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.

[formrusmcsgt]

Gorbachev says U.S. is sowing world %u2018disorder%u2019

Ex-Soviet premier blasts Bush as helping create %u2018very dangerous%u2019 situation

Updated: 7:13 a.m. PT July 27, 2007
MOSCOW - Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev criticized the United States, and President Bush in particular, on Friday for sowing disorder across the world by seeking to build an empire.

%u201CWhat has followed are unilateral actions, what has followed are wars, what has followed is ignoring the U.N. Security Council, ignoring international law and ignoring the will of the people, even the American people,%u201D he said.

[formrusmcsgt]

U.S. widens push to use armed Iraqi residents
Irregulars to patrol own neighborhoods
By Ann Scott Tyson

Updated: 12:24 a.m. PT July 28, 2007
BAGHDAD - The U.S. military in Iraq is expanding its efforts to recruit and fund armed Sunni residents as local protection forces in order to improve security and promote reconciliation at the neighborhood level, according to senior U.S. commanders.

Within the past month, the U.S. military command in charge of day-to-day operations in Iraq ordered subordinate units to step up creation of the local forces, authorizing commanders to pay the fighters with U.S. emergency funds, reward payments and other monies.
------

This creation of Sunni militia is not only an admission that occupation forces can not succeed, but that the formation of Iraq security forces is a bust as well.

"Let's breed reconciliation by creating more militias" is but another in a long chain of bad decisions by this administration.

[formrusmcsgt]

US accuses Saudis of telling lies about Iraq
28 July 2007 09:00

The extent of the deterioration in United States-Saudi relations was exposed for the first time on Friday when Washington accused Riyadh of working to undermine the Iraqi government.

The Bush administration warned Saudi Arabia, until this year one of its closest allies, to stop undermining the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

Reflecting the deteriorating relationship, the US made public claims that the Saudis have been distributing fake documents lying about al-Maliki.
-------

This administration has told 80 bazillion lies about Iraq.

As if they have a right to complain about deceit when all they themselves spew is lies .

What cheek, not to mention, being downright stupid.

[formrusmcsgt]

Fools have to stop using the WW2 analogy. This is not like that at all.

Posted by Iceman_1960 at 08:28 AM : Jul 28, 2007

I agree, and for 2 major reasons.

First we were fighting conventional forces, not guerillas. Standing armies are effective against other standing armies, but not against guerillas.

Secondly, we were defending allies against aggressor nations who invaded them.

Now, we are the invading aggressor.

[pastdue1]

"To build something and not have these issues resolved from top to bottom is unfathomable,%u201D said William L. Nash, a retired general who is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on Middle East reconstruction. %u201CThe management of the reconstruction program for Iraq has been a near-total disaster from the beginning.%u201D
Fighting an unwinnable war is not the only failure in Iraq, the reconstruction, costing the American taxpayer billions, is also turning out to be a failure. The completed projects are not being accepted by the Iraqi government and thus, turn to wrack and ruin. The reconstruction has often been cited by the administration to show that our plan for Iraq is working. Way to go, Georgie!!

[tbweb]

It's called Seperation of Church and State and should be the POLICY of this nation, should be the Policy of our Government when dealing with ANY country.

Posted by MCVet at 07:14 AM : Jul 28, 2007,,,

Well said and I would add the Seperation of Church and State should be Universal World Wide, the two do not mix and serve cross purposes in the Public Domain if people would only be honest about it!

[iceman_1960]

Somebody please tell "ban_islam," "lars008" and other right wing freaks that Muslim terrorists are scattered and diffused among over a billion people who live across the entire planet.

It is not possible to "annihilate radical Islam" without killing all those billion people, which of course is not possible, much less desirable.

It's not at all like World War II, where the two principal enemies were organized into discrete power centers in comparatively small geographic areas, Germany and Japan, the latter a group of islands. They could be surrounded and isolated, and were.

Fools have to stop using the WW2 analogy. This is not like that at all.

No "island hopping" strategy will defeat radical Islam.

[mcvet]

Why do people who SAY they believe in a religion kill each other for no other reason than they do not agree on ALL points. Why do people who say they believe in a religion want to FORCE others to accept and believe in the same things? These are things that Jefferson and Madison wondered as they struggled to lay down markers in our constitution on the freedom of each indiviual citizen of this nation to believe as they wanted. When they looked at the system they had just freed themselves from and the massive abuse served upon citizens by some of the Religious groups not associated with the King, the solution became very clear. NO Government, be it FEDERAL, STATE, County or city should be able to favor any one indiviuals rights over the other, Religion they believed was a very personal and private thing and must remain as such. When religion becomes evil and ugly is when people who are in power or those who seek power, use it to control some and to distroy others. It's called Seperation of Church and State and should be the POLICY of this nation, should be the Policy of our Government when dealing with ANY country.