Don't Be An Asshole
In a dispatch posted at 7:15pm Makkah time Friday evening, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while earlier that an Iraqi Resistance fida’i fighter had driven an explosives-laden car into a US military column near a vehicle inspection complex in the middle of ar-Rutbah near the public auction lot where cars are sold near the Iraqi border with Jordan.
The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the blast destroyed an American vehicle of an unknown type that US forces had brought into the western part of Iraq recently. The vehicle is more massive and bigger in size than the standard US Humvee.
Al-Maliki has a reputation as a hard-line, outspoken defender of the Shiite stance — raising questions over whether he will be able to negotiate the delicate sectarian balancing act.
From exile in Syria in the 1980s and 1990s, he directed Dawa guerrillas fighting Saddam Hussein's regime. Since returning home after Saddam's fall, he has been a prominent member of the commission purging former Baath Party officials from the military and government.
Sunni Arabs, who made up the backbone of Saddam's ousted party, deeply resent the commission.
Al-Maliki also was a tough negotiator in drawn-out deliberations over the new constitution passed last year despite Sunni Arab objections. He resisted U.S. efforts to put more Sunnis on the drafting committee as well as Sunni efforts to water down provisions giving Shiites and Kurds the power to form semiautonomous mini-states in the north and south.
Sounds just like Bush--a uniter, not a divider.
*Turns off heavy sarcasm mode*
The military-industrial complex
Today is my last post on Today in Iraq.
I was glad to have the opportunity to contribute, but I realized a little over a week ago that my goals and objectives for doing a blog post here were not compatible with other poster's goals and objectives. I told the other posters that I would do posts until today, and I hope they have found a replacement.
I have decided to do blog posts about Iraq on my own blog, and have included today's posts and yesterday's post on that blog. The bad news is that it will not be as comprehensive as Today in Iraq, and I don't expect I can do a post every day. The good news is the comments will be moderated. Since I work long hours, I will only be able to post the comments in the evening, so back and forth discussion will be limited. (but stupid comments will not show up at all!)
The blog I started is called News About Iraq and it is at http://news-from-iraq.blogspot.com/
I also have a personal blog which I have been posting on for a while. I received an award for peace the other night, and I blogged about that on http://dancewater.blogspot.com
You will still see me comment here on this blog, and I will still read this blog.
thanks to everyone who has made a positive contribution to this blog!
Susan, very sorry to see you leave. Thanks for all you've done here.
Well Susan I'll personally miss you here and I regret that you will leave in favor of a site that will censor debate. I didn't like the pic either and that is why I never posted on that thread. However I don't object to it because it expressed feeling and emotion from events that none of us can control. I wake every morning to find out how many more are dead from this travesty like a nightmare that never ends. How some can demand more I cannot rationalize but I do understand the reaction.
But I also don't look at the Whiz as a troll for he probably believes what he writes. Some feel I should not respond to him but I'm really responding to his ideas. They are so preposterous they are beyond comprehension so I try to shed a little light of history.
Here's hoping you will come back.
Susan, there are no words, but thanks.
As for those WMDs and Drumheller's new accusations, I repeat: No General would amass an army on a border of a state filled with WMD and run by mad dictator without handing out protective gear.
As for the Downing Street Memos and the other revelations that was not news.
When Rice told Richard Haas to "save your breath" that was news.
The memos only reafirmed it.
I am somewhat stunned by the lack of comment about Susan's leaving. Is everybody just out enjoying themselves on a Saturday night?
Susan has been the one true voice for peace here,
And she deserves a lot more. I for one will really miss not only her incredibly comprehensive posts, but also her consistent, and admirably peace-promoting positions. A great loss to TiI. I wish her well. And so should you.
A video was released today by the Sunni Army of Ansar Al-Sunnah showing the execution of a member of the Shiite Mahdi Army. After making a statement on video tape at gunpoint, the Mahdi Army member is fatally shot twice in the back of the head. While the exact date of the execution is not known, the video appears to have been made Apr 16, 2006. This is the second execution video released by the Army of Ansar Al-Sunnah this week. In a video released Apr 17, they showed the execution of two Badr Brigade members in Iraq.
http://www.ogrish.com/archives/
2...diexecution.wmv
Susan,
Thanks for your contributions which were always sane and balanced,
best regards bob.
