Picking up where we left off....
"Iraq leaders begin meetings to break political deadlock; Bombings kill at least 31 in 3 Shi’ite cities" by Rebecca Santana, Associated Press / November 9, 2010
IRBIL, Iraq — Bombings in three Shi’ite cities offered a reminder that insurgents remain determined to destabilize the country.
We can't leave, America.
Car bombs struck Karbala and Najaf, the country’s two holiest cities, killing 16 people, officials said. In Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, a car bomb killed at least five people and injured 15.
The blasts were the third major attacks since last week, after the slaughter of more than 50 Christians in a Baghdad church and a string of 13 coordinated bombings across Baghdad that killed more than 90 people.
There was no claim of responsibility for the latest bombings, but the violence underscores the desire of Al Qaeda and other Sunni extremists to foment sectarian division....
Please see: Occupation Iraq: "Al-CIA-Duh" Escapes From Iraqi Prison
No wonder "terrorists" always strike at the worst time.
The day began with a car bombing in Karbala, home to two of Shi’ite Islam’s most revered sites. Seven people were killed including six Iranian pilgrims in the blast, which took place in a parking lot where people were getting on and off buses.
Another car bomb exploded about 500 yards from the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, killing nine people. A burned-out shell of a bus could be seen next to the blackened pavement.
In the last attack of the day, a car bombing killed five people in Basra, deep within the Shi’ite south.
The coordination behind the three attacks suggested Al Qaeda in Iraq was responsible.
Whatever.
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And WHOSE AGENDA is SERVED by trying to pit Shi'ite against Sunni or Muslim against Christian?
"Baghdad Christians targeted again; 5 killed in series of bomb blasts" by Hamid Ahmed, Associated Press / November 11, 2010
BAGHDAD — Baghdad’s Christians came under attack again yesterday when a coordinated series of roadside bombs blew up in predominantly Christian neighborhoods, killing five people. The blasts came less than two weeks after insurgents besieged a church and killed 68 people in an assault that drew international condemnation.
Police said at least 11 roadside bombs went off within an hour in three predominantly Christian areas of central Baghdad. Four blasts hit houses belonging to Christians, and two mortar rounds struck Christian enclaves in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Dora, on the city’s south side. Two bombs planted in deserted Christian homes in western Baghdad destroyed two houses.
It was the third attack targeting Christians since the church siege Oct. 31. Late Tuesday, a series of bombs hit three empty houses belonging to Christians in western Baghdad, but no one was hurt.
An Al Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for the church attack and threatened more violence against Iraq’s Christian community.
The threat left many Christians in the country wondering whether it was time to flee their homeland....
I bet they miss Saddam Hussein.
The new attacks struck as Iraq’s minority Christian community was still in shock over the massacre at Baghdad’s main Catholic cathedral, Our Lady of Salvation. That attack was the worst against the Christian minority since the 2003 US-led invasion that set the stage for fierce sectarian fighting between Shi’ite and Sunni Muslim sects, which killed tens of thousands of civilians....
Add them to the millions of deaths to which I hold my stinking, war-criminal government accountable.
Security was beefed up around churches in Baghdad, possibly pushing the militants to seek easier targets, such as Christian homes.
Yup, "CIA-Duh" always seems to find a way.
Layers of police protect most Shi’ite shrines in Iraq, and as a result, militants began targeting Shi’ite pilgrims on their way to visit the shrines.
Sunni Islamic militants such as Al Qaeda consider both Shi’ites and Christians to be nonbelievers.
I'm a nonbeliever in Al Qaeda.
And I never want to hear or see another word about Iran harboring Al Qaeda or giving them a bomb, etc. Can't have it both ways, lying s***ters of the AmeriKan media.
They have also questioned whether Iraq’s Christians are loyal to Christian countries in the West or to Iraq....
How about God first?
Catholic officials estimate that more than 1 million Christians have fled Iraq since Saddam Hussein’s regime fell.
Yeah, Saddam protected Christians.
