BAGHDAD, March 11, 2008
Violence In Iraq Kills 42; 3 More GIs Die
U.S. Death Toll For Monday Rises To 8; Bomb Hits Bus Killing 16
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The aftermath of a suicide attack that killed five U.S. soldiers in Baghdad. (AP /APTN)
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A U.S. soldier of 3rd Brigade Combat team, 3rd Infantry Division aims his rifle beside a military vehicle during a patrol at Al-leg, Iraq, an area about 40 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq on Monday, March 10, 2008. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
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Cpt. Jim Hathaway from Columbus, GA, of 3rd Brigade Combat team, 3rd Infantry Division plays soccer with Iraqi children during a joint U.S.-Republic of Georgia army patrol in the Al-leg area of Iraq, about 40 miles south of Baghdad, on March 9, 2008. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
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A U.S. soldier stands in front of a bus that was hit by a roadside bomb near Nasiriyah, about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, March, 11, 2008. At least 16 civilians aboard died and another 22 were wounded in the blast. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)
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Interactive American Heroes Profiles of U.S. soldiers who've died in Iraq, a look at the war's toll and pictures of mourning.
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
The U.S. military announced that three American soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad on Monday, bringing to eight the number of troops who died that day. The last time so many U.S. military personnel were killed in Iraq was Sept. 10, when 10 died.
Bloodshed has increased recently, despite what the military said has been a 60 percent drop in attacks across Iraq since June. Last Thursday, two massive bombs killed 68 people in Baghdad's Karradah neighborhood. On March 3, two car bombings killed 24 people in the capital.
According to an Associated Press count, at the height of unrest from November 2006 to August 2007, on average approximately 65 Iraqis died each day as a result of violence. As conditions improved, the daily death toll steadily declined. It reached its lowest point in more than two years on January 2008, when on average 20 Iraqis died each day.
Those numbers have since jumped. In February, approximately 26 Iraqis died each day as a result of violence, and so far in March, that number is up to 39 daily. These figures reflect the months in which people were found, and not necessarily - in the case of mass graves - the months in which they were killed.
Military spokesman Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said Sunday that recent violence should not be taken as evidence of "an increase or a trend of an increase."
"I think we need to continue to look at historically what has happened over the last year to really put in perspective a one-week or two-weeks' worth of activity inside Baghdad," Smith said.
But Smith, in what has become a military mantra of caution, also noted that "on any given day, al Qaeda and other extremist groups are still very much disposed toward handing out violence indiscriminately to achieve whatever means and ends they hope to achieve with those attacks."
While al Qaeda in Iraq is Sunni, Shiite extremists with alleged ties to Iran are also believed to have carried out attacks.
In an interview with CNN Tuesday, Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said he was in favor of substantive discussions with Iran about what the U.S. claims is Tehran's continued funding and training of extremists in Iraq.
Petraeus said he did not meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to Iraq last week because he thought it would have been a "relatively meaningless encounter."
But he added: "What we would like to do with Iran of course is sit down across the table and let's discuss. You know, the Iranians have pledged at the very highest levels to stop arming, training, funding and equipping and directing the special groups and these other militia extremist elements ... and yet it appears very clear that Iran does continue."
The roadside bombing that killed the three U.S. soldiers and an interpreter Monday took place in Diyala, a violent province where al Qaeda in Iraq has been active. Another soldier was wounded.
The five other U.S. soldiers were killed while on foot patrol in central Baghdad. A suicide bomber approached them and detonated his explosives vest. Three American troops and an Iraqi interpreter were wounded. Iraqi police said two civilians also were killed in the attack.
Tuesday's attack on the bus traveling from Najaf to Basra killed 16 civilians and wounded 22, a policeman said.
Gunmen also sprayed another bus with machine-gun fire shortly after it hit a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad. One person was killed and four others were wounded, police said. The bomb was apparently targeting a nearby police patrol.
In Duluiyah, 45 miles north of Baghdad, police said a suicide bomber blew up his truck at a checkpoint near the headquarters of the local Awakening Council, killing five people. Awakening Councils are made up of mostly Sunni fighters who have accepted U.S. backing to switch allegiances and fight al Qaeda in Iraq.
And in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, clashes with Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia left 12 dead and 14 injured. Thirty people were arrested. Southern Iraq often sees clashes between rival Shiite groups battling for power.
In Mosul, an unknown number of gunmen attacked a police checkpoint in Mosul, killing four policemen and injuring one civilian. Four of the attacking gunmen also were killed in the firefight, according to a Ninevah police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In other developments:
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 209 CommentsPosted by FeelFree1 at 04:47 AM : Mar 11, 2008
you sound like the kind of person who would get ambushed. She sought out the Sheik as a "ploy" a trick a ruse to get close to him and she deliberately came unarmed the first day. after they thought they had established her legitimacy, she returns, and because she seemed to be kosher, no one searched her--but if they had, she would have just blown them and those close to her up right then.
Here is the story: Girl PRETENDS to need the help of the Sheik and he has his female relatives search her. But she is a woman and so is not really suspected by them, She''s clean the first day and when she comes again, they ASSUME she is still clean and her story is real. And WHAMMO, BOOB, ZAP!! KAPLOWIE!!! They are all blown up.
