BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 8, 2007
Iraq Truck Bomb Kills At Least 115
More Deaths Reported In Shiite Village Hit By Huge Blast; Car Bombs Kill 8 In Baghdad's Karrada District
-
Play CBS Video Video Sen. Reed On Iraq Thalia Assuras talks to Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who's on a fact- finding mission in Iraq. He reports on congressional support for a shift in the way the U.S. is supporting Iraq.
-
Video Can Iraq Stand On Its Own? As car bombings in Baghdad continue, U.S. forces are optimistic, even if politicians aren't. But can Iraqi police take charge? Stacy Case reports.
-
Video War Debate Heats Up As the calls for change in Iraq policy grow louder on Capitol Hill, top military commanders on the ground say a premature pullout would be a disaster for the U.S. Stacy Case reports.
-
A bombing casualty from the village of Armili is brought to a hospital in Kirkuk, Saturday, July 7, 2007. A suicide bomber detonated a truck packed with explosives in an outdoor market Saturday. (AP)
-
Photo Essay Iraq In Pictures A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
-
Interactive American Heroes Profiles of U.S. soldiers who've died in Iraq, a look at the war's toll and pictures of mourning.
The twin explosions hit Baghdad's Karrada district, which has seen a relative calm for weeks amid a U.S. security crackdown in the capital and on regions to the north and south, where al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents are believed to prepare their deadly car bombs.
Violence has eased somewhat in Baghdad recently, but militants have demonstrated they can still carry out car bomb strikes there — if at a lower rate than in the past — despite the American sweep.
Insurgents also appear to be moving further north to unleash out their devastating attacks in less protected regions beyond the U.S. offensive on Baghdad's northern doorstep — such as Armili, the Shiite Turkoman farming town north of Baghdad that was hit in Saturday's truck bombing.
The toll from the attack was still not clear. Abdullah Jabara, deputy governor of Salahuddin province where the town is located, said Saturday the toll from the blast was 115 dead — nearly three-quarters of them women, children and elderly.
On Sunday, Brig. Abbas Mohmmed Amin, chief of police in the nearby city of Tuz Khurmato, put the toll at 150 dead, while Abbas al-Bayati, a Shiite Turkoman lawmaker, told reporters 130 had been killed.
The count was difficult because of the town's remote location and because many of the dead initially had been buried under rubble that took hours to clear. Saturday's blast ripped through the town market during crowded morning shopping, destroying dozens of old mud-brick homes and shops.
Armili residents on Sunday buried about 70 of the dead. Mourners flowed into mosques and funeral tents set up in the town's main street, where black banners were hung on the walls with names of the dead.
Iraqi army and police forces were out in increased numbers in the streets and closed off entrances to the town to prevent attacks on the funerals — a frequent target of Sunni insurgents, Amin said.
Al-Bayati sharply criticized the security situation in the town, saying an Iraqi army battalion was moved out of the Armili region to Baghdad earlier this year to help in the crackdown in the capital. He said Armili's police force had only 30 members, saying the Interior Ministry had approved an increase in the force only two days before the attack.
U.S. forces are waging an offensive in the city of Baquba, just north of Baghdad, to uproot al Qaeda militants and Sunni insurgents using the region to launch attacks in the capital. But American commanders acknowledged that many extremists fled Baquba before the sweep began in mid-June.
Al-Bayati said Sunni insurgents had fled to the Himrin region, a swathe of mountains southeast of Armili, between it and Baquba.
Armili residents say regions like theirs are being left exposed and vulnerable. Tensions are constantly high between the town's Shiite Turkoman population and the Sunni Arabs who dominate the surrounding villages. Iraqi security presence is scant in the remote region, far from Salahuddin's administrative center and the eye of officials.
"The number of Iraqi police and army in this area is too low. This is a farming area with a lot of empty areas, so it's neglected. There's not even much presence of government officials," said Haytham Khalaf, 37, an Amirli resident whose niece was injured. He accused local Sunnis of helping al Qaeda set up a presence there.
The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, told The Associated Press on Saturday he expected Sunni extremists to try to "pull off a variety of sensational attacks and grab the headlines to create a `mini-Tet."'
He was referring to the 1968 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Tet offensive that undermined public support for the Vietnam War in the United States.
In Baghdad, the twin car bombs on Sunday struck around 10:30 a.m. The first exploded near a restaurant that was closed at the time. The blast destroyed stalls and soft-drink stands, killing two passers-by and wounding eight others, a police official said. The area is near the offices of the Supreme Islamic Council in Iraq, the biggest Shiite party in parliament.
About five minutes later, the second car exploded about a mile) away, hitting shops selling leather jackets and shoes. Six people were killed and seven wounded, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Also Sunday, the military announced that an American soldier was killed in combat a day earlier in Salahuddin province. It did not provide details.
The U.S. military may be forced to tolerate attacks further north as they focus on pacifying Baghdad and its surroundings, hoping that calm in the capital will give the government time to take key political steps. Washington is pressing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to pass measures to encourage Sunni Arabs to turn away from support of the insurgency to back the government.
