Officials vow to push for order; al-Sadr calls for anti-U.S. protest
10:18 PM CDT on Friday, March 30, 2007
Associated Press
BAGHDAD – Suicide bombers and militiamen fought back ferociously in the seventh week of the Baghdad security crackdown, killing at least 508 people in six days.
As the deadly week drew to an end Friday, the Muslim day of rest and prayer, radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr blamed the U.S. for the violence and called for a huge anti-American demonstration April 9, the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.
Marketplaces in Baghdad, Tal Afar and Khalis stood in ruins. Cleanup crews shoveled broken glass and debris into wheelbarrows in bloodstained streets. Bomb victims in wooden coffins were hoisted atop cars and vans for the trip south for burial in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.
In a sign of how deeply officials were shaken by the carnage, a top aide to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Sami al-Askari, pledged that the government would not relent in efforts to curb violence.
"There is a race between the government and the terrorists who are trying to make people reach the level of despair," Mr. al-Askari said. "But the government is doing its best to defeat terrorists, and it definitely will not be affected by these bombings."
The new U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, issued a statement blaming al-Qaeda in Iraq for the week's first major suicide attack, a twin truck bombing that killed 80 people and wounded 185 at markets in Tal Afar in the far northwest part of the country.
He said al-Qaeda's leaders "once again displayed their total disregard for human life, carrying out barbaric actions against innocent Iraqi citizens in an effort to re-ignite sectarian violence and to undermine recent Iraqi and coalition successes in improving security in Baghdad."
Mr. al-Sadr's statement was his first since March 16, when he urged supporters to resist U.S. forces through peaceful means. U.S. and Iraqi officials say he is in Iran, sitting out the current U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown, but aides say he has returned to Najaf.
His latest declaration was read to worshippers during Friday prayers at a mosque in Kufa, a twin-city to Najaf where Mr. al-Sadr frequently led the ritual, and in Baghdad's Sadr City Shiite enclave.
"I renew my call for the occupier to leave our land," he said. "The departure of the occupier will mean stability for Iraq, victory for Islam and peace and defeat for terrorism and infidels."
Mr. al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militiamen have generally cooperated with the crackdown, blamed the presence of U.S. forces for the rising violence, lack of services and sectarian bloodshed.
"You, oppressed people of Iraq, let the entire world hear your voice that you reject occupation, destruction and terrorism," he said in calling for the April 9 demonstration.
When the US leaves, the reason for bombers killing women and children in the market goes too.
Everyone knows that.
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It is funny though that the US is proclaimed to be the ones who the violence is directed at, yet it never really seems to take a toll on the US. But no no no, this is nonsense, of course when the US leaves all these displaced people because of these attacks will harbor no ill will towards their Sunni or Shia neighbor, after all it was all in the name of Islam right?
"War does not determine who is right - only who is left."
- Bertrand Russell
"He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the
enemy." - George Washington
It's all about grabbing power in the "new" Iraq. Of course al-Sadr wants the Americans to go; he will then find it much easier to grab power by violence himself, just as he and the Mahdi Army tried to do in 2004.
The widely claimed figure of 600,000 killed in the war in Iraq (from the Lancet study)amounts to about 500 killed per day.
Now...here is a story about a particularly brutal week with 508 claimed killed. Does anyone see a discrepancy?
Shia and Sunni boys gunned down together while playing soccer....Women blown up trying to buy vegetables...policemen blown up manning check points...Shia pilgrims blown up. Why, its obvious to me everything will be fine if the US Army and Marines leave. Dang! Why didn't we think of that before?
well the problem in my opinion is that that country came under invasion and then it became the duty of every citizen to repel the invaders.
Majority want to fight back and get them out of their country, but then they came up with a strategy to label all those types as "insurgents and terrorists" and start arresting them.
And as for those who sided with the invaders are now seen as traitors to their nation (not to saddam but to Iraq) because they are supporting the systems being implemented by the invaders in order to occupy iraq.
And this poses a big problem because the US govt in its arrogance fails to see that Iraq is a country and culture much older than them and has many times before faced certain doom at the hand of invaders and when finally left alone have eventually bounced back into stablilty eventually.
So as long as the invaders stay there there will continue this instability because there will always be people who rightfully oppose occupation.
well the problem in my opinion is that that country came under invasion and then it became the duty of every citizen to repel the invaders.
Majority want to fight back and get them out of their country, but then they came up with a strategy to label all those types as "insurgents and terrorists" and start arresting them.
