baghdad

Back To Iraq

Don’t let the lack of reports fool you. Iraq is still very unstable, and seeing some very deadly days:

Six car bombs exploded across Baghdad Monday, killing at least 34 people and wounding scores, police said, after a spate of arrests targeting Sunni Arab fighters raised tensions in the Iraqi capital.

A blast at a popular market in eastern Baghdad's Shi'ite Sadr City slum killed at least 10 people and wounded 65.

Why aren’t we hearing about this? It’s hard to say. Perhaps it could be that there is so much going on that the media’s ADD is kicking into overdrive. Your guess is as good as mine, but we need these stories out there.

The media will turn their attention to Iraq one the troops start getting pulled out. When that starts then stories like this will be plastered on every network. It will serve as some sort of “proof” that Obama is destroying Iraq. But right now they can still push the meme that “the surge worked” by kicking these stories under the rug.

Cya!

Looks like Iraq is ready for us to get the hell out of ~~dodge~~ Iraq:

The proposed agreement calls for Americans to hand over parts of Baghdad's Green Zone — where the U.S. Embassy is located — to the Iraqis by the end of 2008. It would also remove U.S. forces from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, according to the two senior officials, both close to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and familiar with the negotiations.

The officials, who spoke separately on condition of anonymity because the talks are ongoing, said all U.S. combat troops would leave Iraq by October 2010, with the remaining support personnel gone "around 2013." The schedule could be amended if both sides agree — a face-saving escape clause that would extend the presence of U.S. forces if security conditions warrant it.

Again it looks like Obama was correct all along and Bush and McCain were - well WRONG! I know that's a real shocker (yeah right).

Army Now Investigating The Christian Coins

Following up on Christian Coin-gate that I reported on yesterday, the Army is now conducting an investigation:

The US military said on Friday it was probing complaints that marines handed out coins inscribed with a verse from the Bible to a group of Sunni Muslims in Iraq, sparking outrage among local residents.

It said a service member involved in the incident in the former flashpoint city of Fallujah west of Baghdad was removed from his duties on Thursday.

"US forces initiated an investigation into reports that a coin with a Bible verse written in Arabic was distributed to Iraqi citizens as they passed through a Fallujah entry control point," the military said in a statement.

Again this needs to be looked at beyond being an individual acting on his own. I don't know of any stores in the U.S. that sells coins with biblical versus written in Arabic on them. I hope this doesn't become another Abu Gharib, where our soldiers are treated as the scapegoats for the higher ups piss poor decision making.

Liar, Liar

Bush yesterday:

President Bush, saying that "normalcy is returning back to Iraq," argued Thursday that last year's U.S. troop "surge" has improved Iraq's security to the point where political and economic progress are blossoming as well.

Yeah because Americans are so stupid and don't see the news, like:

That's Bush's normalcy for you. All from the past 24 hours. Why don't he head on over there and take a stroll down the street and let us know how it goes?

Iraq Continues Downward Spiral

The Green Zone has been hit yet again:

Shiite militants are hammering the U.S.-protected Green Zone with rockets and mortars for the fourth day this week.

Thick, black smoke is billowing from inside the heavily fortified home to the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government.

And Shiites are protesting in huge numbers:

Tens of thousands of Shiites took to Baghdad's streets to protest the government crackdown on militias in Basra as heavy fighting between Iraqi security forces and gunmen erupted for a third day in the southern oil port and the capital.

Iraqi officials reported 17 more people killed in overnight clashes in Baghdad's main Shiite district of Sadr City and raised the number of deaths from fighting in the southern city of Hillah to at least 60.

So is this the progress we keep hearing about?

Iraq In Total Hell

I been busy all day with computer problems, so I haven't had time to check the blogs. Per usual, I do have MSNBC on, so I have been getting what I thought was news. Now that the problems are behind me and I am checking the blogs out, why is it I find out I have missed the big news?

Iraq's leaders faced their gravest challenge in months Tuesday as Shiite militiamen loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr battled for control of the southern oil capital and unleashed rockets on the U.S.-protected Green Zone in Baghdad.

Armed Mahdi Army militiamen appeared on some Baghdad streets for the first time in more than six months, as al-Sadr's followers announced a nationwide campaign of strikes and demonstrations to protest a government crackdown on their movement. Merchants shuttered their shops in commercial districts in several Baghdad neighborhoods.

