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| Iraq |
| Hit on Iraq deputy PM seen as inside job |
| 2007-03-26 |
| BAGHDAD - The suicide attack against Iraq's Sunni deputy prime minister is now seen as an inside job carried out by a member of his own security detail — a distant relative who had been arrested as an insurgent, freed at the official's request, then hired as a bodyguard, a senior security official and an aide to the victim told The Associated Press on Sunday. Smart move, Salam. Look at the thanks you get... The assassination attempt, at least the third major security breach involving a top politician in four months, prompted Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to order a government-wide security shake up, including plans to hire a foreign company to guard the Green Zone building where parliament meets, the security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with reporters. Looks like more business for Blackwater... A suicide attacker came within feet of Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zubaie and exploded his vest during a Friday prayer service in the private mosque attached to al-Zubaie home. The Sunni official was seriously wounded and nine people were killed. The senior security official as well as a key aide to al-Zubaie said Wahab al-Saadi, the distant relative accused of involvement in the attack, was the only person at the prayer service who has not been accounted for. Well, we think it's him. We haven't put all the pieces together yet. Literally. They said al-Saadi's car, which was parked outside the al-Zubaie compound, exploded within minutes of the suicide attack. The al-Zubaie aide said al-Saadi had recently been removed from the bodyguard detail as a "troublemaker" but was still on the deputy prime minister's payroll and — for that reason and because he was a relative — was not searched when he entered the mosque. Oh, him? Yeah, Salam says he's okay. Besides, it's a mosque. What could happen in here? A cook for al-Zubaie who has since disappeared is also under suspicion. He was in the kitchen that was only about 30 feet from the prayer room when the attack occurred. What about the butler? Was he in on it? Sami al-Askari, a top aide to al-Maliki, said al-Saadi had been arrested in the past on suspicion of insurgent activities but that al-Zubaie successfully lobbied for his release and then made him a part of his security detail, most likely because of their family relationship. The security official and al-Zubaie's aide confirmed those details. Yeah, they were close. We called him Fredo... Other government security officials theorized that al-Saadi enlisted the cook's help to let a second person into the compound to carry out the bombing. They believed al-Saadi was the suicide attacker, although they conceded he could just be on the run. Well, yeah, seeing how his car blew up... The attack on al-Zubaie, who is now said to be out of danger after surgery in the U.S.-run military hospital in the Green Zone, was the third major security breakdown involving key members of the government or parliament since Nov. 21. Al-Askari and the security official said those attacks had prompted al-Maliki to order a full investigation of all security guards. Once complete, all those protecting Iraqi officials or lawmakers will be issued new badges by the government. Oh, boy! New badges! That'll stop 'em! Security IDs currently are issued by the American military. Those passes allow access to secure locations, especially in the heavily guarded Green Zone — site of the U.S. Embassy and most Iraqi government offices and parliament. In the Nov. 21 incident, a bomb exploded in the motorcade of Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also a Sunni, as it drove into the parking lot at the Green Zone Convention Center where the legislature meets. Al-Mashhadani was not in the convoy when the bomb, placed in the trunk of his car, exploded. A second bomb was found under another car in the convoy and was detonated by an American military bomb squad. Jeez, great security this guy's got... On Feb. 26, Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi narrowly escaped assassination when a blast ripped through a government meeting hall just hours after it was searched by U.S. teams with bomb-sniffing dogs. At least 10 people were killed. Abdul-Mahdi was slightly wounded in the explosion, which splintered chairs and destroyed a speakers' podium. It went off moments after the minister for public works finished a speech in the third-floor chamber. Abdul-Mahdi had made a welcoming address a few minutes earlier, raising speculation the bomb could have been on a timer-trigger that missed the vice president by sheer luck. Al-Askari said not even the Green Zone was safe these days because personal security details, like the one working for al-Zubaie and other officials, are not under government control. "Every government official and lawmaker choses his own security detail. I'm one of them, I chose my own security detail," he said. The al-Maliki aide said that two members of al-Mashhadani's security detail, both in possession of their U.S.-issued security IDs, had been caught last summer planting a roadside bomb south of Baghdad. The top security official said negotiations had been successfully concluded to hire a foreign company to take over security at the entrance to and inside the Convention Center, where parliament meets. The official would not name the security company or say what the cost would be because a contract had not been signed. A second security official said the plan was to sign a six-month contract to allow the Iraqis time to establish their own force of trained bodyguards. Okay. Bodyguard Rule One: Don't blow up the guy you're guarding. It looks bad... |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #7 2 strikes yer out. this guy, Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, should never be allowed to choose anything to do with guns or personal or security, or ID cards or who gets paroled.. |
| Posted by: RD 2007-03-26 22:34 |
| #6 gromgoru, I'm well aware of how high context Arab society is incapable of extending their clannish interactions to the greater world at large. This is what keeps Islam locked in the stone age and allows Arabs to mentally segregate Muslims from Infidels on a moral and ethical level. This lack of compassionate projection is also what obliges me to predict that Islam gets vaporized in the near future. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-03-26 16:20 |
| #5 I firmly believe that the depths of Arab ingratitude knows no bounds. And you're wrong. The concept, simply doesn't apply in the context of the code of ethics build on relatedness (not reciprocity like the one you take for granted). |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-03-26 15:46 |
| #4 " I firmly believe that the depths of Arab ingratitude knows no bounds." Especially outside their Creed and Clan. |
| Posted by: Duh! 2007-03-26 15:43 |
| #3 ... an inside job carried out by a member of his own security detail — a distant relative who had been arrested as an insurgent, freed at the official's request, then hired as a bodyguard The above incident, along with the overall outpouring of Iraqi thanks for America's liberation of their arid pesthole has inspired me to coin a new oxymoron: Arab gratitude It now joins "Arab unity" in my collection of wry and, just as often, true summaries of Arab behavior. I firmly believe that the depths of Arab ingratitude knows no bounds. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-03-26 13:58 |
| #2 If'n my mind isn't playing tricks on me, the Iraq Convention Center (parliament) is and has been guarded by a foreign security company ever since the US military stepped back from it (Global Security - mostly Peruvian ex-military). There were some Iraqis as well, usually working in tandem with the Global guys. This has been the set-up going back quite a ways. The IZ access (checkpoints) are multi-layered: Iraqi military/police at outer layer, then US or Coalition (Georgians for the past year or more) at the inner layer. Vehicles all get sniffed and otherwise inspected at the checkpoints where they are allowed. Hard to see how they'd get this stuff inside, other than in the Iraqi security details. I recall one Iraqi security team was fingered as having planned a multiple-bomb attack inside the IZ last year. There have been ongoing discussions/arguments for some time about shrinking the IZ perimeter to give the Iraqis control of the Conv. Center and Al Rasheed across the street, but so far nothing's happened. Can't imagine the last few months' events will accelerate any such moves in that direction ..... |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2007-03-26 13:47 |
| #1 Has anyone heard from Cousin Wahab al-Saadi's family since the incident? Or were they subsequently involved in an unfortunate incident of their own... |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-03-26 12:58 |