Bomb Aimed at Iraqi Speaker Hits Green Zone (Green Zone attack)

NY Times ^ | November 21 2006 | EDWARD WONG

[Allegra]

At least for another few weeks???

Yep. A few weeks 'til I visit home again.

Was going to stay home then, but the voters back there pulled a fast one a couple of weeks ago and I won't abandon now. They need us "die hards" more than ever.

[Allegra]

Did we not hear that the US had found explosives in vehicles in the Green Zone earlier today?

Yep. In fact, we actually heard the explosives. It was really LOUD. Two big ol' BOOMS.

[SFC Chromey]

Aw come on Allegra, they are only loud because you are close to them!
:)

They are much more quiet when you are waaaay over here in California-land!

[txhurl]

Me too.

[Allegra]

They are much more quiet when you are waaaay over here in California-land!

Yeah, you can say that because you got out. I haven't come to my senses yet.

Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for your service! :-)

[ichabod1]

But was the controlled demolition of two car bombs a separate incident from the attempted assassination of the Iraqi Speaker of Parliament?

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"For some reason the situation reminds me of the murder of Mashoud in Afghanistan right before 9-11."

Hard to believe you and I are the only ones who flashed on that. Scary stuff.

[SFC Chromey]

Happy Thanksgiving to you as well. One of these days you'll decide to come back. It will most likely be someone else forcing you home, regardless, thank you for helping our troops continue the fight.

[Allegra]

But was the controlled demolition of two car bombs a separate incident from the attempted assassination of the Iraqi Speaker of Parliament?

Yes.

Multi-tasking is done easily in Iraq.

[Grampa Dave]

The recent election is starting to really cost lives.

Just like Nam, when the VC knew that we were pulling out of there.

[Laverne]

Ware is the CNN pig who was communicating with the terrorists and got and aired the sniper video. He is scum...or worse.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Just wonderful....GD got anything on this Ware guy?

[Laverne]

Ihaven't watched CNN since they aired the video (except Reliable Sources once or twice)...I stay away from them completely. They made excuses right and left for what they did, but there is no excuse for it. There is one hotel chain (there is a thread on it somewhere here on FR) in the midwest that has pulled CNN from its tv's in rooms and in the lobby as a result of what CNN did. I wish more people had reacted the same way.

[Marine_Uncle]

Their all frigen crazy.

[Marine_Uncle]

As I read the post, you immediately came to mind. Glad to hear you reported in with a thumbs up. I just had a first cousin's son return from Iraq. He was doing a lot of driving around. I just found out he finished his deploy and is now at home, and married his sweetheart.
One less to have to worry about. Assuming she takes good care of him and vice versa.

[McGavin999]

LOL, I guess you know by now that if anything happens over there you have to race for the nearest computer so FR will stop worrying about you.

[Grampa Dave]

Michael Ware is apparently a left wing Aussie, who hates America and our military:

Video: Hunter asks Blitzer, “Does CNN want America to win this thing?”posted at 7:04 pm on October 23, 2006 by Allahpundit

Hunter asked Rumsfeld on Friday to disembed CNN’s reporters as punishment for airing pointless jihadi snuff. Blitzer had him on today to talk things over.


A meeting of the minds was not in the cards.

I had to cut a lot, including Blitzer’s repeated assertions that CNN didn’t show the moment where the bullet went in, as though lead piercing skin and not the network’s intent in running the segment was the objectionable element here. In any case, they did show the soldier wounded (dying?) and slumped forward. See for yourself.

http://colorado.mediamatters.org/items/200610250004

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Wed, Oct 25, 2006 1:22pm MST
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"Gunny" Bob asked listeners: "Do you think radical liberals get a kick out of watching our soldiers get shot on the CNN videos?"

Summary: During his Newsradio 850 KOA show, "Gunny" Bob Newman accused CNN of showing an Iraqi insurgent propaganda video "in an attempt to influence the election in favor of the liberals, and to increase their TV ratings." He asked listeners to respond to his online poll question: "Do you think radical liberals get a kick out of watching our soldiers get shot on the CNN videos?"

