Car Bombs Strike In Iraq Shiite District

Continued Attacks On Baghdad's Commercial Areas Kill Over 60, Wounding Nearly 100

(AP)  A parked car bomb exploded in a busy shopping street in predominantly Shiite eastern Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least four people and wounding 10, police said.

The bomb was the latest in a series of explosions targeting commercial centers.

The blast struck about noon, a peak time for street vendors and nearby stores along the Maaskar al-Rashid street, a popular gathering point for people selling tires and spare parts for automobiles. Police who gave the casualty toll said several stores also were damaged.

The attack came two days after explosions struck another Shiite market district in the Karradah neighborhood in central Baghdad as it was packed with shoppers, setting buildings and cars on fire and sending three huge columns of smoke billowing into the sky.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said the death toll in that attack had nearly doubled to 61 after more bodies were pulled from the rubble. He gave the number of wounded as 94.

He also provided a new explanation for the blasts, saying a single parked truck bombing had caused secondary explosions of two large generators and 10 nearby cars.

Iraqi police in the area said earlier that a garbage truck exploded near the market at about the same time as a Katyusha rocket slammed into a three-story residential building about 100 yards away.

Nobody claimed responsibility for either blast, but the market districts that dot Baghdad frequently have been targeted by suspected Sunni insurgents seeking to maximize the number of casualties in bombings despite a more than 5-month-old U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown.

Despite the unrelenting bombings, U.S. and Iraqi officials have claimed some success in reducing violence as they fight to gain control of the capital and surrounding areas ahead of a pivotal progress report to be delivered to the U.S. Congress in September.

But criticism has grown over failures of Iraq's leadership on the political front as parliament prepares to recess for an August vacation without passing key U.S.-backed legislation aimed at promoting national unity.

On Friday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated government denounced the country's largest Sunni Arab bloc for its threat to quit the ruling coalition, a move that would leave his Cabinet limping along with about a third of its members missing.

The National Accordance Front announced Wednesday it was suspending its membership in al-Maliki's government for now, but would quit it altogether if its demands were not met in a week's time. The 11 demands include a pardon for security detainees not charged with specific crimes, a firm commitment to human rights and the participation of all coalition partners in the handling of security issues.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh contended the criticism contained many "distortions" and amounted to an attempt to hinder the political process.

"The policy of threats, pressure and blackmail is useless," al-Dabbagh said in a four-page statement, which charged that the Front, which has six Cabinet members and 44 of parliament's 275 seats, has contributed to some of the policies it criticized.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, also called the move "unacceptable" and said in an interview with U.S.-funded Alhurra television that the Iraqi Accordance Front should have discussed its demands with the country's political leadership in private rather than publicizing them.

U.S. troops captured 16 suspected insurgents during raids targeting al Qaeda in Iraq Saturday in raids in the northern cities of Samarra and Tarmiyah, the military said. The detainees included an alleged bombmaker who also was believed responsible for kidnappings, assassinations and extortion operations, according to a statement.

A fierce gunbattle broke out Friday after a joint U.S.-Iraqi force arrested a rogue Shiite militia leader in the holy city of Karbala, some 50 miles south of Baghdad, leading to an airstrike and the deaths of some 17 militants, the military said.

The military has promised to crack down on Shiite militias, which have been blamed for thousands of execution-style killings and roadside bombings, as well as on Sunni extremists usually blamed for suicide attacks and other bombings.

[formrusmcsgt]

BTW, didya see the wannabe's comment from last night? He came back after 4 am. Said he had some info. Mustv'e been looking in the DOD pretty hard to come up with something that he thought would make him look like a vet. lol
Posted by drummer94 at 11:07 AM : Jul 28, 2007

No drummer, I missed that. But I could really care less. Anyone who accuses a man who fights for his country of being a traitor, by definition, is an utter idiot.

[formrusmcsgt]

After that broadcast I thought to myself, who claims that Saudi Arabia was ever a real friend to the U.S. in the real sense, except for being a major Oil supplier? Seems like whoever did has their values mixed up! Now the Saudi's have signed big Oil contracts with China and promised China as much Oil as the U.S., with friends like that who needs enemies!
Posted by tbweb at 01:19 PM : Jul 28, 2007

In the early sixties, the King of Saudi Arabia told Kennedy, "only after God, we trust America".

Decades of supporting Israel's aparthied against the Palestinians sure has come home to roost, eh?

