Suicide bomber kills 21 at Iraq banquet
BAGHDAD —
A suicide bomber killed at least 21 people and wounded 32 when he attacked a dinner banquet attended by police and members of an anti-Qaida Awakening group near Baghdad Sunday, a security official said.
The bomber blew up his explosives-laden vest as police and members of the Sunni Awakening group sat down to dinner in the Abu Ghraib district, about 30 kilometers west of Baghdad, the interior ministry official said.
Aziz Moklif Ghatha al-Zubai, one of the local chiefs of Awakening group who organised the dinner in the district’s Al-Zaidan village, was killed in the attack that took place at around 8:30 p.m.
Witnesses said that police had cordoned off the area as victims were taken to a hospital in Fallujah, 20 kilometers west of the city.
They said the village of Al-Zaidan was a former al-Qaida stronghold.
Awakening groups began in the western province of Anbar when Sunni tribal leaders turned on their former al-Qaida allies in 2006.
Since then hundreds of such groups have sprung up across Iraq, supported and paid for by the U.S. military.
Al-Qaida has frequently warned that members of Awakening groups will be specially targeted because of their cooperation with the US military in fighting the jihadists.
In other violence in Iraq on Sunday, three bomb attacks and a shootout claimed the lives of nine people and wounded more than two dozen, security officials said.
The bloodletting comes about a week before the start of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, when violence tends to spike in Iraq.
Four Iraqi soldiers were killed and eight others were wounded when a roadside bomb blasted their patrol in the town of Bala Druz, near the restive city of Baquba which has long struggled against al-Qaida.
In Baquba itself, two policemen were killed and six others including a woman were wounded in a shootout when insurgents fired at a police patrol, a defense ministry official said.
Earlier this month Iraqi forces backed by U.S. troops launched a massive assault against insurgents and jihadists in Diyala, the province surrounding Baquba and one of Iraq’s most dangerous areas where al-Qaida fighters regularly launch attacks.
Up to three people were killed and eight wounded, including five policemen, when a bomb targeting a patrol exploded on a through-road leading to Iraq’s interior ministry in Baghdad, security officials said.
As police ran to the scene to help, a second bomb went off, wounding another five officers, they said.
Wire reports
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adaydream
Iraq is going to have to get their own intellegence networks flourshing. When US forces can't stop these bombing events, the Iraqis are going to have to figure out what undercover is and do their own crime prevention.
Soon the United States will be out. < :-)
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StealthBomber
adaydream- The war against the evil ones is being won.If we cut and run in Hussein Obama style , the country will be a bloodbath. Maybe another dictator will return and threaten our security again.
Only US forces can stop these terrorists from destroying Iraq. We are saving them and frebuilding their country, whatever the financial cost, we will continue.
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adaydream
You believe what you want to StealthBomber. I think I'll trust my own feelings on this. Have a good evening. < :-)
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SezWho2
StealthBomber,
The evil ones are everywhere, even within the current government of the United States. If we would battle evil, we should fight closer to home.
Countries do not become bloodbaths. They emerge, they enlarge, they fragment and they disappear, but they do not become bloodbaths--hell-holes, rose gardens or quagmires, maybe, but not blood baths. I don't know how many bathtubsfull of blood have been drawn before, but the whole question is how many more need to be drawn and who is going to draw them.
The last dictator did not threaten our security and if a new dictator emerges and threatens us he will be doing so for the first time, not again. It is not clear that US forces can stop the terrorists in Iraq. It is far from clear that only US forces can do so. It's time to get over the idea of US exceptionalism. If the Olympics showed us anything, it surely showed us that.
We have intended to save them even though we are not quite sure what from and, godlike, we have intended to rebuild their country in our own image. If we continue to do this whatever the financial cost we shall be even greater fools.
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StealthBomber
SezWho2- Saving a country from a tyrant, who killed without mercy, who wanted to destroy Israel and America, was not worthy. You have to be kidding buddy.
