BAGHDAD, April 22, 2008
Suicide Blast In Iraq Kills 2 Marines
Pair Die In Ramadi Explosion; Third Marine Dies In Basra Roadside Bombing
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(CBS/AP)
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
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Interactive Iraq: 5 Years At War Five years after the U.S.-led invasion, the war wears on.
A statement says the attacker detonated an explosives-laden car at an entry control point in the vicinity of Ramadi.
The military says Tuesday's blast also wounded three other Multi-National Force - West Marines, along with two Iraqi police officers and 24 local residents.
The city west of Baghdad is the capital of the former Sunni insurgent stronghold of Anbar province. It has been relatively peaceful since local tribal leaders joined forces with the U.S. military against al Qaeda in Iraq.
Also Tuesday, the U.S. military said a Marine was killed in a roadside bombing in Iraq's southern port city of Basra. A statement said another Marine was injured in the attack on Monday. The statement released Tuesday gave no further details.
AP Television News footage from Basra on Monday showed thick smoke rising from a military vehicle burning on a highway overpass. U.S. and British forces have been active in support of Iraqi troops cracking down on Shiite militias and criminal gangs in Iraq's oil capital. The campaign has been going on for nearly a month.
In other developments:
aggressive behavior among children who have grown up amid real war,
a lawmaker said Tuesday. "The culture of violence has prevailed in our society and controlled the Iraqi family and that it has affected the culture of children," said Samira al-Moussawi, head of the parliamentary committee on children and women, which is preparing the
legislation.
Meanwhile, an unmanned drone killed two gunmen in Baghdad's embattled Sadr City district, while another remote-controlled aircraft crashed south of the capital, the U.S. military said Tuesday.
In Kuwait, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki urged neighboring countries to help dry up "the springs of terrorism" by preventing militants from obtaining weapons and financing from abroad. He was attending a meeting of Iraq's neighbors and other nations aimed at helping the government restore stability in Iraq.
There has been a sharp increase in violence in the country since al-Maliki launched an offensive against Shiite militias in Basra nearly a month ago. The fighting quickly spread to Sadr City, one of the strongholds of the Mahdi Army militia of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, to which U.S. and Iraqi forces have laid siege.
Militiamen also have responded by repeatedly shelling Baghdad's U.S.-protected Green Zone, which houses the U.S. Embassy and offices of the Iraqi government.
Last weekend, al-Sadr, who is believed to be in Iran, threatened to declare full-scale war on the U.S.-backed government if attacks on his followers continue. And on Monday, top Sadrists warned that open warfare was a "strong possibility" if the government did not ease the pressure on the Mahdi militia.
U.S. Apache attack helicopters and armed Predator drones have been launching daily strikes against militiamen clashing with Iraqi and U.S. troops in Sadr City, a sprawling district of 2.5 million people.
A military statement said that a drone spotted two gunmen with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher late Monday and engaged them with a Hellfire missile. Both men were killed.
In another firefight in Sadr City, U.S. troops were hit by a roadside bomb and then attacked with small-arms fire. Troops returned fire and killed three attackers, a statement said.
But near Iskandariyah, a town 30 miles south of Baghdad, a Shadow reconnaissance drone crashed early Tuesday, local police said. The U.S. military said it was investigating the cause of the crash.
Unlike the much larger Predator, the Shadow is an unarmed lightweight craft equipped with a camera capable of producing color video in daylight and thermal images at night, which it conveys back to controllers on the ground.
April has been a bad month for the drones, which are routinely used to monitor strife-torn areas of the country. Earlier in the month, two Predators crashed in different parts of Iraq and one was lost in Afghanistan. All are believed to have suffered mechanical failure, since insurgents in both countries lack even rudimentary anti-aircraft weapons.
In Kuwait, al-Maliki tried to persuade Arab states that his country has "passed the crisis" and is much better off than it was a year ago.
Al-Maliki told delegates at the conference's opening Tuesday that Iraq "has entered a new phase" and has "prevailed over factional disputes."
He urged neighboring countries "to exert more efforts to enhance security procedures on the borders in order to prevent terrorists from infiltrating into our lands."
"We also call for drying up the springs of terrorism and its sources of finance," he said.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The secrets of tennis legend 
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See all 102 CommentsI might need a Repug to guide me through this Maze - First it''s axis of evil and then Iran supplying arms in ALQ in Iraq, then it''s McCain saying Iran supplying Sunni''s - then Saudis are Sunni - but last week Hamas was being ran and supported by Iran but this news article now mentions Hezbollah - so are they both competing terror groups ? If ALQ in iraq isn''t getting help from Iran, are they really the group in Iraq ?? *** are these 2 bast*ards doing alive ??? especially that POS OBL ????
