MSNBC: SUICIDE BOMBER ATTACKS MARINES MOMENTS AGO

MSNBC | 4-10-2003

[SHKMAN1212]

Chip Reed was just on MSNBC a minute ago calling in a report that the troops he's imbedded with had just arrived at a Marine checkpoint in Baghdad only moments after a suicide bomber had attacked...nothing further...

[Captain Kirk]

I agree on a Kurdish state though I'd prefer to turn the rest of the country over to an interim government quickly rather than wait around for elections. A MaArthur-style regency or UN rule makes no sense in this medieval, blood-feud hell hole.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Just reported all four dead!

[BushMeister]

I think we have to dress our checkpoint soldiers in body armor similar to what the bomb disposal cops/troops wear, or devise specific armor for the purpose of protecting our troops. The weight wouldn't be much trouble, as the checkpoint troops would be backed up by regular troops further away.

Nothing would be foolproof against a powerful explosion, but giving our troops a chance to survive an encounter with a suicide bomber should be a priority. If we don't, our troops are soon going to be drawing straws as to who has to perform the dreaded checkpoint duty.

[faithincowboys]

The rent-a-bombers are so reprehensible. Worse, are the Arab despots who pay them and propagandize to them. The way the larger Arab world and its bully boys are trying to hijack Free Iraq is despicable. They are determined to make this a Lebanon. A free, moderate and prosperous Iraq is the last thing those terrorist SOBs in Teheran, Damascus and Beirut want. Hopefully, this is an isolated incident and the jihadists will leave.

[Travis McGee]

We need to wipe out the foreign arab feyedeen "volunteers." Take them into a celler and shoot them when we capture them.

[toddly]

Or a couple decades at Guantanamo at the very least.

[BushMeister]

I think that the current count of our troops killed by suicide bombers is at 11. That's probably about 1/5 of all troops that have been killed in the war by hostile means. If we don't get a handle on this somehow, we could be losing 30-40 troops a week to these bombers. That's not sustainable.

[SHKMAN1212]

Can't we close these things off? Or just send out the warning that anyone approaching will be shot.

It's going to be very tough...I was holding my breath yesterday during the liberation celebrations half-expecting a suicide bomber to walk up to one of the tanks. There was no way the Coalition troops could have prevented it. The sad thing is that most of these attacks are probably being perpetrated by foreigners from Jordan, Syria, and other Arab nations that have no problem continuing the Iraqi suffering as long as they get to kill a few Americans along the way.

[Freebird Forever]

Hopefully, this is an isolated incident and the jihadists will leave.

Horizontal & feet first

Every single one of them

That’s my hope

[toddly]

The Iraqi people seem to be interested in pointing these "volunteers" out to coaltion forces. Hopefully we can find a way to make this easy and profitable for them to do so.

[michigander]

'Suicide bomb' injures US marines

Four US marines have been seriously wounded in an apparent suicide bomb attack on a military checkpoint in Baghdad.

The BBC's Paul Wood in Baghdad said that he heard a series of loud explosions not far from the Hotel Palestine in central Baghdad, where the majority of the foreign press in the city is based.

US marines who said they witnessed the incident told our correspondent that an Iraqi man had approached the checkpoint and detonated a number of grenades.

Smoke can now be seen rising from the scene of the incident.

[BJungNan]

...No one has ever gotten these people to all get along (in the absence of an iron fist) before.

A very telling statement. Correct. This is something I think Americans do not understand when they look at other parts of the world. It is the same when they say China should have democracy. Well, that would be nice but if you gave freedom (especially to the workers) what would result? It was the rise of the workers,"the people" that gave rise to the atrocities and horror of the cultural revolution, that sent the educated, doctors and the ruling glass to the farms and fields for reeducation and a farmer to instantly become a doctor.

The exmple of China is just to point up that there are things we do not understand about the other parts of the world. In Arab countries, how can if be that people don't want freedom? Or that a father would be proud to send his 16-year-old son into a crowd with bombs strapped around his waist?