Iraqi`s have tasted democracy and freedom, and want the US to rid them of the terrorist threat. If it takes 10 years, so what. Our aim was to liberate them and pacify the nation. We should stay until our objectives have been achieved.
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SezWho2
StealthBomber,
I think it's pretty clear that you're the one who's kidding. No one said that saving a country from a tyrant was not worthy. What people have said was that said tyrant did not threaten America and that there were better ways to save the people rather than killing 100s of thousands of them.
Iraqis have voted. They voted under Saddam, too. They are tasting a different version of democracy and they aren't quite satisfied with it. Our focus on keeping ourselves free from terrorism has given terrorists relative freedom of operation in Iraq and there are now 4,000,000 refugees--very few of whom are invited to the USA. Iraqis want Americans to leave as soon as possible and they may be better off without us. Americans want Americans to leave, too.
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StealthBomber
SezWho2- The facts don
t bear out your figures. According to my sources, less than 10,000 Iraqis have died from allied attacks. The rest have died from terrorist attacks. There are an estimated 1.5 million refugees, driven out by the terrorists not the US.We are welcome in Iraq, byb the locals, and our considerable investment has built a strong infrastructure. Less homicide bombings are occuring, the surge is a great success.
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Madverts
"The rest have died from terrorist attacks"
All of which happened because of the invasion.
Next....
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StealthBomber
Madverts- More innocents would have died had Hussein stayed in power. He and his cronies were slaughtering their own people by the tens of thousand every year.
The invasion has caused less deaths in Iraq, and gdp has grown every year since the invasion, nobody starves anymore.
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Madverts
"The invasion has caused less deaths in Iraq"
Jesus, you people just get funnier.
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StealthBomber
Madverts- I do not find the facts of deaths as funny. Maybe REpublicans have a different set of morals.
There are less deaths now, than Saddam was causing by bkilling his own people. The US will stop these attacks, the amount has decreased lately and will decrease more.
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Confederate2008
StealthBomber; Good points. How liberals can mock the dead is beyond me.I believe in respect for evryone regardless of race. The US surge has almost wiped out the terrorists. peace is within reach, well done our troops.
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SezWho2
StealthBomber,
This is not about the surge. If you want to call the surge "a great success" fine, but not even Petraeus does that. As we correspond, the Shiites are purging Sunnis who cooperated with the US against al-Qaida. The situation is far too confused to call the surge a great success.
What we now know about Iraq is that, in the three years before we invaded, Iraq was relatively stable and there was little or no mass murder taking place. All the deaths that have occurred since are as a result of the invasion. It doesn't matter whether or not they were caused by "terrorists" or not. (By the way, they certainly weren't all caused by terrorists. Death squads are a little different. Sure, death squads create terror. So do tanks.) The US may not have pulled the trigger, pushed the button or buried the pressure plate but our ideological goals triggered a conflict which drew the opposition to us and put the civilians in harm's way. We cannot lightly escape that responsibility.
You don't mention your sources. The WHO and the Iraqi government estimated about 150,000 total deaths as the beginning of this year. Ascribing 140,000 of these to "terrorists" (which we would have to do if your numbers are correct) seems a little high.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20080109/iraqi-death-toll/
The John's Hopkins study in late 2005 put the count at about 500,000 more than that. We do not tabulate the number of civilians we have killed as far as I know so I would be interested in where you get your statistics.
As far as the refugees are concerned, it is not correct to say that the refugees were driven out by terrorists. They were forced to leave because of loss of homes and the dangers of centuries-old score settling. According to Refugees International, almost 5 million Iraqis are refugees, 2 million living in neighboring countries and 2.8 million displaced within Iraq. The "vast majority" of these (and I imagine almost all of those displaced within Iraq) since 2003.
http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/9679
The UNHCR shows similar numbers for foreign refugees but smaller numbers for internal refugees, although that last number is bears a caveat that suggestst incompletion.