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"2 killed as Iraq Christians targeted again" by Associated Press / November 17, 2010
BAGHDAD — Gunmen burst into a home in northern Iraq and killed two Christian men as they sat in their living room, continuing a string of attacks that have spread fear through the dwindling religious minority.
Blackwaters?
In a second strike in the city of Mosul on Monday night, assailants bombed another house belonging to a Christian family, wounding a bystander, police and medical officials said yesterday....
Mosul is Iraq’s third largest city. Christians have lived there for 1,800 years, and a number of centuries-old churches and monasteries still stand in the city, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.
Yes, ISN'T THAT INTERESTING!!
The churches and mosques didn't start blowing up until WE GOT THERE!
Yup, Iraqis INTERMARRIED and EVERYTHING before the "sectarianism" came rising to the surface with such virulence.
Mosul was a stronghold of Sunni insurgents and Al Qaeda militants in the past....
The AmeriKan corporate media sure uses the toilet a lot.
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Smells like s***, too.
"Iraqi leader opposes hanging; President urges compassion for Hussein figure" by Barbara Surk, Associated Press / November 18, 2010
BAGHDAD — President Jalal Talabani’s opposition does not necessarily mean Aziz, 74, will escape the noose....
Isn't that a hate crime?
Also see: Occupation Iraq: The Final Days of Tariq Aziz
To be be spent in a jail cell. That's what happens when you are on the losing side; when you are on the winning side you do book tours.
Although Talabani says the death penalty violates his socialist principles, many convicted criminals and members of the former regime — including Hussein himself — have been executed during his presidency.
Talabani has tried to block only one proposed execution, that of Hussein’s defense minister, Sultan Hashim al-Taie, a popular figure among the country’s Sunni minority. Al-Taie, who was sentenced to death three years ago, is still alive....
The decision to prosecute and execute members of Hussein’s Sunni-dominated Ba’athist regime was popular among majority Shi’ites, who now control the government. The regime sent hundreds of thousands of opponents to death or exile, and many Shi’ites want vengeance.
“I support Aziz’s execution as any other criminal’s whose hands are stained with the Iraqi people’s blood,’’ said Zaid Ghalib, a shop owner in Baghdad’s Shi’ite slum of Sadr City.
George Bush should be drowned in the s***.
But although Aziz is Christian and not Sunni, many Sunnis view his conviction and those of other former regime members as proof that they will forever be held responsible for actions carried out years ago....
If they are war criminals they should never be let off.
Aziz’s family has argued that he was not responsible for the crimes for which he is accused but is being persecuted simply because he was a member of Hussein’s regime.
Sort of like me holding some lackey at Interior responsible for torture.
“I want to reassert that my father’s execution sentence was a political decision; therefore, it’s null and void,’’ said Aziz’s son, Ziad, speaking from neighboring Jordan.
The Vatican expressed “great satisfaction’’ with Talabani’s comments, calling his position a step forward for human rights.
He's a fine one to talk.
See: Catholic War Crimes
Hakim al-Zamili, a recently elected member of Parliament from a bloc led by anti-American Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, questioned whether Aziz’s Christianity made him a more sympathetic figure in the West.
Zamili noted that the Vatican and Western leaders have lobbied to spare Aziz’s life, while other death sentences are being carried out with little fanfare....
All part of keeping that agenda-pushing wedge between Muslims and Christians -- and to whose benefit?
Aziz was the highest-ranking Christian in Hussein’s inner circle. He became internationally known as the dictator’s defender and a fierce American critic as foreign minister after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and later as a deputy prime minister who frequently traveled abroad on diplomatic missions.
When can we start executing some more recent war criminals like Bush, Bliar, and Israel's war-criminal cabinet?
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I'm sensing a theme, aren't you?
"Violence targets Christians in Iraq, prompting exodus; Since massacre in Baghdad church, homes bombed" by Leila Fadel and Ali al-Qeisy, Washington Post / November 21, 2010
BAGHDAD — Our Lady of Salvation Church, once a vibrant center of prayer in this predominantly Muslim city, is nearly empty now. Last month, in a more than four-hour siege, gunmen shot their way in and killed at least 58 people, sending a message that Christians, among many others, are not safe in Iraq.
