Yeah, THEY KNOW, AmeriKans!
Only YOU DO NOT!!!!
"Twin blasts kill 40 Shiite pilgrims in Iraq" by Chelsea J. Carter, Associated Press Writer | February 5, 2010
BAGHDAD -- A car bomb ripped through a crowd of Shiite pilgrims outside the holy city of Karbala Friday, sending many fleeing into the path of a suicide attacker who detonated a second bomb in coordinated blasts that killed at least 40 people and wounded 150.
The twin bombing came on the final day of an annual Shiite religious observance, which has been the target of three large-scale attacks in Iraq this week alone. In Pakistan, two bombs targeting Shiites observing the same holy day Friday killed at least 25 people and wounded around 100 more.
As if they are connected, 'eh, agenda-pushing paper?
Which means they PROBABLY ARE!!
All part of the AGENDA!!!
The bloodshed in Iraq is likely to further stoke tensions between the Shiite-led government and Sunnis over the push to ban some candidates from March 7 parliamentary elections.....
So the false-flagging war-mongers hope!
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday's blasts, but Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed al-Qaida and Saddam loyalists....
That LIE didn't work BEFORE the WAR, doof!
Of course, IT COULD BE that the CIA is now bankrolling those guys to do this.
Shortly after noon, a parked car bomb exploded on a road clogged with pilgrims 6 miles (10 kilometers) east of one of three main entrances to the holy city of Karbala, two health ministry officials said. The explosion sent throngs of pilgrims running down the highway and straight into the path of a suicide car bomber who detonated a second vehicle, they said.
At least 154 people were wounded in the consecutive blasts, the officials said.
An Iraqi police official gave a different version of events, saying two mortar rounds struck the area, driving pilgrims into the path of the suicide car bomber. Such conflicting accounts are common in the chaotic aftermath of bombings in Iraq....
Just like in an AmeriKan newspaper.
No attempt to clarify or find out, either.
The twin blasts came at the height of the pilgrimage when roads around Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad, were clogged with people trying to reach the city by Friday to observe the climax of Arbaeen -- the holy day marking the end of 40 days of mourning that follow the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein, a revered Shiite figure.
That sure doesn't get Passover or Hanukkah coverage, does it?
The number of Shiites -- estimated in the millions -- makes the annual observance a prime target for suspected Sunni militants. In each of the past two years, attacks during the ceremonies killed around 60 pilgrims, down from the more than 340 killed in 2007.
Two other major attacks this week targeted Shiite pilgrims, killing at least 77 people.
Also Friday, a roadside bomb struck a bus carrying pilgrims through Baghdad, killing two and wounding 13, police and hospital officials said on condition of anonymity.
Iraqis angered by the violence questioned how anyone managed to plant bombs in an area where the government had deployed an additional 30,000 security forces and brought in the use of bomb-sniffing dogs and other intelligence and surveillance equipment.....
I don't question it anymore; I know who is doing it.
--more--"
Is that paragraph why I got a scrubbed up NYT version on the web?
"Explosions kill at least 27 pilgrims in Iraq; Attack is latest to target Shi’ite observance" by Anthony Shadid, New York Times | February 6, 2010
BAGHDAD - There was a sense of fatalism to the attacks, one of dozens this week on pilgrims that the Shi’ite-led government grimly predicted but was powerless to stop....
Yeah, I've noticed that about ALL INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES!
What failures!
Interior Ministry officials said a suicide car bomb had detonated at the Peace Bridge a few miles east of the city, tearing through a crowd so tight that people were standing shoulder to shoulder. Moments later, a mortar shell exploded nearby, killing and wounding more pilgrims as they frantically fled the scene....
So it was BOTH, huh?
Whatever, NYT.
This year, city officials estimated that 10 million people journeyed to the gold-domed shrine in Karbala. Security officials put the number higher, at 11 million, and clerics insisted that it was even more.
By custom, pilgrims walk to the shrine, carrying green, red, and black flags and sometimes traveling hundreds of miles over days. Occasionally, pilgrims choose to walk barefoot.
They don't run?
The sheer numbers have given the region around Karbala a cinematic quality, as people clamber through date groves and surge through the streets in one of the world’s largest voluntary movements of people.
A very interesting qualifier, no?
--more--"
Here is the SUNDAY SLOP we were served:
Remember, readers, the Washington Post is the CIA 's newspaper.
Yup, straight from the horse's mou..., well, try the other end.
BAGHDAD - The Pentagon has acknowledged that an American contractor for the Defense Department is missing in Baghdad, an apparent confirmation of a Shi’ite militant group’s claim this week that it abducted an American in Baghdad last month.
The case marks the first reported kidnapping of an American citizen in Iraq in more than 18 months.
The League of the Righteous, a militant group that has kidnapped Westerners in Iraq in the past, posted a statement and video on its website Thursday showing the hostage.
Oh, big whoop, a video on the website.
Related:
Prop 101: Al-CIA-Duh's Greatest Hits
Prop 101: The "Terrorism" Business
New York Times Admits War on Terror is U.S. Creation
I'm tired of playing fooleys, MSM.
The statement demanded the release of militants who have fought US forces and punishment of the guards employed by Blackwater Worldwide - now known as Xe Services - who were involved in a shooting in Baghdad in 2007 that claimed the lives of 14 Iraqis.
Oh, therefore Blackwater must stay and we can't cut a deal -- not with terrorists!
CUI BONO?
The Pentagon said in a prepared statement that contractor Issa T. Salomi, 60, of El Cajon, Calif., has been missing since Jan. 23. He was last seen in Baghdad, where he worked alongside US soldiers. Salomi’s wife, Muna, confirmed that the man in the video is her husband.
