"Blast kills 54 in Iraq, shaking faith in security forces; Female bomber attacks Shi’ites on pilgrimage" by Steven Lee Myers, New York Times | February 2, 2010
I already don't like it.
BAGHDAD - A woman who veiled her explosives in a black robe struck a column of Shi’ite pilgrims on the outskirts of Baghdad yesterday in a suicide attack that Iraqi officials had predicted but could not stop.
Oh, STINK, STINK, STINK!
And this is the GREAT GLOBAL threat? FEMALE SUICIDERS?
Sorry, guys, but YOU GOTTA DO BETTER than THAT!!!!
Police and hospital officials said 54 people, including 18 women and 12 children, were killed and 117 were wounded, the Associated Press reported. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Wow, that sure tortured logic for insurgents depending on the population for support, huh?
EL STINKOWHIFF!!!
The bombing occurred despite what officials had pledged would be intensified security for the annual pilgrimage to Shi’ite Islam’s holiest shrine in Iraq, underscoring the ability of insurgents to outmaneuver the country’s security forces, seemingly at will.
Yeah, WHATEVER, MSM!
Two more attacks - one with a grenade, another with a roadside bomb - later struck more pilgrims in southern Baghdad, injuring 16.
The attacks compounded a sense of insecurity in Baghdad ahead of a parliamentary election in March, which already is inflaming political tensions.
And CUI BONO, AmeriKa?
I guess we WON'T be LEAVING anytime soon!
The bomber was able to mingle among pilgrims, evidently unsearched, before detonating what officials described as a vest or belt of explosives.
Yeah, it is ALWAYS the SAME DAMN THING!
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing. The main insurgency group here, the Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility for the previous attacks, which were highly coordinated and were clearly intended to attack the credibility of Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki’s government.
Wouldn't they wait until we have left and THEN DO IT?! Make us expend all that time, effort, and money, only to have to go back in? Wouldn't REAL INSURGENTS be HOLDING their water right now?
Btw, when was the last time you saw Moqtada al-Sadr in the newspaper, 'eh, readers? Been a LONG TIME!
The force of the blast and shrapnel cut through a crowd near a tent that had been erected to provide shelter, food, and water for pilgrims making their way to Karbala to commemorate Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed....
I'm sorry, but NOT EVEN the MOST PIOUS Muslim would ATTACK a TENT meant for PILGRIMS! This REEKS of a FALSE FLAG OPERATION!
Yeah, right about the same time we got an uptick in violence -- and that is right about when the MSM stopped covering it!
--more--"
And WHO are the TRUE VICTIMS, AmeriKa?
Mohammed Haider, 2, was held by his mother at a hospital after he was wounded in a suicide attack near Baghdad. (Karim Kadin/ Associated Press)
That is what it is ALL ABOUT for me right there, readers!!!!
Getting watery just looking at it.
No, instead we get propaganda a few days later:
"Former Iraq POW writes about nightmares after her rescue; Author was captured with Jessica Lynch" by Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press | February 4, 2010
Remember the Jessica Lynch story?
Hey, what is ONE MORE LIE, right?
Of course, AmeriKa's MS will NOT TELL YOU THAT here!
WASHINGTON - Shoshana Johnson survived gunshot wounds to both legs and 22 days as a prisoner of war in Iraq. Life wasn’t so easy when she came home, either.
You know, I'M SORRY, but IF SHE HAD NOT been sent there over a BUNCH of LIES....!!!!!!!!!
And HOW DO YOU THINK the INNOCENT PEOPLE we have TORTURED and INDEFINITELY DETAINED feel, huh?
At least she GOT OUT and CAME HOME!
Over 5,000 Americans have NOT -- as well as MILLIONS of IRAQIS!!!!
In a new book out this week, the 37-year-old single mother describes mental health problems related to her captivity and tells how it felt to play second fiddle in the media to fellow POW Jessica Lynch, who was captured in the same ambush.
So the MSM is basically a WAR-PROMOTING AGENT, isn't it?
“It was kind of hurtful,’’ the former Army cook said. “If I’d been a petite, cutesy thing, it would’ve been different.’’
Johnson, the nation’s first female black prisoner of war, said she felt she was portrayed differently because of her race, either by media outlets that chose not to cover her experience or those who portrayed her as greedy when she challenged the disability rating she was given for her post-traumatic stress disorder.