On October 20, after accusing CNN of showing an Iraqi insurgent propaganda video "in an attempt to influence the election in favor of the liberals, and to increase their TV ratings and the number of website visits they get," Newsradio 850 KOA host "Gunny" Bob Newman asked his listeners to respond to his daily online poll question: "Do you think radical liberals get a kick out of watching our soldiers get shot on the CNN videos?" Newman then clarified the question: "Normal liberals, like [Sen.] Joe Lieberman [CT], you know, middle-of-the-road liberals, they will not get a kick out of it. But the radical liberals, will they?" On October 23, announcing the results of the unscientific poll, Newman reported that 96 percent of respondents answered "Yes" to the question of whether "radical liberals get a kick out of watching our soldiers get shot."

Newman also asserted on October 20, "CNN is having a good laugh and believes it has found a way to make more money and get more liberals in power. And if that means exploiting our wounded and killed-in-action troops then so be it, they say. I mean, my God, do radical liberals have any sense of morality and decency at all?"

The CNN video to which Newman referred first aired on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 during an October 18 report on insurgent sniper attacks in Iraq. According to an October 19 statement by David Doss, the executive producer of Anderson Cooper 360, CNN Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware received a videotape, apparently "through intermediaries," from the Islamic Army of Iraq that "documented 10 incidents of insurgent snipers attacking U.S. military personnel." During a portion of the tape aired on CNN, a U.S. soldier was shown sitting in a vehicle while insurgents discussed an imminent sniper attack. As a gunshot was audible, CNN briefly blacked out the video feed. The soldier then was seen slumping over, apparently having been struck. Cooper and others repeatedly referred to the video as "propaganda" during the program. Brief segments of the video subsequently were replayed on the October 19 editions of Anderson Cooper 360, American Morning, CNN Newsroom, and Your World Today; and on the October 23 edition of The Situation Room.

From the October 20 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Gunny Bob Show:

NEWMAN: CNN under fire for heavily promoting its terrorist-produced sniper videos of terrorist snipers shooting U.S. soldiers. CNN claims that such videos are needed to show naïve, ignorant, stupid, uncaring Americans that our troops are under fire in a war zone. As if we had no clue that gunfire is part of war. I mean, how stupid does CNN think we are? In reality, of course, CNN is showing the videos in an attempt to influence the election in favor of the liberals, and to increase their TV ratings and the number of website visits they get, which means they can charge more money for advertising. It's a business decision, and a political decision. Make no mistake, CNN is showing you these videos for, well, political gain and monetary gain, nothing else. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to buy any product or service advertised on CNN. This is a matter of principle. I mean, you do what you want, I don't care. CNN is having a good laugh and believes it has found a way to make more money and get more liberals in power. And if that means exploiting our wounded and killed-in-action troops, then so be it, they say. I mean, my God, do radical liberals have any sense of morality and decency at all?

[TexKat]

KING: Barbara Starr there at CENTCOM headquarters.

And the assassination in Lebanon raises the question, are we seeing a generalized meltdown across the Middle East? And what would it mean for U.S. policy in Iraq and across the region?

Correspondent Michael Ware joins us from Baghdad.

Michael, the big news in the region today, obviously, this political assassination in Lebanon. Help us put it into regional context. What is the impact in a place like Iraq? Is this something that emboldens the insurgents, who are trying to not only destabilize Iraq, but, some would say, destabilize the entire region?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, directly, immediately? No.

But, indirectly, this assassination fits within a much broader picture within the region, that the insurgents, both Sunni and Shia, and all the regional actors, from Syria to Iran, and American Arab allies in the region, are well aware of.

I mean, this, right now, is a region of American malaise, during a period of U.S. strategic uncertainty. I mean, this is a time, a strategic opportunity, for all of America's rivals in this region.

And I think we're seeing certain elements within this part of the world trying to capitalize upon that. We're certainly seeing evidence of that here on the ground, certainly patterns of behavior from certain militia groups and insurgent groups, that have taken particularly directly and targeted operations that seem to be making the most of this opportunity.

