Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, 35 U.S. soldiers were ambushed by 70 to 80 insurgents; after the battle only 10 soldiers were left standing. The remaining were either killed or wounded.
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"It is getting to the point where we really can't interact with the people," says Lt. Cody Wallace, executive officer of the unit that patrols the city. Even the local police chief who oversees the area that includes Tarmiyah refuses to set foot in the town.
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The soldiers speak out. Copy and past the link below and read a heart-wrenching story that Bush & Co don't what you to know about.
http://forums.military.com/eve
/forums/a/tpc/f/672198221/m/474009552100
1?r=1710058521001
These are IRAQI citizens people and whether you want to label them "yankess" or "rebs" neither of them are Americans and it is their destiny to decide the fate of their country!
You read the reports about IRANIANS traing Shia Militia and in IRAN and the other 100 Muslim Nations you read about the US Training Shia Security Forces - PLEASE TELL ME THE DIFFERENCE!!!
This is the type of deceit that Bush and War Profitering Cheneyh has been shielding from America for over four years in order to keep US Support behind Keeping our Soldiers in HARMS WAY - with Cheerleaders like Cheney saying on CNN - that we are making enormous progress in IRAQ - STATE of DENIAL! Both should be tried for starting a War that should never have happened with No Weapons of Mass Destruction Found! Iraq was quiet and Saddam kept the sectarion violence in check, but Bush opened the cork and now the can of worms are let loose forever!
How Tragically SAD!
Chenyy and Bush LIED us into this War. Completely Obvious to anyone paying attention BEFORE their Invasion. Now only the most committed Ostrich can ignore the facts that this War On Iraq was based on total and deliberate LIES.
Which makes Cheney, Bush and their Neocon gang of murderous thugs WAR CRIMINALS.
JAIL CHENEY!
JAIL BUSH!
-George W. Bush
Posted by jeff92706 at 11:15 PM : May 06, 2007
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The only mission Bush will accomplish in Iraq will be to hand the Iraq war over to the next president. Every U.S. life lost in pursuit of this mission is sacrificed not to protect America from terrorists, but to protect Bush and Cheney from accountability.
Posted by j-whitman at 10:35 PM : May 06, 2007
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YOUR ability to connect irrelevant dots is unremarkable...but if it make you feel more educated, it works for me...but does nothing for the facts of the matter.
Try again
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