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| Iraq |
| Shi'ites issue warning over Iraqi violence |
| 2006-01-06 |
| Attacks by suicide bombers killed as many as 130 people in Karbala and Ramadi on Thursday, rekindling fears of a return to mass sectarian killings after a relative lull and prompting Iraq's most powerful Shiite political faction to warn of retribution and indirectly blame the United States for the bloodshed. In a separate attack, a roadside bomb killed at least five American soldiers near Karbala, Iraqi and American officials said. At least two other Americans were reported killed in one of the suicide attacks. More than 60 Shiite pilgrims died just steps from the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites, when a terrorist detonated an explosive vest just after 10 a.m., the Iraqi authorities said. Pools of blood and body parts were strewn about, and survivors shrieked and cried while people ripped benches from buildings to use as stretchers. The police chief in Karbala said the suicide vest had contained at least 15 pounds of high explosives and was studded with ball bearings that shot through the crowd to maximize the slaughter. Health officials said the dead included Iranian visitors and a 3-month-old baby, and that at least 63 people had been wounded. Forty minutes later, a bomber in Ramadi waded into a crowd of about 1,000 men and ignited a suicide vest as the men waited to be interviewed for jobs as policemen. The blast killed more than 50 and wounded at least 60, according to Dr. Amar al-Rawi, who works at the main hospital in Ramadi, a Sunni Arab insurgent hotbed west of Falluja. A firefighter, Maan Abdul-Jabbar, said that he had helped load at least 40 bodies into trucks and that survivors had recalled hearing two blasts. A Los Angeles Times reporter embedded with the military in Ramadi said two Americans - a marine and a soldier - had also died in the attack, and quoted an American commander who put the death toll at about 70. Amid the recent surge in violence, Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, the senior American operational commander in Iraq, has expressed concern that growing sectarian rifts in Iraq could compromise the government and security forces. The brutal assaults of the past two days, including a suicide bombing that killed more than 30 Shiite mourners at a funeral in Miqdadiya on Wednesday, have killed almost 200 people. And they have thrust the country back into an atmosphere of violence not seen since the car-bomb massacre of Shiite day laborers in Baghdad in September. Unlike that attack and the killings in Miqdadiya, Thursday's bombings successfully struck better-guarded areas. Though no group claimed responsibility for the new attacks, the top American intelligence officer here, Maj. Gen. Richard Zahner, said in an e-mail message that suspicion was focusing on foreign fighters organized by the terrorist groups Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia or Ansar al-Sunna. In recent days, overtures by the largest Sunni Arab party to join political negotiations with Shiite and Kurdish leaders have brought hope for forming a new coalition government that could help deflate the insurgency. The interlude of relative calm surrounding the elections on Dec. 15 has been at least partly attributed to efforts by some Iraqi insurgents, as opposed to Qaeda fighters, to not attack Sunni voters in hopes of Sunni parties' gaining more power in the soon-to-be-formed government. But hours after Thursday's bombings, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, accused both Sunni Arab political parties and the United States of responsibility for the last two days of massacres. Sunni Arab groups that have warned of potential civil war "bear the responsibility for every drop of blood that was shed," said Mr. Hakim, whose party is allied with Iran and is the most influential group in the governing Shiite coalition. He said "pressure" from American forces had impeded the Interior and Defense Ministries from "doing their job chasing terrorists and maintaining the souls of innocent Iraqi people." "We're laying the responsibility for the blood of innocents shed in the past few days on the multinational forces and the political powers that declared publicly their support for terrorism," he said. "Our people will not be patient for much longer with these dirty sectarian crimes." As evidence has mounted that Iraqi security forces under the command of Shiite leaders have carried out a program of torture and assassination of Sunni Arabs, American commanders have sought to rein them in. For Sunni Arabs, a particular concern has been the Interior Ministry, controlled by Bayan Jabr, a former Shiite militia leader. He has denied accusations of the killing and torture of Sunnis, but American soldiers have raided jails under his control and found Sunni inmates showing clear signs of abuse. On Tuesday, insurgents kidnapped Mr. Jabr's sister in what was widely seen as retaliation for abuses by security forces, prompting a huge search effort throughout Baghdad. Some Sunni Arab political groups, including the Iraqi Islamic Party, were quick to condemn the Karbala and Ramadi bombings on Thursday. President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, vowed that "these groups of dark terror will not succeed through these cowardly acts in dissuading Iraqis in their bid to form a government of national unity." In recent weeks, American military officials had noted a decline in mass-casualty bombings. Still, "the enemy retains the ability to be extremely dangerous," General Vines said Thursday, adding that "many attacks are relatively ineffective" efforts by "thugs" linked to the former regime of Saddam Hussein. On the other hand, Qaeda terrorists "tend to be more focused and lethal to include the use of suicide bombers," he said. "We have seen some of that as recently as today." General Zahner described the attacks in Karbala, Ramadi, and Miqdadiya as "small numbers but large impact against soft targets designed to generate sectarian violence." Referring to information operations, the military's shorthand jargon for propaganda, he added, "This is their effort to regain the I.O. momentum in the wake of an ineffective effort to derail the elections." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #11 If folks think the US has been hard on the jihadis, just wait until the Iraqi Army and Police get turned loose. |
