Umm, sir, we SMELL BAD to the IRAQI NOSE!
Related: Occupation Iraq: The Party's Over
I don't even want to do the analysis; however, I do think it is very odd that the violence rises and falls in accordance with the wishes of those who initiated this war of lies and really never planned on leaving.
Permanent bases are called that for a reason.
How long before U.S. TROOPS are AGAIN PATROLLING IRAQI CITIES (even though they are already and never stopped)?
And if these reports are true, WHEN will the MSM declare BUSH'S SURGE a FAILURE?
"3 cattle herders killed during US-Iraqi exercise; They wandered into mortar fire" by Chelsea J. Carter, Associated Press | August 16, 2009
BAGHDAD - Three Iraqi men herding cattle were killed yesterday after wandering into the middle of a US-Iraqi mortar exercise north of the Iraqi capital, the US military said.
That's the EXCUSE GIVEN by the US military.
WHO KNOWS what REALLY HAPPENED!
We don't need to stay for this.
American forces were conducting a live-fire training exercise with Iraqis near Taji when the men walked onto the artillery range, the military said. An 11-year-old boy was also injured and evacuated to a US military hospital, where he was in stable condition last night, the military said.
I dunno; something don't smell right.
The accident occurred at a time when the US military is shifting its primary role in Iraq from combat to training Iraqi security forces. As part of the transition, the US military said, it will have reduced combat power in Iraq at the end of the month by the equivalent of two brigades, or roughly 8,000 troops, meeting the first target in President Obama’s withdrawal plan.
Obama has ordered the removal of all combat troops by the end of August 2010. Under an Iraqi-US security pact, the remaining 35,000 to 50,000 troops in training and advising roles in Iraq after that would leave by the end of 2011.
See: Occupation Iraq: 2012 and Beyond
Yeah, I am tired of the repetitive lying by my "newspaper."
The limited withdrawal of two combat brigades is taking place as a spate of bombings generates fear that insurgents could re-ignite sectarian fighting that nearly tore the country apart.
Wow, that's tortured logic if you are an "insurgent."
The violence has also raised more questions about the ability of Iraqi forces to maintain that stability....
Now that poses a VERY BIG CUI BONO, no?
The Second Brigade Combat Team, Fourth Infantry Division, will not be replaced when it returns to Fort Carson, Colo., at the end of the month, the military said. A handful of Marine regimental combat teams were the first to leave earlier this year and also will not be replaced.
Together those troops number about 8,000 personnel, a military official said. The official, with knowledge of US troop strength, spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the numbers. It is part of the president’s plan to gradually withdraw US troops at first, leaving most in place for national elections in January.
Iraq’s prime minister warned Iraqis yesterday that insurgents will probably intensify attacks in the run-up to the elections in an attempt to destroy national unity and political stability. Nouri al-Maliki said there would be “decisive battles’’ with insurgents between now and the elections....
That SURE is OMINOUS -- and I bet the papers won't carry a word (well, maybe a couple).
Maliki, a Shi’ite, has campaigned for reelection largely on the dramatic decline in violence in the past two years. But bombings have killed hundreds in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul in recent weeks....
Forgot all about those murdered cattlemen, didn't you, Amurkn newspaper reader?
"Bombs kill 8 people in Iraqi market" by Associated Press | August 17, 2009
BAGHDAD - Bombs hidden in plastic bags near a falafel stand exploded at a market in a mainly Shi’ite area of Baghdad yesterday, killing at least eight civilians and wounding 21, Iraqi officials said. It was the latest in a series of bombings targeting Shi’ites and minorities in the capital and northern Iraq....
Yeah, and WHO HAS a BUG UP THEIR ASS about Shi'ites right now (as blog editor turns in his chair and looks towards Israel)?
The side benefit is that it was probably against Sadr's people, which indicates Iraqi government complicity due to the fact that Sadr is Maliki's chief rival.
CUI BONO?
The bags packed with explosives were left among a pile of garbage and exploded shortly before 8 p.m. as the district was crowded with people enjoying the evening....
Crap is breaking my heart.
O' Iraqis!!!!!!!
The spike in violence follows the June 30 withdrawal of American troops from urban areas, heightening concerns about the ability of Iraqi forces to protect the people.
