Posted on 02/02/2008 11:48:52 AM PST by NormsRevenge
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's prime minister vowed on Saturday that attacks by two female bombers which killed 99 people in Baghdad would not derail improved security, but angry residents demanded the government do more to protect them.
Nuri al-Maliki said Friday's nearly simultaneous bombings at two crowded pet markets, the deadliest attacks in the city since April, would not herald a return to the savage violence that took Iraq to the brink of sectarian civil war.
The U.S. military said there were indications the women were mentally handicapped, and probably unaware they were being used as human bombs. It blamed Sunni Islamist al Qaeda for the attacks.
"I swear on the blood (of the victims), we will achieve all our goals in securing a stable Iraq. We will continue to ... crush the terrorists and target their strongholds," Maliki said in a statement.
Highlighting that Iraq faced serious security challenges across the nation, Maliki went to the northern city of Mosul and said a vital offensive was about to begin there after attacks that were also blamed on al Qaeda.
"The battle that our armed forces will engage in will tear out terrorism, criminal gangs and outlaws in this province," Maliki said of operations in Mosul, where a blast on January 23 killed up to 50 people and wounded 220.
The attack at the Ghazil pet market in central Baghdad on Friday killed 62 people and wounded 129, just minutes after another blast killed 37 and wounded 67 at a bird market in southern Baghdad, police said.
Iraq's military said the bombs were detonated by remote control. Major-General Jeffery Hammond, the commander of U.S. troops in Baghdad, told reporters there were indications the two women were mentally impaired.
"It appears the suicide bombers were not willing martyrs, they were used by al Qaeda for these horrific attacks," he said.
Al Qaeda in Iraq, blamed by the U.S. military for most other large-scale bombings, has increasingly used women wearing suicide vests to carry out strikes after increased security and protective concrete walls made car bombings more difficult.
Hammond suggested using unwitting bombers could be a new tactic to circumvent tougher security measures.
"These two women were likely used because they didn't understand what was happening and they were less likely to be searched," he said.
GRIEF AND ANGER
As grieving relatives buried the dead, some Iraqis said the government was partly to blame.
"The two coordinated bombings proved the failure of government in maintaining peace in Baghdad," said teacher Basim Abdul-Ameer, 30, whose brother was wounded at the Ghazil market.
Friday's death toll was the worst in Baghdad since April 18, when multiple car bombings killed 191 people around the city.
The scale of the devastation seems to have shattered growing confidence among Iraqis that their streets were getting safer.
The Ghazil market, which opens only on Friday, sprawls into side streets and is difficult to secure. Local police said they would take steps to surround it with protective walls.
Ra'eed Hussain, 34, who normally takes his young son there, said he would not return until security improved.
"We need really thorough checks, especially of women wearing black abayas who could hide something underneath," said Hussain, referring to black robes that many older women in Iraq wear.
The attacks raise questions for the U.S. military, which has begun to reduce troop levels following a big drop in violence.
Attacks have fallen by 60 percent across Iraq since last June when 30,000 extra U.S. troops became fully deployed.
Troop levels will fall to around 135,000 by the middle of the year when more than 20,000 combat soldiers are withdrawn.
No offense, but I'd invite you to take a long look at your party's leadership.
the leaders are socialists... but until the republicans start exercizing more restraint, i’ll try and bring conservatism back to the party of the people.
teeman
teeman, Your party never had conservatism. Jefferson might be called a "classic liberal" but that's as close as it gets. Don't spend your life wasting good efforts after bad. Make your contributions where they make a difference.
there was a time, maybe for just a week or two, that the ideals of the will of the people ruled this land... when maryland was called the free state, when americans were free to speak their minds, and political correctness was voting for the candidate that acted nobly and behaved humble instead of the other way around.
nowadays, i feel like the horse in animal farm...
teeman
.
NEVER FORGET
.
It may well be that...
this new 21st Century of ours...
may well hinge upon our finally..
freeing all the women of the world...
into being all that they already are...
in GOD’s Eyes...
and all that they can be while here on the Earth..?
.
NEVER FORGET
.
nowadays, i feel like the horse in animal farm..."Trust, but verify." Ronald Reagan
It's not so bad. It just takes knowledge and integrity to find your way around. Learn that word, "integrity." All you'll ever know is what you, yourself, know.
“The two coordinated bombings proved the failure of government in maintaining peace in Baghdad,” said teacher Basim Abdul-Ameer, 30, whose brother was wounded at the Ghazil market.
This fits their template.
Reporter: “Do you think the two coordinated bombings proved the failure of government in maintaining peace in Baghdad?”
“Yes”
Thus the quote
All one needs to know about the leadership of EITHER party is to reflect on the fact that the Alternative Minimum Tax is still with us after many opportunities on both sides to eliminate the massive tax theft.
National politics is a glitzy sideshow to keep the rubes and political naifs occupied while the pillaging goes on unabated...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.