KING: You mention certain militia groups.

As you're aware, our Barbara Starr is reporting today that there are some concerns in the U.S. Central Command about perhaps a splinter group within one of Muqtada al-Sadr's militias, a splinter group backed by Iran.

Based on what you see on the ground there every day, does that fit with what you're seeing? Is that conceivable, that a group within al-Sadr's militias could split off and be beholden to Iran, not to Muqtada al-Sadr?

WARE: Well, John, let me put it this way.

If Central Command is concerned that this might be happening, that's frightening, because it shows they have absolutely no reality of what's been happening here on the ground for the past year. And, in fact, I know that's not the case.

I have spoken to U.S. military intelligence here on the ground at very senior levels. They, like all of us, have been tracking the fracturing of Muqtada's Mahdi army militia, one of the most potent and politically powerful right now here in the country.

Now, U.S. military intelligence says that, for some time, you know, Mahdi militia has been receiving millions of dollars of aid from Iran, including training, the facilitation of relationships with Hezbollah, the transfer of technology, the adoption of an Iranian- inspired template.

Now, there's been breakaway groups going on from that main body for well over a year. And, in fact, U.S. intelligence says there's now classic Mahdi army, there's militant Mahdi army, much like the IRA and the more militant real IRA from Northern Ireland, and then there's rogue factions.

Indeed, what we're seeing is that all of them are sponsored or supported or have a relationship in some way with Iran. And now we're seeing Iran poaching Mahdi army commanders.

So, it's much more than a concern. It's a reality we have lived with here on the ground for over a year -- John.

KING: Michael Ware for us in Baghdad -- Michael, thank you very much.

WARE: Thank you.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0611/21/sitroom.02.html

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for the data and ping.

"I mean, this, right now, is a region of American malaise, during a period of U.S. strategic uncertainty. I mean, this is a time, a strategic opportunity, for all of America's rivals in this region."

The hate Bushers gave a green light to every Islamofacist terrorist group in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon and ? by voting in the Rat Congress. This targeted bloodshed is just the beginning of what will be the death of millions in the middle east and possibly the nation of Israel.

[Marine_Uncle]

Well some probably have known for, perhaps as he indicated a year or so, that elements of the Mahdi militia had started to splinter out.
For all we know, fat boy may not be enticing his goon squads to actually torture and kill Sunni. But it sure is hard to believe he does not know what goes on within the Mahdi militia as a whole.
I for one will not take sides on this particular issue. For I do not have any concrete proof Sadr is in on the actual killings or not.
But the key issue continues to be. What is the IG going to do with the militias. The US has given them a list to show benchmarks starting this December if my memory serves me correctly.
I am hoping there are a lot of raids planned to get at key individuals who may be known to be inciting and sponsoring the Shia death squads. As we have seen a few times in the past two months.
I strongly suspect little will come out of the Baker/Hamilton study, that could pursuade the POTUS and CENTCOM to want to alter it's course.
The fact remains, the IG is not willing to let well equiped Iraqi and US troops go into major cities of immediate interest and kill off both Saddamist, al Qaeda, local resistance groups, as well as the two major militias.
Maliki is not willing to let a lot of Shia groups get whacked.
He cannot piss off Sadr and Hakim or they could join forces and have the SCIRI, IDP, and a few other shia affiliated parties declare he is not fit to serve, and force a new election for a PM.
As for Talabani. He is quiet as a churchmouse playing his role as Iraqi president ambassador and statesmen in the background, knowing full well if things really go to pot he will always have a high political appointment within the Kurdish government, should Iraq end up splitting up in the future.
There are to many different divergent groups all in their own right causing a lot of grieve in Iraq.
It would be un-realistic to not admit things are really degenerating. The IG simply is not showing the over all majority of Iraqi that it has what it takes to kill a lot of muslims/arabs/Iraqi that are responsible for the over all bloodshed.
The IG is so wishy washy it is bordering on the pathetic at this point.