Five Iraqis buried in Ramadi after clash with US troops Category: Iraq Subcategory: Terror Summary: Five Iraqis were laid to rest in Ramadi on Saturday following a clash between insurgents and US troops the day before. Family members of the casualties say their houses were raided. Date: 22 April 2006 Shots: Shots of mourners chanting slogans 00:00-00:37
Mourners carrying their coffins on the shoulders, chanting slogans 00:37-01:53
Shots of crying women, chanting slogans 01:53-02:23
More shots of mourners holding coffins, chanting slogans 02:23-02:47
Shots of their house, crying women, blood on the ground, bullets on the ground.
http://www.ihavideo.net/preview_...6922e5&
play=wmp
Three explosions just outside the heavily guarded Green Zone killed seven Iraqi civilians and wounded eight Sunday, a U.S. official said. The explosions, heard across the city, came a day after
Iraq's parliament met inside the Green Zone to elect top government officials in a breakthrough in a long political standoff.
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Iraqi police said earlier that three mortar rounds landed inside the zone, but the U.S. official said the explosions occurred just outside.
They occurred near Iraq's Defense Ministry, which is just inside the zone, and were caused by mortars or rockets, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the attacks happened outside the Green Zone where the U.S. Embassy is located.
Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi, an Interior Ministry official, gave a lower casualty count, saying six Iraqis were killed and three wounded. The casualty toll could not immediately be verified independently.
Three of the wounded were Defense Ministry employees, an official at the ministry said on condition of anonymity because the ministry planned to issue a statement later.
Police Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq said it was hard to identify the dead because the powerful blasts and shrapnel severed their limbs and destroyed their identification cards.
Iraqi police said the three explosions were among 11 mortar rounds fired in central Baghdad at about 8 a.m. No one was hurt in the other eight blasts, which fell on the east side of the Tigris River near Iraq's Interior Ministry and the Shaab sports stadium, said police Lt. Bilal Ali. A building housing a municipal swimming pool was damaged.
Thanks for the news Bob, and for your usual video links. I recommend www.antiwar.com as a good source of a daily round-up of the world situation (from the perspective of American Imperialism) as reported in the regular press.
Perhaps I should have said that I also recommend www.antiwar.com, it's hard to get your actual meaning across on the web n'est pas?
antiwar.com is not bad for its coverage on mitiary matters.I do not totaly trust the site however.They push VERY hard for donations every couploe of months.They also classify Sept11th conspiracy doubters as tin foil hat wearers.I classify web sites now by what the DO NOT report.
Nevertheless it has good commentary and pool of news.
BAHDAD, April 23 (Reuters) - Three U.S. soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle northwest of Baghdad on Sunday, the U.S. military said in a statement.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three U.S. soldiers were killed Sunday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb northwest of Baghdad, the U.S. command said. That brought the number of American troops killed in the Iraqi capital area over the weekend to eight.
The latest deaths occurred about 11:30 a.m., the command, without giving further details.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/
...AD_In_2006.html
Neocon supporters of the Bush Administration are confident the president will order air strikes against Iran between the Nov. 2006 elections and Nov. 2008 when his successor will be elected. The post-strike scenario was put to one of these neocon supporters:
1. Swift minelayers sail from Bandar Abbas, the Iranian naval base at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz and sow a few score mines in the world's busiest oil shipping lane. All tanker traffic stops. U.S. and NATO minesweepers head for Hormuz. Iranian naval commandos in Zodiak rubber speedboats come alongside a supertanker and sink it by sticking limpet mines along the waterline. Oil futures quickly pass $100 a barrel and keep climbing.
2. Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority, employed in the eastern Saudi oilfields, begins blowing oil pipelines. Sabotage is reported at Ras Tanura, the world's largest oil loading port.
3. U.S. air strikes obliterate Bandar Abbas.
4. Iraq's two Shiite militia, armed and funded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, are ordered into action against Iraq's U.S.-funded and trained army and police forces and against U.S. forces. U.S. casualties mount again. Congress calls for an immediate evacuation of U.S. forces into Kuwait. The Kuwaiti parliament balks and declares its neutrality in what is now the new U.S.-Iran war.
5. Hezbollah and Hamas fire several thousand rockets and missiles over Israel's protective barrier killing scores of Israelis. The IDF is ordered back into Gaza to wipe out the terrorists.
6. Hezbollah's militia goes into action against U.S. interests in Beirut.
7. Shiite and Sunni Arabs close ranks against the U.S.-Zionist enemy. Arab streets erupt in mass anti-U.S. demonstrations. Arab governments recall their ambassadors from Washington.
8. The entire Muslim world closes ranks behind Iran.
9. A "dirty bomb" explodes in lower Manhattan. Casualties are far lower than on 9/11 when the Twin Towers were destroyed. But a 60-square-block area has to be permanently evacuated. It will be uninhabitable for several years due to dangerous levels of radiation.
The neocon interlocutor smiled, then shrugged his shoulders and called the scenario "wild speculation." White House calculus ignores the fact that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's President and a member of a fanatical sect of Shiite Islam, believes in the apocalypse in his own lifetime. Some people who know him say he thinks global death and destruction is only two years away and that this will be followed by the return of the 12th Imam, known as the Mahdi.
