Posted on 11/14/2006 1:15:41 AM PST by bd476
2 minutes agoDozens snatched in mass kidnap at Iraq ministry
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen in Iraqi police uniforms rounded up dozens of men at a government building in central Baghdad on Tuesday and drove off, in what may be the biggest mass kidnapping seen in a city becoming used to such violence.
A source at the Interior Ministry said 20 employees of the Higher Education Ministry were seized. But a spokeswoman for the department itself said dozens of men -- "100 or maybe 150" -- had been rounded up, including many visitors to the building.
Women were separated from the men and locked in a room after having their mobile phones confiscated by the gunmen, who drove up to the ministry's Research Directorate in the commercial, religiously mixed district of Karrada, in government vehicles.
"All Interior Ministry forces are on alert, searching for this group. We don't know if it's terrorists, militias or even government forces," Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Abdul Kareem Khalaf said, declining to say how many people were missing.
Numerous mass kidnappings have been blamed on sectarian militias operating either within the security forces or with the help of police in providing equipment.
The once dominant Sunni minority and U.S. officials have focused particular suspicion on militias from the now dominant Shi'ite Muslim parties, who control the Interior Ministry.
The Higher Education Ministry is headed by a member of the main Sunni Arab political bloc. Most ministries have become fiefdoms of particular parties.
Not far from the ministry building attacked on Tuesday, about 30 sports officials and athletes, including the head of Iraq's national Olympic Committee, were seized during a meeting in July by gunmen in uniform. Some were later freed but many, including the Olympics chief, have never been heard of again.
Last month, the 26-strong workforce of a Baghdad meat-processing factory were also seized in similar circumstances.
Some kidnap victims are ransomed but many end up among the dozens of corpses, found bound and tortured, on the streets of Baghdad every day. On Monday alone, 46 were found and the morgue says it is taking in about 50 unclaimed bodies a day.
After the incident involving the meat factory workers, the government removed a number of senior police officers who had responsibility for the area and took an entire brigade of police out of service for vetting and re-training.
Washington, under mounting domestic political pressure to start pulling its 150,000 troops out of Iraq, has placed a heavy emphasis on recruiting and training Iraqi security forces, which now number more than 300,000.
But their competence and sectarian loyalties remain a matter of grave concern as the government struggles to slow a slide toward all-out civil war.
"Nothing will improve while al Sadr is alive."
There's a million more whackos to take his place.
Just wanted to make sure you didn't actually believe what you wrote.
UPDATE:
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1738255/posts
Iraq Minister Orders Universities Closed
ABC News and Associated Press ^ | November 14, 2006
Posted on 11/14/2006 4:24:46 AM PST by bd476
Iraq Minister Orders Universities Closed
Iraqi Minister Orders Universities Closed After 150 People Abducted From Educational Institute
BAGHDAD, Iraq Nov 14, 2006 (AP)— Iraq's higher education minister ordered universities closed after gunmen wearing police commando uniforms kidnapped up to 150 people from a government institute on Tuesday.
"I am not ready to see more professors get killed," said Higher Education Minister Abed Theyab.
He said he had already asked the interior and defense ministries to protect universities and the ministry's departments.
Police and witnesses said about 80 gunmen closed off roads around the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Scholarships and Cultural Relations Directorate in the downtown Karradah district during the 20-minute raid.
""I'm buying Burkhas for my granddaughters. They are going to be needing them.""
"I also have stopped shaving and start to dye my hair black."
Screw that... I am buying lots of ammo, weapons and night vision equipment! Are you guys part of the "new Conservative movement"?
LLS
They need their civil war. They need to fight until the last Sunni or Shia is standing. Then we can go back in and rebuild the country and help whatever government exists.
All we are doing now is getting killed in the crossfire of someone elses sectarian war. Standing around stunned into inaction is not a viable strategy.
What has happened in the world as it relates to wars, is that as long as there is a U.N. and we belong to it, the U.S. nor any other country will win another war. Oh, sure there may be a regime change and the U.S. or another country may cause it but as far as winning a war, no. It's not that the U.S. is not capable of winning a war or didn't have the political will to win, that is not the point. The point is the U.N. does not believe in any country winning a war. What has happened in Iraq is that the U.S. went from waging war to policing the country and every one knows that when a police action is taking place that they are not proactive but wait until something happens and then try to find the guilty party. This has happened in Korea, Vietnam and every other place that the U.S. has fought in since World War 2.
The way I see it at the present time the U.S. and her allies are fighting the enemy, U.N., Press and propaganda and ignorance of what is happening in the world. Until this changes the U.S. will go in fighting a war and then become a policeman.
You mean like "And this goes to show you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink"? Something like that?
Yes.
And, "When the enemy is in the process of destroying himself, try to stay out of the way." Or words to that effect.
post - "Nothing will improve while al Sadr is alive."
response - There's a million more whackos to take his place.
reply - That's no excuse for leaving the top troublemaker in place. Taking them out is necessary and sends an effective message.
Other than that, I agree with your analysis.
Actually, that is the right attitude.
"Be Prepared," as the Boy Scout motto states.
You nailed the heart of the issue. If we let terrorism always work...then it always works.
Me, too. But I have to admit there are times when I'm almost glad we don't have grandchildren.
Carolyn
These people are the biggest collection of (screw)-UP's in the world.
Their nation should be on a Darwin Award list.
excellant articulate post.
What I fear is going to take place is a bloodbath. Not of the kind we saw in Vietnam, but a reverse one, one where after we pull out, the powers in charge in Iraq just start killing their enemies outright.
THAT will cause the civil war the dems say is happening, and once again, just like after Vietnam, they will have blood on their hands.
I wasn't
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