BAGHDAD, Sept. 24, 2007
Attack On Sunni-Shiite Meeting Kills 15
Car Bomber Strikes Iraqi Reconciliation Meeting; U.S. Soldier Killed North Of Baghdad
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Iraqis examine a vehicle destroyed in an overnight raid by U.S. troops in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad on Sept. 24, 2007. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
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A family crosses from Iran into Iraq at the Zarbatiya border crossing, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, on Sept. 12, 2007. Iran reportedly closed several key border crossings Monday, Sept. 24, 2007, to protest the U.S. detention of an Iranian official in northern Iraq. (AP Photo/Kim Gamel)
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A man crosses from Iran into Iraq at the Zarbatiya border crossing Sept. 12, 2007. U.S. soldiers are training border guards in this remote area, a suspected entry point for weapons and foreign fighters. (AP Photo/Kim Gamel)
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
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Special Report The Road Ahead Katie Couric reports from Iraq on the future of U.S. involvement there.
Two U.S. soldiers were also wounded in the blast, which occurred about 8:30 p.m. at a Shiite mosque in Baqouba, a former al Qaeda in Iraq stronghold about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
The brazen attack, which bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda in Iraq, represented a major challenge to U.S. efforts to bring together Shiites and Sunnis here in Diyala province, scene of some of the bitterest fighting in Iraq.
About two hours after the blast, U.S. soldiers at nearby Camp Warhorse fired artillery rounds at suspected insurgent positions near Baqouba. There were no reports of damage or casualties.
Most of the victims were in the mosque courtyard washing their hands or sipping tea during Iftar -- the daily meal in which Muslims break their sunrise-to-sunset fast during the holy month of Ramadan -- when the bomber struck, witnesses and officials said.
Security guards approached a man after noticing him walking rapidly through the courtyard. As the guards challenged him, the man detonated an explosive belt, setting off the devastating blast, said police Maj. Salah al-Jurani.
Al-Jurani said he believed provincial Gov. Raad Rashid al-Tamimi was the intended target. The governor was wounded and his driver was killed, al-Jurani said.
The dead also included Baqouba's police chief, Brig. Gen. Ali Dalyan, and the Diyala provincial operations chief, Brig. Gen. Najib al-Taie, according to security officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release the information.
Also wounded was the governor's brother, Sheik Mazin Rashid al-Tamimi, who has spearheaded Sunni-Shiite reconciliation efforts in the province.
"We've tried to convince the tribes to oust terrorists from their areas because it's a disaster when the tribes cooperate with and provide refuge to al Qaeda," Sheik Mazin told The Associated Press last weekend.
U.S. officials have accelerated efforts to reconcile Sunni and Shiite tribes in Diyala after American soldiers gained control of Baqouba, the provincial capital, in fighting last summer. Al Qaeda had declared Baqouba the capital of its Islamic State of Iraq.
The U.S. announced this month that top leaders of 19 of the 25 major tribes in Diyala -- 13 Sunni and six Shiite -- had agreed to end sectarian violence and support the government, although the province remains one of the most dangerous in the country with frequent kidnappings and armed clashes.
To the north, Iran shut down five major border crossing points into Kurdish areas Monday to protest the U.S. arrest and detention of an Iranian official accused by the U.S. military of links to an elite force smuggling weapons into this country to kill Americans.
Crossing points elsewhere along the 900-mile border were operating normally.
Iran's semiofficial Mehr news agency said the closures were to protest the arrest last Thursday of Mahmudi Farhadi, an Iranian regional official who was detained by American troops at a hotel in Sulaimaniyah, a Kurdish city 160 miles northeast of Baghdad.
The border stations will remain shut until Farhadi's unconditional release, the Mehr agency quoted Ismail Najjar, general governor of the Iranian Kurdistan province, as saying.
U.S. officials said Farhadi was a member of the Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards that smuggles weapons to Shiite extremists in Iraq. But Iraqi officials say he was here legally and should be set free.
In New York, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told The Associated Press that the border closure was intended to protect religious pilgrims and that "commercial goods and freight transactions continue."
However, a Kurdish merchant from Sulaimaniyah said he had three trucks loaded with construction materials stuck on the Iranian side of the border near Panjwin. "They didn't allow them to cross, they closed the gate," Khalid Aman Sulaiman said.
Merchants and officials said hundreds of trucks were backed up on the Iranian side and no goods were being allowed across.
"We are paying the price for the U.S.-Iranian struggle in Iraq," complained businessman Rashid Saleh as he fretted over his shipment of Iranian dairy products stuck under a blazing sun on the Iranian side of the border at Panjwin. "What is our guilt? We have families to feed."
In other developments:
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- **** TAKE AMERICA BACK ****
**** STOP THE WAR & Corporate Corruption****
He has NEVER voted:
* to raise taxes
* for an unbalanced budget
* to raise congressional pay
* for a federal restriction on gun ownership
* to increase the power of the executive branch
He HAS voted:
* against the Iraq war
* against the inappropriately named USA PATRIOT act
* against regulating the internet
* against the Military Commissions Act
He will eliminate the IRS, Wasteful Government Spending & Stop The Iraq War Immediately!
Most importantly, he voted NO on anything in Congress that is not allowed by the Constitution.
He is the only candidate not a member of the CFR!
Shouldn''t ALL members of Congress uphold the Constitution? Aren''t they SWORN to uphold it? You can bet Paul WON''T call the Constitution "just a G**D***ed piece of paper" like George Bush is reported to have.
If you want a candidate you can TRUST due to a proven track record, visit www.ronpaul2008.com and get busy spreading the word. The Mainstream Media is Blacking Out The Truth Spoke By Ron Paul!
