Bloody Start To New Year In Baghdad

32 Killed In Funeral Blast After Period Of Relatively Low Violence

(CBS/AP)  A suicide bomber killed at least 32 men and wounded 34 others gathered in eastern Baghdad Tuesday to mourn the death of a retired Iraqi army officer, a Shiite who was slain last week in a car bombing blamed on al Qaeda in Iraq.

The bloody start to the new year came as residents of Baghdad were enjoying a festive holiday period marked by unusually low levels of violence - compared to the thousands that died during attacks in the last month of 2006 and the first of 2007.

In a New Year's message from London, where he flew last week for what his office described as routine medical tests, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that "we witnessed sorrow and pain in 2007, but with the effort and brotherhood of Iraqis as well their insistence to wake up, the year ended with victories and successes."

He added that he hoped 2008 will "further boost national unity and cooperation" among Iraq's political parties, sects and ethnic groups.

The government, which has sought to reconcile Iraq's often warring Shiites and Sunnis, took a tiny step toward national reconciliation by sending a draft amnesty bill to the parliament speaker Tuesday. But the bill drafted by the Shiite-dominated government falls far short of Sunni demands. It covers less than a quarter of those held in Iraqi prisons, and none of those held by the American military.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the draft bill would also exclude those imprisoned for a variety of crimes ranging from terrorism, kidnapping and rape to antiquities smuggling, adultery and homosexuality. It also excludes senior figures of the former Baath regime.

If passed in its current form, the bill could see some 5,000 prisoners released, al-Dabbagh said. The Iraqi government has about 20,000 people in custody, while the U.S. military holds about 25,000.

Sunni parliamentarians have criticized the bill for its limited scope. They have argued that most prisoners are charged with terrorist crimes, rendering it ineffective. Some also fear referring the bill to Iraq's gridlocked parliament will actually delay prisoner releases.

In Tuesday's bombing the east Baghdad neighborhood of Zayouna, a mixed Shiite and Sunni district, a man loaded with explosives walked into a funeral tent outside the home of Nabil Hussein Jassim, a retired army officer killed along with another 13 people in a car bombing in downtown Baghdad's Tayaran Square on Friday.

All 32 people killed by the suicide bomber were men, police and ambulance officials said on condition of anonymity. The attack resembled those carried out by al Qaeda in past years, when men in suicide vests blew themselves up inside funeral tents or at processions. Tents are usually erected outside the homes of those whose died or outside mosques and are usually filled with male friends and relatives of the deceased.

It was the fourth large bombing to target Iraqi civilians or members of the predominantly Sunni tribal movement known as Awakewning Councils in the past 10 days. A suicide bomber targeting members of the U.S.-funded movement killed 12 people on New Year's eve in Tarmiyah, just north of Baghdad.

The groups have been credited with helping slash violence across the country by 60 percent since June. The other key contributors were an inflow of 30,000 additional U.S. troops and a ceasefire called by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

In other violence Tuesday, eight bullet-riddled bodies were found around Iraq. In a separate incident, the bodies of a Sunni policeman and four of his relatives were found in a village north of Baghdad hours after gunmen abducted them from their home.

Despite the violence, December 2007 became the second safest month in Iraq since the American-led invasion began. CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor reports that 23 members of the military died, compared to 112 in December 2006. However, because the first half of the year was so bloody, before the surge took hold, 2007 still goes down as the deadliest year of the war.

Iraq's government released statistics on New Year's Eve, citing the number of civilians and security force members it said were killed in 2007.

According to the health, defense and interior ministries, 16,232 civilians, 432 soldiers and about 1,300 Iraqi policeman died in 2007. The previous year, the ministries said that 12,371 civilians, 603 soldiers and 1,224 policeman were killed. The government's figures were roughly in line with a count kept by The Associated Press, which found that 18,610 Iraqis were killed in 2007. In 2006, the only other full year an AP count has been tallied, 13,813 died.

For December 2006, the count found that 2,309 people were killed compared to about 700 last month. Last January was equally bloodsoaked with 1,908 deaths.

The AP count - which includes civilians, government officials, police and security forces - is compiled from hospital, police and military officials, as well as accounts from reporters and photographers. Insurgent deaths were not included. Other counts differ and some have given higher civilian death tolls.

[red164]

Excuse me,,, Bush will sell our highways to Dubai




Posted by j-whitman at 12:57 PM : Jan 02, 2008

Mexico

[j-whitman]

Excuse me,,, Bush will sell our highways to Dubai

[j-whitman]

red164,,,, Bush will sell our highways to Bush

[red164]

jowand ---- If you''''re looking for a White House to support our highways ---- You''''ve still got an incompetent President

Posted by j-whitman at 12:38 PM : Jan 02, 2008

Bush''s cronies will just privatize US roads and offer the American people a tax cut.

Tolls will be real cheap just like gasoline. WINK WINK

[red164]

jowand,,, So, what are you trying to say with your highway statistics ??? ------ Support the Roads & Not the Troops ??????



Posted by j-whitman at 12:35 PM : Jan 02, 2008

So much for that War on Terror rhetoric he''s now quoting death by automobile statistics within the US.

[j-whitman]

jowand ---- If you''re looking for a White House to support our highways ---- You''ve still got an incompetent President

[j-whitman]

jowand ---- If you''re looking for a White House to support our highways ---- You''ve still got an incompetent President

[red164]

Crude oil prices have reached $100 a barrel for the first time ever.

