HUGE Explosion, UN Building, Baghdad (All US Senators safe)

ABC Radio, WLS-AM, Chicago ^ | 08/19/03 | GRRRRR

[rrrod]

right on! you are so right ...having spent several yrs in the area i can say this attack(s) is a big push ..but out of desperation rather than of a a well plan campaign..IMHO i think we are seeing them coming out of the wood work and they are making big mistakes and getting careless. i pray we stay the course and go for the big kill soon...comments welcome

[boxerblues]

Makes you wonder just where he is. With a little luck he will feel lucky and be in Iraq with our boys right on his tail

[KneelBeforeZod]

The UN is less of an enemy than the islamists, but an enemy nevertheless.

we had page after page after page of jokes about the taliban and saddam forces in the past.

why not the UN. Because a couple might be Americans? If they are they are traitors or brainwashed/VERY misguided.

[Peach]

I was just going to ask where MadIvan is, too.

[prairiebreeze]

That's because the entire planet has come to expect that the Americans and American military will step in to do all the dirty work. They take American casualties in stride and completely for granted as the normal course of affairs!

Prairie

[rintense]

I don't care how long it takes. Relentless pursuit...

AMEN!

[rintense]

I don't care how long it takes. Relentless pursuit...

AMEN!

[mewzilla]

...sounds like the UN Building was a soft target...

They might as well have just painted a bulls-eye on it.

[Sam Cree]

"They aren't stopping... they will keep coming. They are getting better funded and better armed"

Perhaps you are right, Carton. I believe you, anyway. But that only means we have no choice but to destroy them...or be perpetually in danger of being destroyed ourselves.

How's it going?

[Dog]

This might be an assassination attempt on DeMello.......this truck went into the UN building at the spot of DeMello's offices on the third floor

[mhking]

From CTV:

Explosion rips through Baghdad UN headquarters

CTV.ca News Staff

A huge explosion rocked the Canal Hotel in northeast Baghdad Tuesday. The building houses United Nations headquarters in the Iraqi capital.

At least nine people were wounded, Associated Press reported. Witnesses said three people were killed, though that hasn't been confirmed. The casualties included Iraqi and foreign workers at the complex, they said.

"The explosion was caused by a massive truck bomb," Bernard Kerik, the senior U.S. law enforcement official in Baghdad, told reporters at the scene. "We have evidence to suggest it could have been a suicide attack."

The UN Special Representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was among the wounded, a UN official told the BBC. Salim Lone said by telephone from the scene that rescue workers were struggling to free Vieira de Mello from the wreckage of his office, which was close to the main explosion.

"All this happened right below the window of Sergio Vieira de Mello. I guess it was targeted for that," Lone said.

Lone informed UN headquarters in New York that a number of people had been hurt in the explosion, but that no one had been killed, as far as he knew.

The blast destroyed a significant part of the three-storey building and knocked windows out of houses almost two kilometres away.

U.S. Black Hawk helicopters could be seen flying toward the scene of the explosion as black smoke rose high into the air. Witnesses said they saw dark smoke rising from the hotel itself.

Hundreds of people work at the United Nations compound at the Canal Hotel building. UN weapons inspectors worked out of the building during the period before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The United Nations is playing a limited role in post-war Iraq, with the U.S.-led invasion forces assuming military and civilian control of the country.

The explosion came just days after a truck bomb blew up outside the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, killing 17 people.

[Frank_Discussion]

I'd say they succeeded. What a bunch of idiots.

[Ex-Dem]

NBC is reporting that the senators aren't harmed and may not be in Iraq at this point. They were scheduled to fly into Iraq overnight from Kuwait.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Ditto your #281.

[Thane_Banquo]

CNN is reporting the UN didn't want that many guards around the building because they didn't want to be like the Americans.

Sounds like they have the French making their security decisions.

[Mo1]

Where is Mad Ivan?

I haven't seen him for a while, I sure do miss his threads

[BCR #226]

Cool... that is one good bit of news.

Mike

[boxerblues]

There just aren't words...


there are plenty but not in polite company

[Dog]

"All this happened right below the window of Sergio Vieira de Mello. I guess it was targeted for that," Lone said.

Bingo!!!!!!