What is odd is that the first reports were that they ran to the church to try and escape.
The names of the dead are pasted on the floor in the center of the church and surrounded by lighted candles. But the window glass is missing, destroyed by blasts and gunfire, and craters dot the ground — all reminders of the four suicide bombers who carried out the deadly attack along with other gunmen....
During one of a series of special Catholic Masses for the dead last week. Some that came to pray, sitting against walls gouged with bullet holes, were not Christians, but neighbors who came to pay their respects.
And the "sectarianism" sell just got a bit harder.
Just a few weeks ago, before the Oct. 31 massacre, more than 350 people regularly attended Sunday Masses here. But now, many from this ancient Syriac Catholic community have fled.
Some "liberation."
Others are too afraid to attend Mass in a place they think is being targeted by extremist groups and militias that have plagued the country during more than seven years of war....
Christians have not been the only victims of violence in the past month, but the attacks against them are disproportionate to the size of the vulnerable minority.
And so is the agenda-pushing paper's coverage!
The new wave of displacement could devastate an already dwindling Christian community. Some worry that if something doesn’t change, there will soon be no Christians left in Iraq.
Then this whole thing is a failure from top to bottom!
2,000 years of history flushed down the tubes!
Political and religious leaders from across ethnic and sectarian lines have called on Christians to stay. But many Christians said that after years of violence and devastation, they must go.
Even after the successful surge?
In all, 46 churches and monasteries have been bombed since the start of the Iraq war.
And not one before.
While many more mosques and Islamic shrines have been hit, Christian worshipers said last week that the Iraqi government has shown that it can’t keep them safe....
According to a 2010 report from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, “only half of the pre-2003 Iraqi Christian community is believed to remain in the country, with Christian leaders warning that this flight may mean ‘the end of Christianity in Iraq.’ ’’
George Bush, Anti-Christ!
“I am a stranger in my own land now,’’ said a Christian who did not want to share his name. “Why not be a stranger in a strange land now? I don’t recognize my country.’’
Don't I know that feeling.
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"Iraqi TV reporter killed in his home" by Associated Press / November 22, 2010
BAGHDAD — Gunmen stormed into an Iraqi TV reporter’s home in northern Iraq yesterday and shot him to death in front of his parents, police said.
Mazin Mardan, 18, was the third employee of the Al-Mousiliyah satellite channel in Mosul to be killed by insurgents.
According to Reporters Without Borders, at least 230 media workers have been killed in Iraq since 2003.
Also yesterday, the leader of Parliament told lawmakers that Iraq has run out of money to pay for widows’ benefits, crops, and other programs for the poor....
What, the banks steal all their money, too?
FLASHBACK:
"Iraqi lawmakers ordered to resume work" by Associated Press | October 25, 2010
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s highest court yesterday ordered Parliament back to work after a virtual seven-month recess, intensifying pressure to break the political stalemate that has held up formation of a new government....
The delay “violated the constitution,’’ the ruling said.
It's an AmeriKan-sponsored government!
Parliament’s absence has meant inaction on business-friendly reforms, such as streamlining bureaucracy and clarifying rules for foreign investment.
Oh, now we $ee why thi$ i$ a concern.
The absent parliamentarians are earning $22,500 a month in salary and housing allowance, far more than the average $800 monthly salary of an Iraqi professional.
Are you frikkin' kidding me? There is where all your aid money went, America.
And that doesn’t include a $90,000 stipend they were given after they were sworn in to cover expenses for the next four years....
Well, Iraq's government and constitution were an AmeriKan creation.
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But the government is broke when it comes to kids and war widows.
The cause of the shortfall was unclear, but officials have worried that the deadlock over forming a new government since March’s inconclusive election ultimately would lead to funding shortages.