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Also checkout http://www.youtube.com search for: RON PAUL - Reply to this comment
- "Cheney once said that Democrats don''''''''t have the stomach for war, and this article and these posts prove it."
Posted by boondoggler7 at 11:38 PM : Sep 24, 2007
Cheney most certainly never had the stomach for war when he was called ~ 5 times. However, he has no qualms about asking others to serve in his place and die in his place.
"If World War II Veterans saw the generation of today they would be rolling over their graves. If you''''''''re not willing to die for your country, then get out."
Do you happen to know any WWII vets. There are still some alive, and still many Korean vets around, and even more Viet Nam vets. Walk into your nearest VA hospital and talk to a few. You may learn something.
Most don''t think this war is dying for your country. - Reply to this comment
- Its not a civil war between Sunni''''s and Shiite, its AQ against them all.
Posted by pwrslm
Exactly. We Leave Al Q is finished.
No surprise to me that the GOP is completely wrong again.
I swear the GOP should call themselves the Wrong instead of the right. - Reply to this comment
- Your right. The ****** and Suniis hate them. So I guess that destroys the loony Gop''s belief that we must stay until Al Q is defeated. It''s the exact opposite. We Leave Al Q leaves. Is there any surprise the Republicans have it wrong again.
- Reply to this comment
- An Open Letter to the New Generation of Military Officers Serving and Protecting Our Nation
By Dr. Robert M. Bowman
Lt. Col., USAF, ret., National Commander, The Patriots
"The Nuremberg Principles says that we in the military have not only the right, but also the DUTY to refuse an illegal order. It was on this basis that we executed Nazi officers who were ''only carrying out their orders''... The Constitution which we are sworn to uphold says that treaties entered into by the United States are the ''highest law of the land,'' equivalent to the Constitution itself. Accordingly, we in the military are sworn to uphold treaty law, including the United Nations charter and the Geneva Convention... Based on the above, I contend that should some civilian order you to initiate a nuclear attack on Iran (for example), you are duty-bound to refuse that order. I might also suggest that you should consider whether the circumstances demand that you arrest whoever gave the order as a war criminal." - Reply to this comment
- I''''m digusted that we''''ve become a nation of selfish cowards. It used to be that ultimate honor and privelege was to die for your country. Now all I hear are people wanting to surrender, bad mouth their president, and focus on nothing more than their personal happiness. Even the kids that enlist are doing it for money and benefits and not the noble sacrifice. Even if the Iraq war was unnecessary, at least George Bush and *** Cheney want to kick *** and take names. Cheney once said that Democrats don''''t have the stomach for war, and this article and these posts prove it. We must bring back the draft, if nothing else, to teach these kids American values and the honor of suffering and sacrifice than simply pursuing success and happiness. If World War II Veterans saw the generation of today they would be rolling over their graves. If you''''re not willing to die for your country, then get out.
- Reply to this comment
%u201CWhy we stand for immediate withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq%u201D
%u201CTHE U.S. occupation of Iraq has not liberated the Iraqi people, but has made life worse for most Iraqis.%u201D
%u201CTens of thousands of U.S. service people have been killed or maimed, and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis have lost their lives as a result of the U.S. invasion in 2003, the ongoing occupation, and the violence unleashed by them.%u201D
%u201CIraq''s infrastructure has been destroyed, and U.S. plans for reconstruction abandoned. There is less electricity, less clean drinking water, and more unemployment today than before the U.S. invasion.%u201D
%u201CAll of the justifications initially provided by the U.S. for waging war on Iraq have been exposed as lies; the real reasons for the invasion %u2014 to control Iraq''s oil reserves and to increase U.S. strategic influence in the region %u2014 now stand revealed.%u201D
%u201CThe Bush administration has insisted again and again that stability, democracy, and prosperity are around the next bend in the road%u2026But the U.S. has deliberately stoked sectarian divisions in its ongoing attempt to install a U.S.-friendly regime, thus driving Iraq towards civil war.%u201D
%u201CWe call on the U.S. to get out of Iraq %u2014 not in six months, not in a year, but now.%u201D
www.ipetitions.com/petition/OutNow- Reply to this comment
- I''''m digusted that we''''ve become a nation of selfish cowards. It used to be that ultimate honor and privelege was to die for your country. Now all I hear are people wanting to surrender, bad mouth their president, and focus on nothing more than their personal happiness. Even the kids that enlist are doing it for money and benefits and not the noble sacrifice. Even if the Iraq war was unnecessary, at least George Bush and *** Cheney want to kick *** and take names. Cheney once said that Democrats don''''t have the stomach for war, and this article and these posts prove it. We must bring back the draft, if nothing else, to teach these kids American values and the honor of suffering and sacrifice than simply pursuing success and happiness. If World War II Veterans saw the generation of today they would be rolling over their graves. If you''''re not willing to die for your country, then get out.
- Reply to this comment
- Bush lovers --- Ignore the sweet smell of rotting flesh in the streets all over Iraq, it''s called "Progress" ----- Go Shopping in Baghdad
- Reply to this comment
realpatriot1,
I am not claiming that there are not some extremist religious kooks out there, some of which are Muslim, and some of which commit violent acts. What I am saying, is that I doubt that they are coordinated into any global network, I doubt that they call themselves "al-Qaeda", and that the "al-Qaeda-in-Iraq" fairy-tales appear to be a 100% Made-in-USA, psy-ops hoax. On that final point, I am almost certain.
Re: "You''ve taken "blaming America first" to new levels of delusion."
I am not "blaming America" for this, but rather I am blaming a handful of extremist ideologues that have seized control of our government, and are running it into the ground.
They must be stopped and brought to trial, sooner than later, in my opinion.
Even if there were "al-Qaeda-in-Iraq", this in no way excuses the continuance of our illegal and disgraceful invasion of that country.- Reply to this comment