[tbweb]

Posted by formrusmcsgt at 09:40 AM : Jul 28, 2007,,,

Deterioration in United States-Saudi relations was exposed for the first time??? Really? I remember watching a 60 Minutes broadcast a few years ago when 60 Minutes visited Saudi schools and discovered Saudi Arabia was a main Publisher and Distributor of the Koran. 60 Minutes discovered the Saudi's published and distributed many different versions of the Koran and I was surprised to learn the Koran was not the same all over. With that said, who knows what version of the Koran the Terrorist are reading!! But the main point is the Americans were protesting to the Saudi's because the Saudi version of the Koran in their schools were teaching that the Americans were infidels and devils and the U.S. wanted those entries removed, I don't know if they ever were. Osama bin Laden and other Terrorist from Saudi Arabia grew up reading the U.S. infidel, devil version of the Koran! Is it any wonder most 9/11 Terrorist were from Saudi Arabia? After that broadcast I thought to myself, who claims that Saudi Arabia was ever a real friend to the U.S. in the real sense, except for being a major Oil supplier? Seems like whoever did has their values mixed up! Now the Saudi's have signed big Oil contracts with China and promised China as much Oil as the U.S., with friends like that who needs enemies!

[hungry1968]

but, have you also read that now the administration is going to offer a $20 billion arms sale package. Do you suppose that will help us to not have to fight on both sides of a religious civil war? We do have a way of rewarding our enemies, don't we? To pacify Israel, we will increase their arms aid. The American taxpayer is a bottomless pit. Things do get weirder and weirder.
Posted by pastdue1 at 10:40 AM : Jul 28, 2007


It's not weirder and weirder. It's falling perfectly in place with the Bush family mantra. We're now going to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia, and we're already arming the Sunni insurgents in Iraq to allegedly fight al Qaeda. At the same time, we're arming the Shiite based government with al Maliki in charge. Pretty soon the whole region will explode into a religious war - Shiite vs. Sunni with Bush, Cheney, and Haliburton providing weapons, ammo, and "logistical support" to both sides.
Once Iran and Syria get involved, then they can start selling them weapons too.
Then Israel will feel threatened, so they'll start selling them more weapons and ammo.
You see how it works - keep fueling the fire by giving more weapons and ammo to all sides, while making a fortune in arms sales. That's how the Bush family rolls - just like in WWI and WWII.

[drummer94]

Exactly,sarge. BTW, didya see the wannabe's comment from last night? He came back after 4 am. Said he had some info. Mustv'e been looking in the DOD pretty hard to come up with something that he thought would make him look like a vet. lol

[formrusmcsgt]

We do have a way of rewarding our enemies, don't we?
Posted by pastdue1 at 10:40 AM : Jul 28, 2007

The neocons sure rewarded Iran by taking out Saddam the gate-keeper and giving Iran entree into Iraq didn't they?

Saddam kept Iran at bay for decades and the neocons, in their "brilliance", took him out and now want to cry about Iran being all in Iraq.

Just why IS Iran now able to extend its influence into Iraq? Because of downright stupid neocon policies, that's why.

[formrusmcsgt]

We do have a way of rewarding our enemies, don't we?
Posted by pastdue1 at 10:40 AM : Jul 28, 2007

The neocon agenda of promoting American hegemony wherever and whenever by whatever means requires that this price be paid.

Sabre-rattling and threat is utilized in lieu of diplomacy and cooperation.

Adverseries take the neocons at their word about all options being on the table if someone doesn't do this or that and build arms so we have to pony up arms in response.

The neocons employ confrontation and conflict as a means of attempting to achieve their goals rather than cooperation and coexistence.

Stupid.

[formrusmcsgt]

this blood-letting will not end until the Iraqi people get tired of the carnage.

Posted by drummer94 at 10:34 AM : Jul 28, 2007

The Iraqis are already tired of our turning their country into a war zone. We have created 4.5 million Iraqi refugees with this stupidity and creat 50,000 to 60,000 more each month.

This blood letting will only end when America withdraws its forces and allows the Iraqis to try to put their country back together in the fashion they prefer rather than a fashion we attampt to dictate to them.

[pastdue1]

formrusmcsgt
but, have you also read that now the administration is going to offer a $20 billion arms sale package. Do you suppose that will help us to not have to fight on both sides of a religious civil war? We do have a way of rewarding our enemies, don't we? To pacify Israel, we will increase their arms aid. The American taxpayer is a bottomless pit. Things do get weirder and weirder.

[drummer94]

.....despite a more than 5 month Iraqi-US crackdown..... More proof the surge is not working. I said it before and I'll say it again, this blood-letting will not end until the Iraqi people get tired of the carnage. Loony-toon put our troops in harms way for no reason other than his own selfish ones. And now, he blatantly, arrogantly wants to deal another 20 bil to his buddies in Saudi. What chutzpa.