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.
"By the time we get to September or October, members are going to want to know how well this is working, and if it isn't, what's Plan B?" Boehner said.
But in Baghdad, an American general warned of more casualties to come as the U.S. steps up its campaign to restore stability to Baghdad and surrounding areas.
"In the next 90 days we're going to see increased American casualties because we're taking the fight to the enemy," Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of U.S. troops south of Baghdad, told reporters.
Lynch predicted that U.S. operations would produce a "decisive effect on enemy formations" by September, but the task of building stable Iraqi political institutions and security capabilities will take much longer.
However, Iraq's religiously and ethnically based political parties show little sign that they are narrowing their differences.
On Sunday, a top leader of the biggest Sunni bloc in parliament complained bitterly that Sunni Cabinet members are being given no real powers in the Shiite-dominated government.
Adnan al-Dulaimi also charged that the 11-week-old Baghdad security crackdown was victimizing Sunnis in the city.
"Our participation in this so-called national unity government is weak and marginalized and our ministers have no authority to serve Iraq or its people," al-Dulaimi told reporters.
He also complained that Shiite militias and death squads have resumed kidnapping and killing Sunnis.
"We wish the government every success with the security plan but not at the expense of the Sunnis," al-Dulaimi said. "We call on the government to strike with an iron fist the death squads, the militias and the military commanders who attack our Sunni areas under the cover of the security plan."
Last week, Iraq's Arab neighbors made clear during a regional conference in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheik that the Shiite-dominated government must reach out to the Sunnis if it expects substantial economic help to rebuild the country.
The chief spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the government was aware of renewed sectarian cleansing but blamed it on criminal gangs that want to "create the impression" of a city torn by religious strife.
"These are among the challenges the Iraqi government faces," the spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, told reporters.
U.S. officials have insisted that the security crackdown is not directed at any religious or ethnic group.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said U.S. and Iraqi forces raided the Shiite district of Sadr City early Sunday, uncovering a weapons cache, a torture room and killing at least eight militants.
"Intelligence reports indicate that the secret cell had ties to a kidnapping network that conducts attacks within Iraq as well as interactions with rogue elements throughout Iraq and into Iran," he said.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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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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