EL-STINKOLA!!!!!
Political tensions have also risen.... Violence has fluctuated throughout the year, but the intense period of bombings in recent days has indicated a more sustained effort....
You see what is going on, right, readers?
CUI BONO?
"US troop presence urged at Kurdish areas; Odierno seeks to build rapport among groups" by Ernesto Londono, Washington Post | August 18, 2009
BAGHDAD - The top US commander in Iraq announced yesterday that he would like to station American troops along disputed areas in northern Iraq to build rapport between Iraqi government troops and those under the command of the autonomous Kurdish government.
General Ray Odierno said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is a Shi’ite, Kurdish officials, and provincial officials have been receptive to the idea, which could be implemented this fall.
You feel a draft, kids?
The plan comes amid rising violence in northern Iraq’s disputed areas, which has heightened tension between the Baghdad government and Kurdish officials. Scores of Iraqis have been killed in bombings in the region in recent weeks.
Huh. Imagine that.
US and Iraqi officials say Sunni extremists are exploiting the friction between Kurds and Arabs along the disputed areas to consolidate their foothold in northern Iraq.
Sorry, WE AIN'T BUYING THAT NO MORE!
YOU BLEW IT, MSM!!!!
The deployment of US troops to disputed areas would be a temporary “confidence building measure,’’ Odierno said. It would mark a departure from the withdrawal plan outlined in the security agreement, which called for the pullout of American troops from populated areas by June 30.
There was never going to be a withdrawal.
“I think they all just feel more comfortable if we’re there,’’ Odierno said.
Pooper scooper, please.
Several villages in the disputed areas are patrolled by the Pesh Merga, the Kurdish government’s militia, even though they are nominally outside the autonomous region.
Since when have we ever been worried about that?
Iraqi Army soldiers and Pesh Merga troops have come close to armed conflict in recent months as Baghdad officials have deployed more troops to northern Iraq in an effort to curb Kurdish expansion.
Seeds of civil war being sown.
American officials have come to see the rising tension along the 300-mile frontier as the most potentially destabilizing conflict in Iraq. An armed confrontation, they fear, could unleash a civil war as US troops draw down in the months ahead....
Or not.
--more--"
Looks like we will have to stay, huh, 'murka?
"Human rights group alleges Iraqi gays are tortured, killed; Baghdad is urged to halt abuses by Shi’ite extremists" by Kim Gamel, Associated Press | August 18, 2009
Yup, if it ain't women and children we have to save from the Muslim heathen it's the gay!!! Talk about killing two agendas with one j**stone.
BAGHDAD - Militiamen are torturing and killing gay Iraqi men with impunity in a systematic campaign that has spread from Baghdad to several other cities, a prominent human rights group said in a report.
Ummmm, the U.S. is TORTURING INNOCENT MUSLIMS in SECRET HIDEOUTS regardless of sexual orientation.
In fact, if you keep up on it, you find that IRAQI KIDS were RAPED and TORTURED in front of THEIR PARENTS!!!!
Human Rights Watch pressed the Iraqi government to act urgently to stop the abuses, warning that so-called social cleansing poses a new threat to security even as other violence recedes.
I really would like to believe HRW, I really would, but....
The bodies of several gay men were found in Baghdad’s main Shi’ite district of Sadr City earlier this year with the Arabic words for “pervert’’ and “puppy’’ - considered derogatory terms for homosexuals in Iraq - written on their chests.
The New York-based advocacy group said the threats and abuses have since spread to Kirkuk, Najaf, and Basra, although the practice remains concentrated in the capital.
“Murders are committed with impunity, admonitory in intent, with corpses dumped in garbage or hung as warnings on the street,’’ the 67-page report said.
Reliable numbers weren’t available, Human Rights Watch said, blaming a combination of the failure of authorities to investigate such crimes and the stigma preventing families from reporting the deaths. But it cited a well-informed UN official as saying in April that the death toll was probably “in the hundreds.’’
Sigh! This is NOTHING but a HEARSAY REPORT, huh?
Where is that waste basket?
The campaign has been largely blamed on Shi’ite extremists who have long targeted behavior deemed un-Islamic, beating and even killing women for not wearing veils and bombing liquor stores.