The Pentagon said that “search and recovery efforts are ongoing’’ but disclosed no additional information.
General Hussein Kamal, the Iraqi Interior Ministry’s director of intelligence and criminal investigations, said Salomi was kidnapped in Karrada, an upscale district in central Baghdad.
Hmmmmmmm!!!
Another Iraqi intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Salomi, who is of Iraqi descent, was visiting relatives when he was taken hostage.
Even STINKIER, folks!!!!
US officials have cautioned that kidnapping remains a serious threat for American government employees and civilians in Iraq. They say they worry that finding abducted Americans in Baghdad will be more challenging under regulations that first went into effect last summer.
It's the first one in 18 months, cui bono?
The rules, imposed as part of the nominal withdrawal of US troops from Iraqi cities, have restricted the movement and authority of US troops in urban areas.
IN NAME ONLY, Amurkns?
I knew we were NEVER LEAVING and NEVER DID!!!!
In the short video released by the militant group, a man wearing US combat fatigues - which US interpreters wear - says he is in good health and reports that he is being treated humanely.
Oh, well, that cinches it then. My bad.
The man, who does not identify himself, calls for the release of “those detainees who have resisted the occupation and that have never been involved in any serious crime against their fellow innocent Iraqis.’’
The man also says the Blackwater guards involved in the shooting in the capital’s Nisoor Square should face “proper justice’’ and “proper punishment’’ for what he describes as “unjustifiable crimes against innocent Iraqi civilians who were bystanders.’’
In the video, the captive speaks calmly and is seen sitting on a chair in front of a banner bearing the name of the militant group.
“I would also like to relay the justifiable demands of the Iraqi Islamic resistance movement for the complete withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq so Iraq can become a sovereign nation again,’’ he says at the end of the video.
A what PoS PROPAGANDA!!
Yeah, we DEFINITELY CAN'T DO THAT, AmeriKa!
Reached at home, Salomi’s wife, Muna, 52, said she was distraught. “I’m very sick,’’ she said. “I cannot talk.’’
Imagine how the families of the guys we have in secret torture chambers feel.
Last month, Qais al-Khazaali, a leading figure in the League of the Righteous and a former lieutenant to fiery Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, was released from US custody and freed by Iraqi officials....
So it must have been him, right?
And, gee, speak of the devil....
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Sadr Knows
Occupation Iraq: Sectarian Saviors
The Real Muqtada al-Sadr
That's the one you never read about in your War Paper, AmeriKa.
Now about that "sectarianism."
The League of the Righteous has been in reconciliation talks with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government. Last week, however, group leaders accused the government of balking on its promise to release detainees.
US military officials say they fear violence could surge if talks between the group and the Iraqi government collapse.
But will the MSM papers tell us about it?
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And something I care about even less:
BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki remains the most powerful Shi’ite political leader in the country. But he finds himself politically isolated and regionally estranged, with his foremost selling point, a fragile security on the streets of Iraq, crumbling after a series of attacks on government buildings and iconic Baghdad hotels that has killed more than 400 people since August.
Are we getting ready to ditch Maliki?
With parliamentary elections scheduled for March 7, the question of whether Maliki can hold on as prime minister will determine what kind of country the US military leaves behind as it reduces its presence this spring.
Yeah, except we ain't leavin'.
Maliki remains an inscrutable figure: He began as an obscure politician viewed by many as sectarian, has lately cast himself as a nationalist, and has spawned fears of a return to the kind of authoritarianism that prevailed before the 2003 US-led invasion.
Related: Occupation Iraqi: Meet the New Boss
Occupation Iraq: Resurrecting Saddam Hussein
Why did we do this again, AmeriKa?
Another Maliki term could shepherd Iraq’s democratic experiment forward or could expose it as an aberration amid a much longer history of dictatorial rule.
His allies say there is no other option. It is Maliki, they say, who has brought stability to a country that has had five changes of government in six years.
“Maliki has managed to stay in power not because he is strong or weak but because of the absence of an alternative,’’ said Sami al-Askari, an independent Shi’ite politician close to the prime minister.
Know how that feels, 'eh, 'murkn?
But even allies say Maliki’s effort to transform his image from a Shi’ite Islamist to an Iraqi nationalist may ultimately defeat him.
Other Shi’ite Islamists worry that he has opened the door to rival powers: Kurds are angered by his challenges to their territorial claims; he failed to woo prominent Sunni Arabs into his political bloc; and Iran, which aided Maliki’s rise to power, feels it has lost control over him.
The legitimacy of the election is the biggest worry for the United States....
Yeah, we have to make this rigging look good -- unlike the Afghanistan debacle.
Maliki took office in 2006 as a compromise candidate. As the choice to succeed Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari, he was picked primarily because Shi’ites were torn between the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, the once-dominant Shi’ite group that was created in Iran, and the Sadrists, a grass-roots party that represents the Shi’ite poor.
Yeah, U.S. is BACKING the IRANIAN SIDE on that one!
Figure that one out, 'murkn.
Iran, the Shi’ite parties, and their Kurdish allies thought they could control Maliki, a member of the smaller Dawa party. But two years into his term, he stunned his supporters and crossed sectarian lines.
In 2008, he went to southern Iraq and led a charge against the Shi’ite militants who controlled the port city of Basra, straining relations with the Sadrists.He went there personally, or.... ?
Just doing what U.S told him to do -- and it was the Iranians who brokered the peace.
I don't forget, even if the MSM does.
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