Susan - congratulations on winning the peace award, and a big hat tip for all your efforts at keeping Today in Iraq an essential read.
Thanks and good luck 
*BAGHDAD - Three U.S. soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle northwest of Baghdad on Sunday, the U.S. military said in a statement
*MAHMUDIYA - A man and a child were killed and seven children were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in Mahmudiya, just south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
*BAGHDAD - A rocket landed on a car park, killing seven civilians and wounding eight in Baghdad's central Karrada district, the Defence Ministry said.
*LATIFIYA - An Iraqi soldier was killed and two others wounded when a roadside bomb hit their patrol in the main road between Latifiya and Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.
*KIRKUK - Gunmen killed an Iraqi contractor in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, 250 miles (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
*MOSUL - Iraqi army arrested two guerrilla suspects on Saturday in the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, the Defence Ministry said.
*RAMADI - Iraqi army arrested four guerrilla suspects on Saturday in Ramadi, 110 km (68 miles) west of Baghdad, the Defence Ministry said.
BAGHDAD - Iraqi police found the bodies of six young men, bound and with bullet holes in their heads in Baghdad's Sunni district of Adhamiya, police said.
Three US troops reported killed in Resistance bombing in Jazirat al-Khalidiyah.
In a dispatch posted at 2:40pm Makkah time Saturday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that an Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded by a foot patrol of US and Iraqi puppet regime soldiers in the Jazirat al-Khalidiyah area, about 80km west of Baghdad.
The al-Khalidiyah correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses in the Jazirat al-Khalidiyah area as saying that the bomb went off as the foot patrol was walking down a farm road near the al-Kartan area in the Jazirat al-Khalidiyah area.
In a dispatch posted at 10:50am Makkah time Saturday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that an Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded by a US military patrol in the middle of ar-Ramadi.
The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses in ar-Ramadi as saying that the bomb completely destroyed a US Humvee
Baghdad.
Resistance bomb destroys US patrol vehicle in western Baghdad’s al-'Amiriyah, killing all American troops inside.
In a dispatch posted at 6pm Makkah time Saturday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that an Iraqi Resistance high-explosive bomb went off by a US military patrol on the road between the western Baghdad district of al-'Amiriyah and al-Fallujah, some 60km to the west at 11am local time Saturday morning.
The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses as saying that the totally destroyed one of the vehicles in the American patrol and that none of the US soldiers aboard the vehicle came out after the explosion, indicating that all aboard were killed.
Today in Iraq and Urkunet.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=-6&l=x
An Iraqi man carries a young Iraqi girl, killed during a Saturday night clash between militias, Sunday April 23, 2006 in Baqouba, 60 km (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq. Violence in the capital and other Iraqi cities continues as Prime Minister designate Jawad al-Maliki begins the difficult task of forming a government. (AP Photo/Mohammed Adnan)
http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.y...am1hDpzdF1fwg--
Iraqi insurgents in Baghdad attacking the Iraqi Defense Ministry with mortar, killed 7 civilians and injured 15 on Sunday. Date: 23 April 2006
Shotlist: Details of a mortar falling to the ground 00:00-00:09
Shots of damaged vehicles 00:09-00:16
Shots of a man washing the ground full of blood. Details from the blood on the ground, a shoe, damaged vehicles 00:16-00:37
Details from incident area. Damaged vehicles, blood on the floor, a man washes the ground full of blood 00:37-01:21
Interview with Hessam Hussein
http://www.ihavideo.net/preview_...3566b0&
play=wmp
Bomb attack kills 2 policemen, injures 2 in Baiji
http://www.ihavideo.net/news.jsp...e-
77a140922c36#
Susan many thanks for all your excellent work.
markfromireland
Insurgents sabotage oil pipelines in Kirkuk -
http://www.ihavideo.net/news.jsp...e-
77a140922c36#
3 U.S. Soldiers, 23 Iraqis Killed in Iraq
AP - 5 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three U.S. soldiers were killed Sunday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb northwest of the capital, raising to eight the number of Americans killed this weekend in Baghdad area.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq;
...HNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
Not so fast Susan. Please reconsider your decision to stop contributing to the blog. If it's about the pic well it was an ugly pic indeed but also not more than an incident in all these years. I will miss your contributions with the snarky comments that go wiht it.
Oakland is the final 20th century professional sports-based bastion of institutionalized racism in California.
Oakland is the last city in California which has a major sports complex on the edge of the ghetto. Staples Center replaced the LAForum in Inglewood and PacBellPark replaced Candlestick in BayView/Hunter'sPoint.
Restricting tickets in Oakland has hurt blacks by rejuvinating this market for scalpers.
I'd like to note the absence of black players on the A's and how it starkly contrasts to the SFGiants.1
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