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Madverts
What I find funniest is those that compare their bodycount to that of a brutal meglomaniac in attempts to look better......heh, and fail.
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StealthBomber
SezWho2- And why is there this turmoil in Iraq? The Iranians anstheir poodles the Syrians are sending in weapons and mercanaries to destabalise Iraq, and try to make a fundamentalist state. The deaths cannot be blamed on the US. WE went to liberate them from Saddam, and make democracy. We did that, but neighbouring countries want that to be destroyed.
They should realise it can`t go on, Uncle Sam is getting angry, maybe they will be next on the list to be liberated, i hope so!
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StealthBomber
Madverts- Come on buddy. The deaths are caused by the Iranian and Syrian thugs, we both know that. The US is not killing folks, we are trying to bring peace to the country. I believe that soon, homicide bombings will be finished in Iraq.
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undecidedbout08
Do Mikey Moore and his fans on the Left still call these suicide bombers 'freedom fighters'?
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Madverts
Mikey Moore seems to have about as much support these days as you neocons....
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undecidedbout08
What's a neo-con?
You lot use it but can't define it...
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Sarge
Some people, like me, criticize the wackos who plan and carry out these suicide attacks, and others, like Madverts, criticize those trying to stop them.
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Sarge
theneworder - "Neo-cons" support those trying to stop the wackos from kiling innocents, dontcha see?
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Madverts
"I don`t see what neo-cons have to do with terrorists killing innocents in Iraq."
Well then you don't know much about the invasion of Iraq which made it possible for terrorists to be killing innocents.
Perhaps you could use wiki to see who the architects of the disaster wee...
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Madverts
Were, not "wee"
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Sarge
"Neo-conservatism is a term almost exclusively used by the enemies of America's liberation of Iraq."
That's Madverts, all right.
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Madverts
paqui, how many times have you asked me to define "neocon" now?
Heh, nearly as many times as you've been "banned" from JT I'd wager...
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AllAmericanHero
neworder and Sarge; good posts. liberating acountry has its setbacks, like this homicide bombing. We will stay the course until the job is done and Iraq is safe, whatever the sacrifice, whatever the liberals say.
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Madverts
Sure sarge - it's happening in plenty of other countries living right now under vile dictators. Y'know, the one's that don't sit on huge proven stuff under the ground that won't be getting Operation Enduring Suicide Bombers anytime soon...
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Madverts
"We will stay the course until the job is done and Iraq is safe, whatever the sacrifice, whatever the liberals say"
Well, in light of the regions' history, I hope for your sake that China has more money to lend you. Heh, how I love to hear the gung-ho regurgitating McCain's 100 year commitment, despite the hated Reality that you're actually supporting bin-Laden's ideology of bankrupting America...
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AllAmericanHero
Madverts; why do guys like you want us to lose? We will saty the course. Maniacs will pop up and kill innocents, but these attacks will diminish in time, as the surge continues.
Things are looking bright for Iraq, wish the liberals had the guts to admit it.
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Madverts
"Madverts; why do guys like you want us to lose?"
What a stupid statement. Fom the beginning I have denounced the invasion and occupation for the excersise in futility that it is.
Things are not "looking bright". Things are simply not quite as bloody as they were - we're on a thread reporting on the deaths of 25 plus a load of injured - people specifcally targetted becuase they are seen to be dealing with the occipiers.
Whoever is pulling of the attacks retains the ability to do so. And they will continue to do so, probably for the next hundred years.
Heh, I'd hate to see what you guys call a failure.
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AllAmericanHero
Madverts; The attacks are evry rare now.
We don`t deal in failures, we stay until the job is done. Iraq will be the greatest country in the Mid East , by the time we leave.
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undecidedbout08
Failure? How about you lot, in Basra, and the deal you cut with Al Sadr.
Shameful.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article4461023.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1
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Madverts
Other than the hated fact that the locals actually like old Mookie, you have to give credit to the Brits for knowing when to cut and run like the Brits did in Basra.
