Wednesday, August 25, 2010
IRAQ ON THE BRINK OF CIVIL WAR
The mainstream media continues to hype the success of "the surge" as mending Iraq, but the truth is "the surge" was not so much a U.S. military success as it was a success for the Iraqi people, or the Sunni Awakening, of Al Anbar Province who ran Al Qaeda out of their province.
Last week the United States pulled all remaining combat troops out of Iraq with a lot of fanfare, but since their departure the insurgents have come out of hiding and launched full-scale attacks on Iraqi provinces and cities.
The following is a report from http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com on violence all across Iraq in the past 24 hours:
Baghdad:#1: The deadliest attack occurred in north Baghdad where a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb in a parking lot behind a police station, killing 15 people, including six policemen and nine civilians. Another 58 were wounded in the attack in Baghdad's Qahira neighborhood, police and hospital officials said.#2: a car bomb that killed two civilians in Adan Square, in the north of the city and wounded eight people.A parked car bomb exploded in a busy street in the Allawi commercial area in central Baghdad killing two civilians and wounding seven others.#3: Gunmen in a western Baghdad neighborhood ambushed a police patrol, killing one,#4: while a roadside bomb hit an army patrol nearby leaving a soldier dead.#5: A roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi police patrol in western Baghdad and wounded three Iraqi soldiers.#6: Unknown gunmen shot and killed a member of the municipality council of the Sadr City in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday, according to a security source. “The gunmen opened fire on Ahmad Hassan, a member of the municipality council of Sadr City, inside his house in Jamiela neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, killing him instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.Diyala Prv:#1: Just north of the capital, in Muqdadiyah, the local council building was also hit with a car bomb, killing three civilians and injuring 18, according to the spokesman of Diyala police, Maj. Ghalib al-Karkhi.#2: Afterwards, a booby-trapped car parking outside a hospital some 100 meters away from the government office detonated, wounding six people, the source said. The second blast was apparently designed to hit the wounded victims of the suicide attack as well as the security forces which were to arrive at the scene after the first blast, the source added.#3: Bombs left outside five homes in Buhriz, south of Baquba, in Diyala province left at least four people wounded, police said. The bombs were left outside the homes of four policemen and an electoral commission official.#4: A suicide bomber blew up a car bomb in central Baaquba on Tuesday, leaving unspecified number of casualties, according to a security source. “The bomber blew up the car bomb on the main road in Baaquba al-Jadieda region, central Baaquba, killing and injuring a number of persons,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Ambulances rushed to the area to carry the victims,” he added. He did not give more details.#5: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded four policemen in Balad Ruz, 90 km (55 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.#6: Two policemen were wounded when a roadside bomb went off near their vehicle in Saadiya town, 100 km (70 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.#7: Gunmen shot dead a government employee in a market in the town of Khalis, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.Mussayab:#1: “An improvised explosive device went off on Tuesday (Aug. 24) near a car in al-Khedr region, in al-Musayab district, northern Hilla, killing the driver and destroying his vehicle,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.#2: “Another bomb exploded near an Iraqi army vehicle patrol, killing a soldier,” he added.Kut:#1: At least 23 people were killed and some 60 wounded on Wednesday in a powerful car bomb explosion outside the police headquarters in the city of Kut, the capital of Wasit province, 170 km southeast of Baghdad, a provincial police source said. "We have 23 people killed and 60 inured by the powerful blast in Kut," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The blast took place at about 10:00 a.m. (0700 GMT) when an explosive-packed vehicle parking in front of the city police headquarters detonated, destroying the headquarters' building and a nearby government building, the source said. The powerful blast totally destroyed the police building and many people were buried under debris, the source said, adding that severe damages hit the nearby buildings.Southeast of Baghdad, in Kut, eight policemen were killed and 20 people were injured when a suicide bomber detonated his car bomb next to the town's local council, police and hospital officials said.#2: One civilian was killed on Tuesday by gunmen in southern Kut, a police source said. “Unidentified gunmen attacked a civilian, working as a coach for a sports club, in southern Kut using knives, killing him and fleeing to unknown place,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.Iskandariyah:#1: The south witnessed scattered attacks as well, including a car bomb that killed a local man on the road near Iskandariyah, 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Baghdad.Karbala:#1: In the Shiite holy city of Karbala a car bomb exploded near the police station, wounding 28 people but leaving no fatalities.Basra:#1: Two people in the southern port city of Basra were also injured by a car packed with explosives.#2: Three civilians were wounded on Tuesday in an explosion in west of Basra, according to a security source. “The bomb went off targeting a U.S. convoy on Mohammad al-Qassem road, west of Basra, injuring three civilians, and damaging a U.S. Hummer vehicle and a civilian car,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. For his part, the media advisor of the U.S. army in Iraq, Nader Suleiman, denied any attack on U.S. troops in Basra or in its surrounding areas.Tikrit:#1: Police also came under attack in Tikrit in the northwest, where a police station was blown up in a car bombing. Several officers were injured in the attack.#2: Outside of the city, a police patrol came under attack by insurgents using guns and explosives. One insurgent was killed and several policemen injured in the attack.Dujail:#1: A car bomb exploded outside Dujail police station about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Baghdad and wounded three police officers.Samarra:#1: The chief of Facility Protection Services in Samarra was seriously hurt when two bombs went off in quick succession as his convoy passed by in central Samarra -- about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Baghdad. The service is in charge of providing security protection to government institutions.Kirkuk:#1: Police were also targeted in the northern oil hub of Kirkuk, where a car bomb killed one policeman and wounded eight more.Mosul:#1: A suicide bomber driving a car tried to attack an Iraqi army security checkpoint in eastern Mosul but security forces shot and detonated the car.Tal Afar:#1: One 4-year child was killed and three persons were wounded when eight Katyusha rockets hit on Wednesday different areas of the Talafar suburb, northwest of Mosul city. “One of the rockets hit a house in the Saad neighborhood, western Talafar (60 km northwest of Mosul city) leaving heavy damage,” a local police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.Al Anbar Prv:#1: Another soldier was killed west of the capital in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-packed car into a convoy. Another 10 people were injured, police said.#2: In Fallujah, west of the capital, at least three people were killed in several bomb attacks. A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed two children and injured several people outside the city and a second such attack later in the morning killed a soldier and injured 10 people.#3: Police in the area said an armed militant was killed while planting a bomb.#4: A sticky bomb attached to the car of a local government official wounded him and two others in central Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.#5: A roadside bomb near a police checkpoint killed two children and wounded their mother and brother in central Falluja, police said.
WAVE OF INSURGENT ATTACKS HIT 13 CITIES AND TOWNS IN IRAQ
No sooner had the U.S. pulled out all combat troops from Iraq than the insurgents launched a series of 13 attacks on Iraqi cities and towns killing scores of people.
Iraq still is without a formalized government and the fighting between major factions in Iraq is heating up and could result in another civil war in the country.
The question then would become would President Obama have to send U.S. combat troops back into Iraq.
Read more here from the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/world/middleeast/26iraq.html?_r=1&hp
Click on link to read complete story.
MARINE CORPS COMMANDANT DISAGREES WITH OBAMA
James Conway, Marine Corps Commandant, is quoted as saying President Obama giving the Taliban a withdrawal date for U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan is "probably giving the enemy sustenance."
Conway said he expects the United States to have forces in Afghanistan for many more years.
Read the full story here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/24/james-conway-afghanistan-enemy-sustenance_n_693405.html
Click on link to read complete story.