Does it make more sense now?
This looks like another effort to portray the fabled "al-Qaeda-in-Iraq" as being so "desperate" that they must rely on women for their alleged attacks, and like yet another Western media claim that fails the sniff test.
Posted by FeelFree1 at 04:47 AM : Mar 11, 2008
Uhmm Female relatives of the Sheik searched her--NOT her own relatives. LOL
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Posted by MCVet at 06:04 AM : Mar 12, 2008
+ report abuse
I would like one of you Bush Defenders to answer the Sarge''s question. We are flat out losing here and all we hear is "Stay the Course". Only an insane person "stays the course" in the face of defeat!!
And I''m sure the Commander in Chimp doesn''t recognize the irony that this statement was delivered days after he vetoes the bill outlawing torture.
"If we would drill for our own oil this wouldnt be a problem. Dems need to let us get our own oil or not complain when we spill blood getting it."
That is never going to happen, and I wouldn''t be blaming the Dems for that.
Do you really think the Republicans would allow us to drill into our own oil reserves, when there is oil to be had in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Heck, they''ve gone to this much trouble to secure the oil so that GW Bush''s oil buddies can get richer.
Do you think GW Bush cares if a few hundred thousand innocent Iraqis die, or a few thousand US soldiers are killed to secure those oil reserves?
No.
Oh, and we''ll be keeping our oil reserves nice and safe until the rest of the world has run out.
And then we can sell it for massive profits.
"President Bush is beginning a communications push to remind people about the Iraq war."
Does he really think that people have forgotten the horrible mess he created?
The tens or hundreds of thousands killed as a result of his idiotic policies?
GW Bush should be removed from office because he is clearly delusional .
No, it should be taken as a reduction....lol.
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Posted by ranger1948 at 09:28 PM : Mar 11, 2008
+ report abuse
I guess we, the vietnam vet, should have been listened to when this started huh? We can not determine for the world what they have for a government and we most certainly can''t give people democracy. Helll I''m not sure we have it right yet ourselves. LOL
George Bush took the stage and sang an early farewell at the Gridiron, an annual roast among politicos and journalist in D.C.
Bush sings along the green green grass of home
Yes you''''re all gonna miss me, The way you used to quiz me, But soon I''''ll touch the brown, brown grass of home.
I spent my days clearing brush
I clear my head of all the fuss
But the fuss you made over harriet and brownie
Down the lane I look and here comes Scooter
Finally free of the prosecutor
Chorus
And then I wait and look around me
At the oval walls that surround me
I realize I was only dreaming
For there''''s Condi and ***, my old compadre,
Talking to me about some oil rich Saudi,
But soon I''''ll touch the brown brown grass of home."
Chorus
That old White house is behind me,
I am once again carefree,
Don''''t have to worry ''''bout a crisis in Pyongyang.
Down the lane I look, *** Cheney is strolling
With documents he''''d been withholding,
It''''s good to touch the brown brown grass of home."
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Posted by TJEAN411 at 11:42 PM : Mar 11, 2008
+ report abuse
What are you babbling about you pathetic Nazi? SIX years and a TRILLION Dollars trying to control ONE country about the size of New York? ROFLMAO My 6 year old Grand Son could do better than that!! ROFLMAO It only took FDR and our allies 4 years to defeat the Germany, Japan, and Italy in WW II! Just how much failure, stupidity, blunders and outright Incompetence are we supposed to allow? Sieg Heil Bush!!
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Posted by getrealnow2 at 11:45 PM : Mar 11, 2008
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How about we come up with a RENEWABLE Source of energy so we do not have to spill the blood of our youth to get it or distroy our enviroment to drill for it? There isn''t enough oil left to make a difference over the long term and it''s time we accepted that fact. Sieg Heil Bush!
"Reason is the Greatest Enemy that Faith HAS!"
Wrong ? About what ? Your statement leaves very little idea of what you are talking about.
or at least as long as Shell, Exxon, Chevron, etc.
need the US military to maintain security over the
oil exports. Look at the companies that will reap
big profits from the production of Iraqi oil. That
wealth, that rightfully belongs to the Iraqis, will end up on their balance sheets.
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Posted by North1949 at 11:49 PM : Mar 11, 2008
Exactly! At this moment US oil companies are pressuring the Iraqi governmnet to privitize it''s oil industry and enter into PSA agreements that will rob Iraq of most of the profits from their oil reserves! Pray every day that Iraq does not fall for this. Because if they do, we will certainly be there protecting our oil companies interests.
Americans need to stand up and encourage their young not to be recruited as cannon fodder for the oil companies!
One of the reasons the Neocons are trying to keep us poor is so that more of our young will be tempted by their sign on military bonus and see it as a way of bettering themselves. They need our military so that they can take on the Middle East and incorporate it under a slave wage Neocon democracy!
or at least as long as Shell, Exxon, Chevron, etc.
need the US military to maintain security over the
oil exports. Look at the companies that will reap
big profits from the production of Iraqi oil. That
wealth, that rightfully belongs to the Iraqis, will end up on their balance sheets.
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