Not to me, and it isn't that lame-ass excuse offered up by the government.
Also yesterday, a soldier was shot to death in northern Iraq, the US military said.
In a noncombat operation?
Further details were withheld, pending notification of the soldier’s relatives.
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Yeah, don't linger over the U.S. war dead.
"Tariq Aziz seeks pardon to halt execution" by Associated Press / November 23, 2010
BAGHDAD — Lawyers for Tariq Aziz, the longtime international face of Saddam Hussein’s regime, said yesterday they will seek a presidential pardon to spare him from execution....
It is a risky legal move. President Jalal Talabani has granted few, if any, pardons in his more than five-year tenure in Iraq and could be prevented from doing so in this case. It comes amid pleas from the Vatican and several anti-death penalty nations in Europe for amnesty for Aziz, the only Christian in Hussein’s inner circle.
“This could be the diplomatic solution people have been waiting for,’’ Attorney Giovanni Di Stefano said.
Aziz “does not want special treatment because he is a Christian,’’ said Di Stefano, who is based in Italy. “He seeks the pardon as a step toward reconciliation of Iraq. Enough people have been killed, enough people have been executed.’’
*************
Aziz served as foreign minister and deputy prime minister and was internationally known as the dictator’s defender. He also was a fierce critic of the United States after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, but met in January 1991 with James A. Baker, then US secretary of state, to try to prevent the Gulf War. He also met with the late Pope John Paul II at the Vatican just weeks before the March 2003 US-led invasion in a bid to stop it....
Iraq’s constitution says the president can grant pardons only “on the recommendation of the prime minister.’’ In this case, that would be Nouri al-Maliki, whose Shi’ite Dawa party was the main victim of the crimes Aziz was convicted of committing.
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"Iraq’s Aziz gets 10-year prison sentence" by Associated Press / November 30, 2010
BAGHDAD — An Iraqi court yesterday convicted Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein’s longtime foreign minister, of terrorizing Shi’ite Kurds during the Iran-Iraq war, sentencing him to 10 years in prison.
The jail term piles a new penalty on the 74-year-old Aziz....
Also yesterday, officials said four people were killed by a car bomb that exploded outside a restaurant in eastern Iraq. The 5 p.m. blast also wounded 29 in Baqubah, about 35 miles northeast of the capital, said Major Ghalib al-Karkhi, the police spokesman for Diyala province.
Oh, right, the WAR!
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And what's a war without lies?
"12 suspects arrested in church siege case
BAGHDAD -- Iraq has arrested at least 12 suspected Al Qaeda insurgents believed to be behind a deadly Baghdad church siege a month ago, the country's interior minister said yesterday (AP)."
"Iraqi official calls for death penalty for 39 terrorism suspects; Pretrial comments defy US efforts to secure fair trials" by Bushra Juhi and Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Associated Press / December 3, 2010
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s interior minister called for the death penalty yesterday for a group of 39 detained Al Qaeda-linked suspects, even before they have been put on trial for allegedly plotting to bomb targets in Baghdad.
Showing off the handcuffed suspects at a news conference, Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told reporters that he is confident the men will be found guilty, citing their alleged confessions, documents, and video found at their homes that he said showed their earlier attacks and plans to carry out new ones.
Was this before or after the torture?
He did not say when the men were arrested, but described them as operatives of the Islamic State of Iraq, an Al Qaeda wing, who were based in Iraq’s Sunni-dominated western Anbar province....
Bolani, a Shi’ite Muslim, told reporters swift execution, as many Iraqis demand for terrorists, would also serve as a deterrent to insurgents.
Hasn't worked yet.
US missile strikes haven't done a damn thing.
Bolani wore a black-and-white tribal headdress at the announcement — a nod to several Anbar sheiks who were in the audience.
His comments appear to fly in the face of the millions of dollars the United States has spent trying to implore the rule of law on Iraq, in part by making sure that detainees get a fair trial....
Of course, they wouldn't get one here -- but then again, those are our guys in Iraq!
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