And IF THAT is TRUE then IRAQIS had it BETTER under SADDAM!
BUSH FAILED!!!!
Shi’ite militiamen have for the most part stopped their violence against rival Sunnis after radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s forces were routed by US and Iraqi forces last year and declared a cease-fire.
Yeah, cover up Iran's role in brokering the thing. Make it sound like Sadr was routed. MSM may omit, but I never forget.
But the report indicated they were conducting a less publicized campaign of social cleansing.
Until now, of course. Did I mention it is a HEARSAY report? NO FACTS!?
“The same thing that used to happen to Sunnis and Shi’ites is now happening to gays,’’ said a doctor who had fled Baghdad and was interviewed for the report. The doctor, who described himself as gay, said several of his friends had been killed.
Sigh. I've had it with unnamed and anonymous sources pushing agendas and claiming all manners of things.
An Iraqi Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the issue with the media, acknowledged there has been a sharp escalation in attacks against gay men this year by suspected Shi’ite extremists.
How can anyone know?
IT'S HEARSAY PROPAGANDA and I THINK WE KNOW WHY!!!!!!
But he told the Associated Press that the ministry does not have numbers “because in most cases the family members themselves are either involved in the killing or prefer to keep silent, fearing shame.’’
The former number two official at the US Embassy in Iraq, Patricia Butenis, wrote in a letter to Representative Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat, that reports from contacts familiar with the areas where some of the bodies were found “suggest the killings are the work of militias who believe homosexuality is a form of Western deviance that cannot be tolerated.’’
Must be the same folks who shot up that gay teens club in Israel, huh?
--more--"
In case you didn't get the message:
BAGHDAD --A truck bomb exploded across the street from Iraq's Foreign Ministry near the Green Zone Wednesday, knocking out concrete slabs and windows and leaving a mass of charred cars outside as a wave of explosions around Baghdad killed at least 86 people.
It was the deadliest apparently coordinated attack in Iraq so far this year and marked a major challenge to Iraqi control of Baghdad. A steady escalation of attacks following the June 30 withdrawal of U.S. troops from urban areas has heightened fears that government troops are not ready to provide security.
Iraqi officials blamed al-Qaida in Iraq and other Sunni insurgents, echoing U.S. military warnings that the militant group is trying to provoke new bloodshed to undermine public trust in the Shiite-led Iraqi government....
Sunni and Shiite extremists remain active in Iraq and the U.S. military has detected some political violence ahead of next year's national elections. But truck bombs and suicide attacks bear the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq.
Which means WE KNOW WHO is REALLY RESPONSIBLE, don't we?
The most devastating strike blackened the facade of the Foreign Ministry, killing at least 59 people and wounding 250, according to police and hospital officials. Rescue workers dug through rubble and debris near the ministry, which is adjacent to the Green Zone, the most heavily protected part of the capital.
The explosives-laden truck was parked in a largely unguarded parking lot across the street but the force of the blast tore through the 10-story building, which itself is surrounded by a concrete blast wall, as well as nearby apartment blocs....
I'll bet they will STOP DOING THAT NOW, cui bono?
Another car bomb targeted a joint Iraqi police and army patrol just outside the Finance Ministry, killing at least 19 people and wounding 22, a police official said. Twenty-two were wounded, said the official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
Another blast in the commercial area of western Baghdad's Baiyaa district killed two people and wounded 16, while a bombing in the commercial district of Bab al-Muadham killed six people and wounded 24, authorities said....
--more--"
"Explosions pierce central Baghdad; At least 95 die as twin attacks hit ministries" by Sam Dagher, New York Times | August 20, 2009
BAGHDAD - Insurgents struck at the heart of the Iraqi government yesterday in huge and coordinated bombings that exposed another vulnerability after Americans ceded control for security.... Nearby American soldiers stood by helplessly - despite the needs of hundreds of wounded - waiting for a request for help from Iraqi officials that apparently never came.
“As much as we want to come, we have to wait to be asked now,’’ said an American officer, who spoke in return for anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters. At one blast site, American soldiers snapped pictures of the devastation before ducking out of the streets.
Why? Gruesome souvenirs?