Another feather in Bush''s cap

[j-whitman]

jowand,,, So, what are you trying to say with your highway statistics ??? ------ Support the Roads & Not the Troops ??????

[red164]

Posted by jowand at 09:24 AM : Jan 02, 2008

Judicial Watch''s article naming the "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians" for 2007.




The list mentions Hillary Clinton (D-NY), John Conyers (D-MI), Larry Craig (R-ID), Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Rudy Giuliani (R-NY), Mike Huckabee (R-AR), I. Lewis %u201CScooter%u201D Libby, former Chief of Staff to Vice President *** Cheney, Barack Obama, (D-IL) Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Harry Reid (D-NV).

Judicial Watch is a conservative, non partisan educational foundation that promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in Government, politics and law.

Did you get that jowand?

[red164]

That twenty-five percent of America who would not desert George Bush if he ran over Dakota Fanning with his pickup truck on the White House lawn. Is it a coincidence that twenty-five percent is also the number of people who, in an AP poll of predictions for 2007, said they expect Jesus Christ to return this year? I don''''''''t think it is.

Bill Maher
Posted by taotxzen at 08:33 AM : Jan 02, 2008


As if the Lord would be coming down here go get those idiots anyway.

[newz4i]

American soldiers have done ... and still do an excellent job - the best - after all they''re America''s finest ... supported and respected by all Americans.

"Political Progress is STILL ZERO" due to limited political leadership from Cheney (acting President) and Bush (yes man for Cheney).

If the American voter pulls more neo-conistic Republicans out of office in 2008, Iraq will have a good chance to increase its percentage of political progress.

Vote to provide "quality" leadership from American by voting out more Republicans from the top on down this year, 2008, in order to put a halt to the political implosion the world has witnessed over the last seven years.

[clestes-2009]

"sending a draft amnesty bill to the parliament speaker Tuesday. But the bill drafted by the Shiite-dominated government falls far short of Sunni demands. It covers less than a quarter of those held in Iraqi prisons, and none of those held by the American military."

Here is the ONLY THING that counts in Iraq today. Political progress is STILL ZERO. Until that happens, Iraq will remain a FAILED AND VIOLENT state.

All the claims of progress by the Bush admin and supporters of the war are BOGUS!! They always talk about the lessening of violence, but NEVER about the only thing that matters, which is POLITICAL AGREEMENT. Violence is now and will remain a CONSTANT PROBLEM going up and down until there is a POLITICAL AGREEMENT!! Without that, any lessening in violence is only a temporary state.

Why do you think Petraeus won''t cut troops?? Gates wants a cut of at least 20,000 by next summer and Petraeus totally refuses to even consider it. He talks about 5000 (which will go straight to Afghanistan and not home) and even that is a maybe!!

He knows, and everyone who knows anything about Iraq know that the lull in violence IS ONLY TEMPORARY. And even this lull is still violent byond belief!! 30 car bombs a day, murder victims lying in the street everyday, Baghdad streets too dangerous to walk down.

Only the unsustainable violence levels of 2006 makes the violence level of today sound good!!

[ajaxtheleast]

Coca Cola''s commemorative George Bush coke bottle

with "You''re spilling pop on your left foot printed

on the bottom." has been recalled to correct the copy
error.

[andrew_693]

Even though bush has already said that there were no wmds, which is the reason why we invaded, some still want to support the mission, even though is based on a lie. It''s also sad to know that the corruption running the government also affects the justice system, since nobody will be held accountable for lying. When it really counts, the people with money do what they want, everything is for sale. There are no principles nor moral value. Come to think of it, there never were.

[jowand]

That twenty-five percent of America who would not desert George Bush if he ran over Dakota Fanning with his pickup truck on the White House lawn. Is it a coincidence that twenty-five percent is also the number of people who, in an AP poll of predictions for 2007, said they expect Jesus Christ to return this year? I don''''t think it is.

Bill Maher
Posted by taotxzen at 08:33 AM : Jan 02, 2008

Twenty five persent would vote for a Demoncrat no matter who the candidate is, no coincidence?

[jowand]

Just look at the numbers. A recent analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics shows that, by the time our country finished ringing in the year 2005 (the last year for which data are available), 135 people had died in alcohol-related traffic crashes in the 12-hour span between 6:00 p.m. on New Year''s Eve and 5:59 a.m. the next morning. Two weeks later, on the same night of the week, the death toll dropped dramatically to 59.

[samrensho]

But George said everything is wonderful in Iraq now.

[taotxzen]

George Bush

Come on, no list of a******* and f***-ups could be complete without the Dips*** in Chief. Who will tell this president what everyone but him already knows? The theory of evolution. And the times tables. And where the sun goes at night. And that Iraq is going to be three different countries. And that everyone hates us and we''ve run our military into the ground and the Taliban is back and we still haven''t caught bin Laden and the economy is tanking and we wasted eight years blowing the oil companies while the Earth is melting. We had a pretty nice house when this Cat in the Hat of presidents came in and made the mess of all time. And who''s going to clean it all up %u2014 Rudy Giuliani?

Bill Maher''s ''D***heads of the Year''

[taotxzen]

The Solid Quarter

That twenty-five percent of America who would not desert George Bush if he ran over Dakota Fanning with his pickup truck on the White House lawn. Is it a coincidence that twenty-five percent is also the number of people who, in an AP poll of predictions for 2007, said they expect Jesus Christ to return this year? I don''t think it is.

Bill Maher