Posted on 06/24/2004 4:29:59 AM PDT by Graybeard58
Insurgents launched coordinated attacks against police and government buildings across Sunni Muslim areas of Iraq Thursday, killing 66 Iraqis and three US soldiers less than a week before the handover of power.
The Iraqi Health Ministry said 268 people were wounded in the attack, but that tally did not include American injured.
The large number of attacks, mostly directed at Iraqi security services, was a clear sign of just how powerful the insurgency in Iraq remains - and could be the start of a new push to torpedo the June 30 transfer of sovereignty to an interim transitional government.
Some of the heaviest fighting was reported in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, where two American soldiers were killed and seven wounded, the US 1st Infantry Division said. Attackers also targeted police stations in Ramadi, Mahaweel, and the northern city of Mosul, where car bombs rocked the Iraqi Police Academy, two police stations and the al-Jumhuri hospital.
Khalid Mohammed, an official at the hospital, said dozens of injured were brought there. At least 50 people died and 170 were wounded there, he said. A US soldier was also killed and three were wounded in Mosul.
In other attacks, four Iraqi soldiers were killed in an explosion near a checkpoint manned by Iraqi and American soldiers in the southern Baghdad district of Dora. Three US soldiers tended to what appeared to be a wounded American soldier on the road. The soldier's helmet lay nearby. Black smoke and flames shot up from a burning pickup truck.
"I do not think the Asian or Oriental is up to the kind of independence that we take so much for granted here in the West."
What a load of crap.
Right. In this remote control generation we live in, some naively believe we can just snap our fingers and these problems vanish. There is no magic bullet. Building a democracy is pick and shovel work. Wasn't easy over here either.
bump !
At first, it would sound like I was being sarcastic. I'm only being partially sarcastic. The next week and a half are probably going to be bad. Some reports are out that there maybe some kind of "Baghdad Offensive", similar (in the reporters' minds) to the Tet Offensive over the next week.
Here's hoping that we don't walk away from those coming battles, that we stay and fight and send them to hell, I mean to their 70-some odd virgins and what not.
My cousin worked for a company and he traveled and sold all over the earth. The countries most difficult to work with, to obtain and maintain contractual arrangements with were the Middle East and the far East. Nothing like the respect for law and properly made agreements was observed. Not ever. You work for weeks on a contract to suit all parties, sign it, return tomorrow and they re do the deal in front of your eyes, behave as if no deal existed at all, or make further and more outrageous demands negating any prior agreement. They are NOT like us in that. It' cannot even be equated to fair and expected horse trading typical of all contractual arrangements.
Freedom is loved by everyone who has never had it and then gets it. Eastern Europe is a fine example of that too.
The guy even implied the Iraqi Policeman could punch him a few times during this ceremony.
Iraqis taking control of Saddam is a great symbol of their new start, and he will be severely punished imo.
I predict Iraqis themselves will slaughter their internal enemies after june 30th, and we will back them up when needed.
100% Correct! The smart thing to do is to plug'em while the insurgent combatants are in our sights and we'll accomplish restoring overall security much quicker.
I'll bet veronica also believed until 2001 that the CIA was also omniscient. She's stricken with grief. Her preconceived notions are cracked. Let her alone......she'll be ok. ;-)
I agree with Dave that such a statement is crap. Furthermore, I am not convinced that "the American" is up to the kind of independence we take for granted!!! (2nd amendment, CFR, etc.)
I don't think that Israel is PC in its fight against terror which is why they have much success.
Sure.
I agree. These Iraqis are sacrificing their lives to form this new government.
well sure, we knew it was coming. That's why I'm surprised that there haven't been more offensive moves by some combination of US forces and whatever the new iraqi forces can do. Those targetted bombings were a good start, but where is the follow through? the "good guys" have to be on offense over there, it can't just be the insurgents.
I have friends that have done work in this part of the world and they say the same thing. There is no such thing as a binding agreement with a muslim.
Interesting viewpoint. I hope you are correct about the majority (Shia) getting their revenge on the Suni with the interim Iraqi Gov't cracking down on foreign insurgents and Iraqi militants.
I only hope the interim gov't is good enough to covertly 'remove' the figureheads that committed the brutalities against all Iraqis under Saddam. Unfortunately, a few of the beforementioned are already in key positions in the Iraqi interim gov't. Hopefully the Shia and Suni's will leave the Kurds alone too. I don't have a lot of respect for the average Iraqi's pilisophy and/or his intelligence.
The Christian Science Monitor is pretty liberal, isn't it?
There are CSM cartoons by the liberal Danziger, he is waaaaay out there in left field.
Actually they are insurgents, from Iran, Syria, and Jordan, but I am getting really tired of hearing terrorists being called "militants".
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