After weeks of escalating violence in Iraq, the powerful truck bombs yesterday killed at least 95 people and wounded about 600 people at the foreign and finance ministries in central Baghdad, assaults on symbols of government that lent an air of siege to the capital.
Violence is up, violence is down, and I'm sick of the yo-yo lying.
The bombs crippled the downtown area, closed highways and two main bridges over the Tigris River, and clogged hospitals with wounded. The bombings, the worst since American forces handed over security responsibilities for cities to Iraq at the end of June, shook the Iraqi government’s confidence that it was ready and able to secure the nation.
How long until we are asked back in, huh?
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered a reassessment of his security measures, calling the attacks “a vengeful response’’ to his recent, optimistic order to remove blast walls from the streets of Baghdad. Maliki blamed Sunni insurgents linked to Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Baghdad’s security spokesman, Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, told the state-owned television station Iraqiya, according to Reuters, that attacks were “a security breach for which Iraqi forces must take most of the blame.’’
Ah, yes, that FAMILIAR FALSE FLAG STENCH begins to waft its way into the room.
Around 11 a.m., the two truck bombs struck the Foreign Ministry and the Finance Ministry within three minutes, officials said. The first blast, near the Finance Ministry, killed at least 35 people, collapsed a main elevated highway nearby, and left rubble littered with shrapnel and blood. The second, more powerful blast near the Foreign Ministry killed at least 60 people, shattered windows inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, and shook houses in many sections of Baghdad.
The explosions set cars ablaze, trapping drivers inside. “The whole thing is just so disgusting,’’ the US ambassador, Christopher R. Hill, said while visiting the northern city of Kirkuk. “They’re just psychopathic.’’
I totally agree!
Though no one took credit for the attacks, Iraqis doled out blame both to their government, now fully responsible for security, and to the United States for coming to Iraq in the first place.
O', Iraqis, you are SO INTELLIGENT and PERCEPTIVE!
YOU KNOW who "Al-CIA-Duh" IS!!!
“This country is finished,’’ said one resident, Jamil Jaber, 45, whose five-room home behind the Foreign Ministry had been flattened, crushing a 4-month-old infant.
Oh, no, my heart can't bear it.
Will Fatima collect the tears of someone who is not Shi'ite?
He cursed the United States and former President George W. Bush.
As do I, sir! As do I!
Since the beginning of July, bombings in northern Iraq - for which officials blamed Al Qaeda in Iraq and its affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq - have killed at least 140 people. The attacks yesterday might have been a message from these groups that they could also assail the capital.
Oh, it's a message alright -- from those lying officials blaming "Al-CIA-Duh!"
In the attack at the Foreign Ministry, a suicide bomber stopped his truck against the ministry’s wall just off the busy intersection, according to an American military officer speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the bombing....
--more--"
BAGHDAD --The Iraqi government decided to increase security at checkpoints near government buildings and markets and keep concrete blast barriers around potential targets after a wave of deadly bombings struck Baghdad, government officials said Thursday.
Bombs struck a restaurant in Baghdad and a bus and a market south of the capital on Thursday, killing at least seven people while fear and anger spread following the deadly bombing spree the day before that killed at least 101. The bloodshed has dealt a devastating blow to public confidence in the Iraqi government and prompted al-Maliki to admit security failures for the first time -- a sharp reversal of his campaign to project a sense of normalcy ahead of January's parliamentary elections.
How long until we are right back in there, America?
He said the attacks were designed to foil plans to reopen streets and remove concrete walls from Baghdad's main roads by mid-September, an effort aimed at unblocking traffic congestion caused by the ubiquitous barriers.
So the "terrorists" won, huh?
Funeral processions began early Thursday for the victims of the bombings, with families carrying coffins draped in black through the streets. Dozens of people waited in lines outside the city's central morgue with empty coffins, as coroners worked to identify the bodies.
Oh, man.
The uptick in violence has raised fears about the readiness of Iraqi forces to provide security....
You picking up an agenda-pushing THEME, readers?
The government's acknowledgment of the problems reflected intensifying concern....
Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, the chief Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad, also said 11 police and army commanders overseeing security, traffic and intelligence services in the targeted areas have been detained on suspicion of negligence.