| Posted by: mojo 2006-01-06 17:22 |
| #10 I think AQ. Even these cavemen can learn from their other experiments and improve their product. And, since Zark has displayed an ability to mutate like a chameleon, it follows that AQ would make effective adjustments. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-01-06 16:06 |
| #9 A question to fellow ranters: Is there any evidence that the Iranians were involved? It looks like the killings would not be in the Sunni's interest, and if it was AQ, he's made alot of new Sunni enemies. It also looks like the bombings and attack on the oil convoy were better thought out and executed than either the Bathists or AQ have shown lately. Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2006-01-06 15:11 |
| #8 As I mentioned in a thread the other day, it is time for the Iraqi Shiites to renounce the hyper-violence and terrorism so popular with the Iranian Qom based fanatics. If they are able to draw a distinction between Iraqi and Iranian conduct, they might finally have a chance to point the finger at Sunni terrorism. So long as all parties involved continue to embrace mass murder and mindless slaughter as diplomatic tools, they should only look forward to For once, Iraq's Shiites have the upper hand. If they use this new found power merely to entrench age old hatreds and rivalries they will reap as they sow. If they are capable of rising above their historic enmities and rejecting terrorism, it will give them the moral authority to exercise military prosecution of Al Qaeda and other Sunni backed violence. The prospect of an Arab nation rejecting terrorism is probably too much to hope for. Yet, the alternative is so grindingly savage and downright barbaric that it is hard to imagine how they could welcome the continuation of such insanity. Unfortunately, sanity is not something the region is particularly known for. In closing, if they are unable to renouce terrorism then they are welcome to continue murdering each other to the last man. Should they choose that course, I will lose any sense of pity and merely look forward to a time when they exhaust the world's patience and are exterminated wholesale. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-01-06 13:55 |
| #7 What's sad is that just a few complete lunatics can have such an effect at this point. The greater problem is the use of violence within Islam. (the religion of peace) |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-01-06 10:56 |
| #6 "the hammer is about to come down on the Sunnis from the newly elected government" Does Michael Moore know what's going to happen to his minutemen? |
| Posted by: plainslow 2006-01-06 10:26 |
| #5 An apostrophe with my tea? Why, yes, thank you, 2b! An a bit of milk, too, if you've got any... ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-01-06 07:17 |
| #4 I really do know how to use an apostrophe. |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-01-06 06:33 |
| #3 what goes around, comes around. It's too bad, though, as they would all be better off if they worked together as Iraqis. I claimed from the get-go that it would never work and they should just set up three separate states that could work towards their own benefit - but began to pleasantly believe I was mistaken. Besides, I came to understand that it wasn't possible just to draw up borders on a napkin and have them stick. The Sunni's refusal to cooperate and their willingness to support AQ in the beginning will end up being their own undoing. Shia's now have enough power that they want us out so they can greedily gobble up even more power, but they don't seem to have the tools to handle it without lapsing into your typical Islamic cesspool of backstabbing and self-interest. When we go, and we will, the border lines will start to draw themselves. The Shia are stupid if they don't share power with the Sunnis as the Sunnis will fight to get it back, and I suspect they will be more effective than the Shia, in achieving it. Additionally, the Iraqi Shia - now granted greater powers aren't going to want to share their power with the Iranians who will want to treat them as royal subjects to their crown. Tea anyone? Sunni's better make short order of AQ faster, or the idea of three separate countries will soon be a reality - with the Sunni's getting the very short end of the stick. My hope is that cooler heads and mutual interests will prevail. Good luck Iraq - you need it. Just as a rambling aside, you would think at some point the Muslim countries would get a reality glimpse that working with Americans, instead of against them, tends to provide for a greater good in the long term. But they just seem intent on doing things the good old fashion 7th Century hard way. |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-01-06 06:26 |
| #2 I think the brothers at Iraq The Model are Sunnis and they realize the hammer is about to come down on the Sunnis from the newly elected government. Whoever preciently referred to 'Mosul as the largest city in Iraqi Kurdistan' understood it will start at the margins of Sunni dominated areas. Look for the Kurds to take over operations in Mosul with the full backing of the central government. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-01-06 01:19 |
| #1 I swung by Iraq the Model and he is sereously depressed something I really dont think is a good sign especially with this news too. I think this is a all out push by AQ after all the other day the Sunni delegation had stated that the violence could be ended and I would imagine the Sunni's know who and were the AQ are and with the Gov would make short order of AQ. If AQ fails in detering a coalition Gov they know thier death is garanteed so this is a Do or Die for them. The tanker debacle I gota admit really pisses me off. Their is no excuse for that that many tankers in convoy is just to jucy to ignore we should have had a rapid reaction force trailing and some overheads waiting to spring the trap. The not mentioned enemy losses tells me they got the better of the situation which means a repeat is garanteed if we had spung a trap we mave have lost some tankers still but the enemy cost would mean no repeat strike. |
| Posted by: C-Low 2006-01-06 00:52 |