Yeah, let's wedge that race issue again.
For the record, I DO NOT WANT ANYONE BEING KILLED over the DAMN LIES -- black, brown, white, purple, green, WHO CARES what COLOR?!!!!!!
While the story of Lynch, then 19, remains firmly in the nation’s collective memory from the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, far less attention has been paid to Johnson, then 30, and four male soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Co. from Fort Bliss, Texas, who also survived captivity.
Translation: PROPAGANDA WORKS!
Johnson was rescued by Marines about two weeks after Lynch’s rescue. After returning home, Johnson left the military and today is enrolled in culinary school. She lives in El Paso with her 9-year-old daughter.
I don't want to minimize her problems, but she seems to be getting along okay!
Johnson’s book, “I’m Still Standing,’’ is being released in time for Black History Month. Johnson said she hopes that by telling her story, she can set the record straight and bring attention to mental health issues affecting veterans.
The day of the 2003 ambush, Johnson and Lynch were among 33 US soldiers in a convoy that got lost in Nasiriyah en route to Baghdad. Their journey, Johnson said, was hampered by broken-down vehicles and malfunctioning equipment. Eleven were killed - including Johnson’s friend Army Private First Class Lori Piestewa.
Johnson asked to be medically discharged from the military in part because she felt other soldiers resented her over the attention her POW status attracted.
She’s also struggled with depression and nightmares. At times it was so bad, she writes, that her daughter, who was 2 at the time Johnson was captured, asked Johnson’s parents, “Why is Mommy crying all the time?’’
In 2008, she checked herself into a psychiatric ward for a few days.
“Even when I came home, I didn’t think I’d ever get better. I didn’t think the issues I had would ever ease,’’ Johnson said. “But as time goes on and I stick with my therapy, it has gotten easier, and I know if I keep on the right track, I’ll be OK.’’
It was hard at first to admit to having PTSD, she said, because she thought of it as something that happened to Vietnam veterans....
Today, Johnson is training to be a pastry chef so she can make wedding and birthday cakes....
One of the most brutal things Johnson endured was a captor grabbing her chest. She tells in her book of mobs of Iraqi people coming to view her as a vehicle she was in traveled from town to town, with one villager slapping her and another spitting on her. But while the men endured beatings during the captivity, she said she was treated better.
She describes acts of kindness, too, by the Iraqis.Yeah, but the Zionist AmeriKan MSM saves that for what I call the AFTERTHOUGHT PARAGRAPH of the piece -- in other words, the LAST ONE! Wouldn't want to HUMANIZE those people too much after we have KILLED MILLIONS and POISONED EVEN MORE!
One doctor operated on her legs, which she credits with allowing her to keep them. Another doctor whispered to her that a woman Johnson assumed was Lynch was alive, which provided comfort.
--more--"
Related:
"When [Iraqis] realized that Johnson was a woman, they treated her with respect and kindness and took her to a better place. They not only took care of her but also provided medical treatment. They even made surgery of her ankle.... She always remembers the good conduct which she, as a woman, received from the Iraqi doctors who took care of her."
Oh, and DON'T forget the POLITICS!
"Iraq court reverses ban on candidates; Ruling would let alleged loyalists of Hussein run" by Leila Fadel, Washington Post | February 4, 2010
BAGHDAD - The plan, which Iraqi officials said Vice President Joe Biden originally proposed during phone conversations last month....
They might as well just say we are running Iraq, folks.
The Accountability and Justice Commission, given the task of purging Hussein loyalists from government positions, announced the planned candidate ban last month, sending shockwaves through Iraq’s fragile political system. The commission barred about 500 candidates, some of whom were Shi’ites, but the most prominent of whom were secular or Sunni.
The commission yesterday condemned the appeals court decision as unconstitutional and said the judges were being unduly influenced by pressure from the United States.
Nooooo! You're kidding!
“I appeal to the government, and the Foreign Ministry in particular, to ask the American Embassy in Baghdad to stop its interference and pressures.... ’’ the commission’s Ali Faisal al-Lami said on state television.
US officials say they are worried that if the targeted candidates were not allowed to participate, many would deem the election illegitimate and violence would escalate.
And the rigged election we are planning wouldn't look as good.
Related: Occupation Iraq: The Politics of Iraq