Can you say INSIDE JOB, readers?
Truck bombs tore through the foreign and finance ministries in the heart of Baghdad, the deadliest in a wave of explosions that killed at least 101 people and wounded more than 500, according to police and hospital officials. The Foreign Ministry called the attack part of an organized campaign against government agencies.
Al-Maliki blamed an alliance of al-Qaida in Iraq and Saddam Hussein loyalists who belonged to the ousted Baath Party.
Oh, just STOP IT with the LYING, will you?
Now I DEFINITELY SUSPECT a GOVERNMENT HAND in this!!!!
The U.S. military agreed the blasts bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq.
I just received confirmation.
Many Iraqis, however, accused officials of giving the insurgents free rein by creating an atmosphere of political paralysis and failing to properly prepare Iraqi security forces....
And MORE THAN THAT!
And WHY did my PRINT VERSION get the CHOP-CHOP, Globe?
A bicycle bomb exploded near a restaurant in Baghdad, killing two people and wounding 18, according to al-Moussawi's office. South of Baghdad, a bomb attached to a passenger bus killed two and wounded eight in Hillah, while another bomb killed at least three people and wounded 14 at a market in the nearby town of Mahaweel....
--more--"
Actually, why was my article replaced with this?
"Shaken by spate of bombings, Iraq seeks to tighten security; Reverses decision to remove blast walls in Baghdad" by Rod Nordland, New York Times | August 21, 2009
BAGHDAD - Two trucks drove into downtown Baghdad on Wednesday, detonating huge bombs that killed nearly 100 people and that gravely wounded Maliki’s case that Iraq is ready to defend itself without US help.
And CUI BONO, 'eh?
The attacks also deepened a widespread dissatisfaction with Maliki, with some critics accusing him of polishing his political image as the man who restored security to Iraq at the expense of actual safety....
LIVING a LIE can be DANGEROUS!
By that time, most of the dying was done and most of the bleeding was stanched. Hospitals filled to overflowing with about 1,000 wounded people, but only a trickle of the victims went to the nearest one, the US military-run Ibn Sina Hospital in the Green Zone just three minutes away.
US officials put the best possible face on it....
John A. Nagl, a counterinsurgency expert and president of the Center for a New American Security, a research institution in Washington. “The insurgency is not over.’’
Inviting the Americans back must have been difficult for Maliki, because no government spokesmen publicly mentioned that the United States helped, even as US troops continued to pitch in yesterday....
--more--"Is this next piece any surprise?
"Iraqi officials recommend security review" by Associated Press | August 22, 2009
BAGHDAD - Senior Iraqi officials and lawmakers recommended a review of security leadership, better coordination on intelligence, and firmer treatment of detainees yesterday as anger mounted over truck bombings against key government institutions that killed nearly 100 people.
Lawmakers also called for an emergency session of Parliament next week to address the security concerns, the deputy Parliament speaker said. Facing widespread criticism, the Iraqi military said on state television that it had arrested members of the insurgent cell responsible for Wednesday’s attacks but gave no details about the suspects.
A bombing that killed at least two people and wounded 20 yesterday at a vegetable market in southern Baghdad exposed more lapses in security after the truck used in the attack passed through an Iraqi police checkpoint without being searched, police said.
COME ON, world!!!
Can't you SEE THROUGH THIS?!!!!
The increase in violence has shaken public confidence in Iraq’s security forces and caused some to wonder if the security transition from US to Iraqi hands is happening too rapidly.
“We still need American support for a period of time until our abilities are complete in intelligence and technical issues,’’ Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani said.
Translation: WE ARE NEVER LEAVING!
--more--"
See you in the sands of Iraq, kiddo!
"RI National Guard members heading to combat zones
CRANSTON, R.I. --Soldiers in the Rhode Island National Guard will be deploying in increased numbers to Iraq and Afghanistan. Maj. Gen. Robert Bray said the round of upcoming deployments will involve almost 800 soldiers. Besides Iraq and Afghanistan, some will be sent to Kuwait and the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The deployments will begin soon and last into next year. Every unit in the Rhode Island National Guard has been deployed at least once since the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The number of service members on deployment had slowed since a peak that ended in 2006.
--more--"