The phrase "get out whilst you can" springs to mind.
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AllAmericanHero
Madverts- the comparisons are relevent. All countries were liberated by us, and rebuilt by us. Iraq and Afghanistan will be the only successfull democratic nations in their regions. It will be due to our sacrifces, and will be worth it in the long run.
The banquet suicide attack, will be a distant memory, and irrelevent sooner than many think.
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theneworder666
Madverts, Taka; Birds of a feather stick together. Tee Hee!
These attacks are so rare it shows the end in near for the terrorists.
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theneworder666
I agree with AllAmericanHero; Course it takes longer in Afghanistan and Iraq, they have neighbors hostile to the US, and flooding them with weapons and nut jobs.
Even so, they are being routed. Suicide bombings will end soon, mark my word.
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Taka313
Madverts, Happy to give you the chuckle.
Taka
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AllAmericanHero
Madverts; great liberal propaganda. I just hope you seriously don
t believe all this nonsense you post, otherwise it would be very scary.The enemy is on the run, with less places to hide. total victory and safety for Iraqis is close.0
undecidedbout08
Madverts - there must be some mistake. Your site lists a* maximum* of 94 000 killed these five years in the Sunni - Shia war. That is way, way less than the figguh (figure) given by that shrieking twink from the Lancet [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwLp5P_i53c] whose 600 000 dead by Nov of 04 you usually cite.
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Madverts
Nah, uhm, heh, undecider - iraqbodycount themselves say countless cadavers slip through their net.
Suffice to say that your bodycount**isù in the hundreds of thousands.....
.....and counting.
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Madverts
"killed these five years in the Sunni - Shia war"
And please don't forget that's a war you supported starting.
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Sarge
"Things are not looking bright ( in Iraq )"
Things are looking a lot brighter now than they were when good ol' Saddam was running the country into the ground from his many luxurious palaces - and his train! Don't forget the luxury train that ran from Baghdad to Basra that he rode like once!
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SezWho2
StealthBomber,
Before we liberate Iran and Syria, I hope we liberate the White House.
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Sarge
"I hope we liberate the White House"
We did that in 2001. Tee hee!
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Madverts
Nah, that's when it was seized.
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Madverts
sarge,
The latest;
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/08/25/iraq.teen.ap/index.html
"Iraqi police publicly questioned a teenage girl after she was allegedly caught wearing an explosives belt, parading her in front of reporters and pressing her to confess she was planning a suicide bombing."
And so it continues.
What were you sayng about Saddam running the place into the ground earlier on?
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Sarge
Madverts - "Iraqi police publicly questioned a teenage girl after she was allegedly caught wearing an explosives belt, parading her in front of reporters and pressing her to confess she was planning a suicide bombing"
Madverts, nice catch on the beleaguered Iraqi police. Any criticism of the wackos who planned and carried out this suicide attack?
"What were you saying about Saddam running the place into the ground earlier on?"
Oh, you still don't believe that? Oh, well, all I can tell you is, look it up!
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BoldWarVeteren
Sarge, great post, telling the liberals the truth is a concise manner.
The people who want to destroy our great job, by killing innocents indiscriminantly will lose, sooner rather than later. Total peace is almost within reach in Iraq.
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SezWho2
Sarge,
About the White House liberation, I'm sure McCain will be the first to call that into question by telling you that Gore won more popular votes than "the people's choice for president".
But the real issue is whither after Iraq. I have no doubt that there are many who think that an attack on Iran and Syria would be a good idea. But these countries are no more in need of liberation than is Rhode Island.
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Madverts
sarge,
The insurgents are simply changing tactics due to the surge. Sure it's good the Iraqi police caught this one, but the numbers of female suicide bombers is up, up by a huge amount from last year, with females who have lost a son or a brother to the rampant violence created by the invasion easy to coerce into doing this kind of mission.
If Saddam an the place into the ground, the invasion has only further created misery.
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