Posted on 11/21/2006 12:20:54 PM PST by jmc1969
A bomb intended to kill the contentious speaker of the Iraqi Parliament exploded inside one of his armored cars today while the car was rolling through the fortified Green Zone, injuring the driver and trapping members of Parliament inside the legislative building as the American military shut down the area for hours, a parliamentary aide said.
Though the speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, was unscathed by the explosion, the assassination attempt was one of the most serious breaches of security in the four-square-mile Green Zone in recent memory. The Green Zone houses the seat of the Iraqi government and the American embassy, and lies on the west bank of the Tigris River.
The explosion took place in mid-afternoon, as the car was leaving a parking area, said the parliamentary aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he had not been authorized to talk publicly about the incident. The bomb had been planted inside a decoy armored car that resembles the one usually used by Mr. Mashhadani, he said. The decoy car belongs to Mr. Mashhadani’s regular convoy.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Please report in at your earliest convenience! Prayers up!
I just posted this:
Jeez, this is a difficult war. If they'd fight us on the battlefield, it'd be over within minutes.
No doubt about it, this wasn't an al-Qaeda attack designed to impress the world press by destorying parliment. This was an Iranian backed assissination attempt against a major Sunni politician to get the Sunnis out of the government.
All is well here "at home."
They do know that.....
It's become more apparent that infiltrators are going to continue to disrupt and destroy.
Great....thanks for checking in!
Glad to hear you're OK! My best to you and your buddies!
That's what the Redcoats said.
Did we not hear that the US had found explosives in vehicles in the Green Zone earlier today?
I'm very concerned about attacks here on the homeland right now. For some reason the situation reminds me of the murder of Mashoud in Afghanistan right before 9-11.
Stay safe my FRiend!!!
While Americans look for a way out of Iraq, Iran has its foot firmly in the door. It is muscling its way more into the picture. Now Iran has invited the leader of Iraq to a weekend meeting. Correspondent Michael Ware joins us now from Baghdad.
Michael, Iraq's president, Mr. Talabani is going to Tehran. Do you expect any significant, tangible results from that, especially when it comes to improving the security situation?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, THE SITUATION ROOM: Well, there's no specific agenda we have been told of. No one has an expectation of the -- delivery of any immediate prize by President Talabani.
However, from an American perspective, key among the list of things to discuss will be security. Indeed, U.S. intelligence and the American ambassador here, and the American commander on the ground here, have all repeatedly accused Iran of sending money, fighters, training, and weapons across the border.
We are seeing essentially Iran, through its surrogates, killing American and British troops. They are also supporting the major militias, which are the fundamental building blocks of the government that President Talabani represents.
These countries share a land border. They fought a long and bitter war. There is much for them to discuss. Foremost, will be security. Now, Iran has also offered to help with the rebuilding of the Iraqi army and the Iraqi intelligence service. America does not want that to happen. We will see if that comes up in President Talabani's discussions.
KING: Mike, I want to bring your attention to policy debate here in the United States. A number of competing proposals being kicked around as to what the United States should do to change its strategy. Almost every one of them say they have to do a better job after three and half, plus, years in Iraq of finding a way to improve the training of Iraqi security forces. Is any progress being made while the politicians and others back here in Washington debate what to do next?
WARE: No, not really, John. I mean, you only have so much to work with here in Iraq. As we know, most of the security forces, particularly the police and national police, former commando paramilitary units, are heavily infiltrated by the Shia militias. That's why we are seeing in Sunni areas to the west, police being recruited locally because Sunnis simply cannot trust their own men in uniform, if they come from the central government.
There's really very little here for the Americans to work with. We have seen an entire brigade of Iraqi national police taken off-line because of its complicity in death squad activity. That unit is now undergoing further training.
But overall, essentially, America needs to accept it has not been winning this war so far. In fact, its enemies, Al Qaeda and Iran, have been emboldened by this war. America needs to make a reassessment.
Firstly, of what is it trying to achieve. Any concept of establishing a bristling, shiny new democracy for the Middle East has to be cast aside. America needs to downscale its goals and that will help reshape what strategy applies and how many forces that's going to need and for how long. Essentially, America needs to accept it is not going get what it set out to do -- John.
KING: Correspondent Michael Ware for us in Baghdad. Michael, thank you very much.
WARE: Thank you, John.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0611/20/sitroom.02.html
BAGHDAD (AP) - U.S. troops blew up two cars Tuesday inside the heavily fortified Green Zone after dogs indicated explosives were inside the vehicles that were used in the motorcade of the parliament speaker, an adviser to parliament said.
In what could signal a major security breach, the explosives were found and detonated near the Convention Centre, where parliament meets and government officials hold news conferences, Wissam al-Zubeidi said.
The armoured cars were used as part of the convoy for Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, al-Zubeidi said. One of the vehicles was regularly used by al-Mashhadani's son. The speaker is a Sunni Muslim.
In the past, several car bombs have exploded at the Green Zone gates, but very few such attacks have occurred inside the fortress-like region on the west bank of the Tigris River. It is home to the Iraqi president, government, parliament, as well as the U.S. and British embassies.
Groovy...
At least for another few weeks???
Gimme a holler when your about to go wheels up that day, and we'll drink a toast for you and a safe trip home...
They sure can be annoying little farts aren't they???
Doesn't look like their aim has improved much in three years has it???
Perhaps, but at least George Washington had the decency not to cut people's heads off and randomly target women and children.
I see Michael Ware has it all figured out.....
Nice comeback. Agreed.
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