Juan McWar even champions the NAFTA nonsense that has sabotaged our economy and hurt Mexican working people as well...and dung-eating dogs still support him!
Clinton and Obama are far less outspoken, hiding their support behind a veil of words suggesting otherwise.
The Stupid Peoples'' War against Democracy and for Big Oil, Israel and Opium, Open Borders, Lies, Free Trade, and the Police State...Corruption, a plummeting dollar and rising food and energy prices...What fine reasons to support the Demopublican scum!
Now al Zawahiri...America''s al Qaeda puppet "Lambchop"...is having to deny what the world knows--Israel and the US were behind the attacks on 9-11. From the beginning, al Qaeda has been our creature and we have used it as a vehicle for the P2OG operations against Islamic nations...to manufacture enemies against whom we expend public monies and the lives of our soldiers for the sake of private goals...corporate control of oil in Iraq and the re-establishment of Opium production and control of resources in Afghanistan.
The sad thing is that we could already have energy independence...electric cars, solar farms and wind farms for power as well as intra-city rail...all of which have been sabotaged and destroyed by Big Oil and the banking interests behind them.
I still like my idea better. The terrorists get to their heaven and find the 72 virgins waiting for them, all men, all gay and eating pork. And icing to the cake, all of them have the face of ben laden.
"j-whitman,While McCain was facing the enemy lines you were hiding in the safety of a submarine. Is that what you call serving your country?"
Where did you serve?
Oh, you didn''t - you''re just another chickenhawk piece of excrement pretending to be a big man while you sit at home on your a$$ in the safety of your own trailerpark.
I hope they bring back the draft so that a$$holes like you have to serve - or would you aim to beat ******** Cheney in the number of defermments he can get.
What was it again? 5?
If you want to talk about cowards, you better start talking about the majority of Republicans.
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Posted by nunesbras at 05:38 PM : Apr 22, 2008
And what were you doing? Selling panty hose at Lane Bryant?
Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 07:59 PM : Apr 22, 2008
Modeling panty hose is more to his liking...
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Posted by nunesbras at 05:38 PM : Apr 22, 2008
And what were you doing? Selling panty hose at Lane Bryant?
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Posted by jn122736 at 05:38 PM : Apr 22, 2008
What great army would that be? Mercenaries hired by Bush and Cheney? To go around doing their sneaky business to keep hate and chaos stirred up in Iraq so we have to stay there?
Time to get them out! The Iraqi oil and the incorporation of the Middle East for greed is not worth the sacrifice of our young soldiers!
Too bad all the Al Quada don''t just commit suicide and get this all over with. They think they are going to some kind of glory to receive 76 virgins or something like that. All I know to say is that I''m sure glad that I''m not a virgin. What if my reward was to be in the harem or an Al Quada suicide bomber? The thought is horrifying.
Posted by j-whitman at 05:36 PM : Apr 22, 2008
j-whitman,,,,While McCain was facing the enemy lines you were hiding in the safety of a submarine. Is that what you call serving your country?
Posted by Grim56Z at 03:53 PM : Apr 22, 2008
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This comment is a classic example of the erroneous, narrow-minded, opinion many Americans seem to have of those people our troops are fighting.
These people are doing the same thing our troops are doing; they are trying to win by fighting the most effective way they can, with what they have to fight with.
To voluntarily take ones own life to help defeat an aggressor takes both tremendous bravery and total commitment.
Our troops don%u2019t just stand up and fight; they use tanks, helicopters, strategic aerial bombing, and overwhelming numbers.
The enemy has none of these things.
If, as Grim56Z suggests, these people were to just stand up and fight head to head against those odds they would not last an hour.
But fighting their way they have thwarted the greatest army in the world for over five years.
It is a favorite around Crawford, Texas...
Posted by IOWEIGN
Another Lie.. You aren''t anywhere near Tx.. Stop making up lies.. Although, it may be all you have. We don''t speak fondly of Nazi''s here, thats for you Libs up north.
Posted by j-whitman at 04:55 PM : Apr 22, 2008
j-whitman,,,,You coward vet. Whenever theres a report of US casulatie you come here to post cause you feel happy. When a US troop dies it helps your candidate Barack HUSSEIN OSAMA doesnt it?
signed BaghdadsHere
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