So while the media has been busy talking about things like Hillary and Obama's spat, Iraq has been turning to total freaking chaos. Great to see they cover what should be covered.

40 Shiites Killed By Suicide Bomber

Things are still going great in Iraq:

A suicide bomber blew himself up amid a crowd of Shiite pilgrims south of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 40 people, police and medical officials told AFP.

At least 60 people were wounded in the blast, said Karim Al-Tamimi, a police lieutenant from Babil province where Iskandiriyah is located and where the bomber struck.

And McCain thinks 100 more years of this would be awesome!

Bloody Marvelous

Isn't that what they say about the war in Iraq? I guess the bloody part is right:

A car bomb killed 33 people in northern Iraq on Sunday, security officials said, hours before U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Baghdad to assess recent security gains and discuss troop levels.

A U.S. military spokesman said the blast occurred near an Iraqi army checkpoint in the town of Balad. Iraqi Colonel Hamadi Atshan said the bomb hit a checkpoint run by Sunni Arab volunteers who have joined U.S. forces to fight al Qaeda.

The war goes on, just as the spin does. And now that McCain has Kristol advising him, you can bet they will be ready to launch attacks on half the world and give us more Iraqs. Isn't the GOP great?

72 Killed In Baghdad Pet Market Bombing

The carnage continues:

Bomb blasts ripped through two popular pet markets in Baghdad on Friday, killing 72 people in the deadliest attacks in the city in six months and dealing a bitter blow to Iraqi hopes that security is getting better.

I would really like to see some numbers of the violence lately. Yes there was a decline in violence towards the end of last year, but it sure seems to be on the rise again.

More From That Great Accomplishment Called "The Surge"

Suicide bomber kills north Iraq police chief

Roadside bomb kills 2 in Baghdad

Death toll in Iraq blast rises to 18: police

Yup things are going great over there.

Another Day, Another Suicide Bombing

18 killed north of Baghdad. Yup - that is a great surge we got going on!

Rep. Wolf Wants Investigation Of Baghdad Embassy

Good to see one Republican demanind accountability:

The Government Accountability Office should "initiate a full and thorough investigation" of allegations that the firefighting systems at the new U.S. Embassy complex under construction in Baghdad have potential safety problems, a senior lawmaker said yesterday.

Rep. Frank R. Wolf (Va.), ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee panel that handles funding for the State Department, wrote Comptroller General David M. Walker to request the inquiry and to ask that initial findings of the review be provided to the Appropriations Committee in "no later than 45 days" because of "the importance of providing security for dedicated and professional personnel in Iraq."

Of course the wingnuts will quickly label Wolf as a RINO for wanting answers to this disgrace. The tax payers are tired of our money being wasted away in Iraq by this administration and this embassy shamble is just a small part of a much larger list of wasted funds.

0-2

It looks like Kristol was wrong on his second New York Times piece:

Kristol in his column, which hailed the success of the "surge" in Iraq, concluded with this trump card: Now the Iraqi government has agreed on de-Baathification, a key gain that proves his point and pretty much destroys the Democrats' stand.

But now at www.nytimes.com comes a kind of corrective from the paper's Solomon Moore in Baghdad. It opens:

"A day after the Iraqi Parliament passed legislation billed as the first significant political step forward in Iraq after months of deadlock, there were troubling questions â€” and troubling silences â€” about the measureâ€™s actual effects.

I bet they are just thrilled that they hired him.

Oh The Cover Up!

Blackwater sure is quick on fixing damage:

Blackwater Worldwide repaired and repainted its trucks immediately after a deadly September shooting in Baghdad, making it difficult to determine whether enemy gunfire provoked the attack, according to people familiar with the government's investigation of the incident.

Damage to the vehicles in the convoy has been held up by Blackwater as proof that its security guards were defending themselves against an insurgent ambush when they fired into a busy intersection, leaving 17 Iraqi civilians dead.

Because shiny vehicles are the most important part of their work. I am sure they weren't trying to cover anything up.

$736 Million For An Embassy You Could Burn In

The money quote:

The firefighting system in the massive $736 million embassy complex in Baghdad has potential safety problems that top U.S. officials dismissed in their rush to declare construction largely completed by the end of last year, according to internal State Department documents, e-mails and interviews.

We just want it done! And they wonder why State Department employees aren't rushing to go over there.