Efforts to pass the measures, however, continue to be tied down in political feuding between Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish parties in al-Maliki's fragile coalition. At the same time, tensions have risen with the movement of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a former ally of the prime minister.
Clashes broke out Saturday between police and the Sadr movement's militia, the Mahdi Army, in Suwayrah, 25 miles south of Baghdad, killing three civilians and wounding eight, according to a morgue official. Police and Mahdi Army fighters battled for days earlier this week in Samawah, further south.
Al-Maliki on Saturday accused the Sadr movement of being infiltrated by Baathists and gangs in one of his harshest criticisms against the group, and he demanded Sadrist leaders stop violence being carried out in the group's name.
In other developments:
The troops were hit by bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms during an arrest operation in the city before dawn, the military said in a statement. Coalition aircraft destroyed roadside bombs as the British soldiers were extracted from the city, it said.
Britain has withdrawn hundreds of troops from Iraq, leaving a force of around 5,500 based mainly on the fringes of Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad. British bases come under frequent mortar attacks from Shiite militias. The U.S. currently has about 155,000 troops in Iraq.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The secrets of tennis legend 
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
... - 9
- next
See all 174 CommentsI ask that you provide proof of American supported death squads operatin in Iraq.
I ask for you to explain your statement to the effect you hope Iraqi civilians stand up against U.S. Soldiers.
I laugh at your thought of anything on the web could be takes as the truth, especially a site you have selected which deals with ancient South American policy.
I have never stated or by any means indicated I agree with U.S. policy in Iraq.
I completely disagree with your implications that Iraqi civilians should kill U.S. soldiers. The statement was lost when CBS cleared the board, however you know what you said and I ask that you repeat it, so I am absolutely and crystal clear.
You continuously bash the United States and to the best of my determination defend Iran as well as Al-Qaeda also on a regular basis.
Is it your opinion that Al-Qaeda Iraq did not exist? Who was Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi?
There are many Baghdad residents who are more than able to verify his affiliation. They can also explain how he coldly murdered more than a few and threatened many more if they were to speak with coalition forces.
Nothing on the news or on the web paints an accurate portrait. And you are content with US soldiers getting shot by civilians and post it on the web.
Posted by radiob at 10:31 PM : Jul 08, 2007
Radio, you are somewhat right but I am more interested in a longer period of time than the accepted time as portrayed in the Bible (around 6000 years). As I said earlier
"I make a distinction about being a thinking Christian. I have no problem with evolution. GOD has eternity to do what he wants, why rush things into 6 days. People love to blame GOD for everything they do that is stupid (it was GODS will). or they say "The Devil made me do it", they almost never 'own up to it'.
"Kill The unbelievers" if my GOD cannot stand questions then he would not be my GOD. I question everything and then think and pray about it. Most times my questions are answered. All of my prayers are answered, (sometimes the answer is 'NO!'
See you sometime tomorrow my friend.
Here are a couple of sites on what you are reading
http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b1hammurabi.htm
http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/essays/comp/cw03hammurabijustinlaw.htm
I am working my way back down from Gilgamesh but haven't gotten to Hammurabi yet but its getting closer. whew! my eye hurts. LOL
Posted by ToolMangler
Are you reffering to the entire Bible? If so Amazon has a wide selection of new translations. I did not mean to leave you hanging but Hamiltongrad is accusing me of being a extremist sympathizer on another post. Far from reality.
Posted by ToolMangler
When ancient scribes copied earlier books, they wrote notes on the margins of the page (marginal glosses) to correct their text%u2014especially if a scribe accidentally omitted a word or line%u2014and to comment about the text. When later scribes were copying the copy, they were sometimes uncertain if a note was intended to be included as part of the text. Over time, different regions evolved different versions, each with its own assemblage of omissions and additions.
Primarily language translation from one language to another loses some of its original meaning.
Posted by radiob at 06:24 PM : Jul 08, 2007
I wait on further elucidation, care to indulge?
I have seen a few and decided not to dwell on it.
I was spared for a reason but I don't know why so I am content to wait and see what new things GOD wants me to see before I am really through here.
remember my motto, "Learn something new every day, GOD may be talking to you"
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God trust also in me. 2. In my Father's house are many Mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you."
So, question. Are the other 'mansions' places where the 'former' occupants of this Planet reside now? Since we are replenishing this world, who are we replacing, other failures or other winners?
comments?
There are some pretty interesting stories on the site.
Opens up a whole set of new meanings, doesn't it?
Posted by ToolMangler
Interesting Tool I thought the emphasis was on subdue as in cultivate not replinish. Perhaps foresight was what was intended and the passage was not speaking in a past tense. One of the problems of the Bible is translation from Hebrew and Greek into English.
My emphasis was on the word "replenish" radio
chech it out,
Verb 1. replenish - fill something that had previously been emptied
My question is "on the sixth day of creation why should 'anything' need to be 'replenished?
Opens up a whole set of new meanings, doesn't it?
The verse you left last night as your last post
to replinish the earth and subdue is more profound than what is seen on the surface when one understands to subdue in this case means to cultivate the land.You stated that you had a near death experience, did you have it published? Perhaps on the web where it can be read?
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
... - 9
- next
See all 174 Comments