Personally, I think a better approach may have been a complete isolation of the Arab countries until they got their mess in order. No flights, no visits, no tourist, no exchange of business, no student visas, no visas of any kind for any reason. Let their business community and their leaders suffer for the actions of the factions and the fanatical.

I'm sure someone will take this apart and that is fine. I'd love to know that I am wrong on some of this.

[Diogenesis]

========= Cairo =========

In Cairo, Egypt, who is arranging for Egyptians and Palestinians to kill Americans?
Who arranged to have terrorists fill out visa application forms to travel to Iraq and murder Americans?
Answer: the Egyptian Lawyers Union.

---

========= Damascus =========

In Damascus, Syria, who is arranging for Syrians and Palestinians to kill Americans?
Answer: the Syrian Law University.

[Dimensio]

This can't be. All of the news media outlets said that the war was over yesterday!

[michigander]

Iraq latest: At-a-glance

1540: At least one US Marine is killed in an apparent suicide bombing attack near a military checkpoint in Baghdad, correspondents report.

[thinktwice]

BASTARDS!!!

Muslim religious bastards!

[kcvl]

Suicide Bombing Targets US Marine Checkpoint in Baghdad
VOA News
10 Apr 2003, 16:27 UTC


Reporters in Baghdad say there has been a suicide bombing at a U.S. Marine checkpoint near the Palestine Hotel. Details are sketchy but reports say there were casualties in the blast, which came shortly after nightfall Thursday. U.S. troops in Baghdad have been battling fighters loyal to Saddam Hussein, while Iraqi Kurdish fighters backed by U.S. special forces have seized Iraq's key northern oil city of Kirkuk.

Journalists in Kirkuk report hearing sporadic gunfire, but say Iraqi troops who were guarding the city appear to have fled. Residents of the northern Iraqi city began celebrating soon after the Kurdish fighters entered the city early Thursday. Some toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein in a town square, while others looted offices of Iraq's ruling Baath party and the government.

The presence of Kurdish fighters has troubled Turkey, which fears that Kurds in northern Iraq might try to set up their own state with Kirkuk as its capital. But a White House spokesman says the United States has reassured Ankara that U.S. forces will take control of the city.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul says Ankara will send military observers into northern Iraq. The U.S. military says American forces are consolidating their hold on the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, one day after the apparent collapse of the Saddam regime.

A U.S. Central Command spokesman, Major General Victor Renuart, says U.S. forces have cordoned off the entire city, preventing pro-Saddam fighters from leaving or entering. He told reporters today that U.S. forces do not know the whereabouts of Saddam, his sons or other top Iraqi officials. U.S. tanks reached the center of Baghdad on Wednesday, triggering jubilant celebrations in the Iraqi capital. But the spokesman said that U.S. troops are still encountering small bands of Republican Guard or Iraqi militia forces, and warned Baghdad residents to stay in their homes while the fighting continues.

Central Command says one U.S. Marine was killed and 20 others wounded in a fierce firefight Thursday near a mosque in northwestern Baghdad. A spokesman said U.S. forces swept into the area following reports some regime leaders were trying organize a meeting there.

Additional fighting was reported along the northern banks of the Tigris River and in a northeastern Baghdad district. U.S. commanders also say American forces have attacked Iraqi forces in the western town of Al-Qaim. Iraq fired ballistic missiles on Israel from the area during the 1991 Gulf War.

[Liberal Classic]

Vaya con Dios, mis hermanos.

[michigander]

Suicide Bomber Kills 'Some' Troops in Baghdad, US Says

Thu April 10, 2003 12:44 PM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. officer said "some" U.S. soldiers were killed in a suicide attack at a military checkpoint in Baghdad Thursday.

Asked by reporters how many U.S. servicemen died in the incident, Marine officer Matt Baker said: "Some are dead in the attack but I don't know how many."

Baker said the attack occurred north of the Palestine Hotel in central Baghdad, where journalists covering the Iraq war are staying. He could give no more details about the attack.

Earlier CNN reported that four Marines had been seriously wounded in the suicide attack.