And as for those who sided with the invaders are now seen as traitors to their nation (not to saddam but to Iraq) because they are supporting the systems being implemented by the invaders in order to occupy iraq.
And this poses a big problem because the US govt in its arrogance fails to see that Iraq is a country and culture much older than them and has many times before faced certain doom at the hand of invaders and when finally left alone have eventually bounced back into stablilty eventually.
So as long as the invaders stay there there will continue this instability because there will always be people who rightfully oppose occupation.
1) Iraq was not a country "long before the US". There has been a civilization (or more properly, a series of civilizations) in the area comprised by Iraq for thousands of years, but let's not pretend there is a 1000 yr history of statehood. Can you even name what language was spoken in "Iraq" 1000 years ago? I bet you can't without looking it up.
2) On this "repelling the invader" idea...I understand the concept of nationalism, but please explain to me how shooting children playing soccer or murdering Shia pilgrims by offering them a ride in a suicide bomb-rigged bus is going to further that aim. The turmoil in Iraq has exposed a huge Shia/Sunni rift that was not invented by George Bush.
3) Iraq may "settle down", as you say, when the US leaves, but not until there is a bloodbath of revenge killing, sectarian cleansing and bald power-grabbing. If that is what you want, fine. Just don't come whining when it happens. What you seem to be saying is that majority of Iraqis lack the sophistication and foresight to live in a pluralistic society under the rule of law instead of the muzzle of a gun. Sadly, it appears you are right.
well the problem in my opinion is that that country came under invasion and then it became the duty of every citizen to repel the invaders.
For what reason? America isn't there to control the country or stay there permanently. As soon as a workable government is established, they will leave.
Majority want to fight back and get them out of their country, but then they came up with a strategy to label all those types as "insurgents and terrorists" and start arresting them.
Well they are terrorist. A Terrorist is anyone that uses terror to acheive an adjective. Saddam was a terrorist and still was until he was removed from power and executed. Hiter was a terrorist.
The term terrorist shouldn't just imply those that acting against a state. It should imply anyone that is using terror at all. And Bush therefore can be called a Terrorist.
And as for those who sided with the invaders are now seen as traitors to their nation (not to saddam but to Iraq) because they are supporting the systems being implemented by the invaders in order to occupy iraq.
America doesn't want to occupy Iraq. Senators in the American Government (big time legislators) are pressuring the President to leave Iraq, because they don't want our troops in there forever. Bush does, but Bush isn't the only persont that lives in America.
And this poses a big problem because the US govt in its arrogance fails to see that Iraq is a country and culture much older than them and has many times before faced certain doom at the hand of invaders and when finally left alone have eventually bounced back into stablilty eventually.
WRONG! There are Senators in the American Government that perfectly understand that. Me and my extended family of around two hundred want the United States out of Iraq. We are Americans and we want to not occupy Iraq. What does that say to you? STOP ATTACKING AMERICA! Attack Bush for crying out loud.
Or wait. The reason why they want to occupy Iraq is for two specific reasons.
1) To get the oil. Burn the oil and that reason is gone. So burn your oil, people!
2) To have conflict in order to boast business in the military production. There are people that work for those military production companies and without a war, they can't very well get paid. So if there is no reason for them to make those military good, then they will see no profit in having American Troops in Iraq.
So the only real enemy to the Iraqi people are the oil fields and their own aggressive nature. Become true muslims, which is to be truly pacifistic like a Buddhist Monk, and burn your oil fields.
Then just hold out for a month. Without any killings taking place, America will have to leave or Bush will be impeached and removed from office, there could possibly even be a Civil War in the United States upon Bush not being impeached and removed from office. So that's the bright side to look forward to while following my prophetic words.
So as long as the invaders stay there there will continue this instability because there will always be people who rightfully oppose occupation.
You need to follow what I say.
Burn the oil and stop the fighting for a month. Look foward to Bush being thrown out of office or a second American Civil War. Either way, the Iraqis win.
Of course when and if the U.S. pulls out of Iraq and the bloodshed increases, the same people calling for a U.S. pullout will still blame the U.S. for the violence.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is."
well thats a big assumption to make that bloodshed will increase.
The thing is bloodshed is now unavoidable under all circumstances, because quite frankly the country has been bombed to a rubble literally.
So now obviously every faction will rise to take a hole of some power somewhere. Same as the USA shooting every tom dick and harry in Iraq to maintain power in their hands.
Well they are terrorist. A Terrorist is anyone that uses terror to acheive an adjective. Saddam was a terrorist and still was until he was removed from power and executed. Hiter was a terrorist.
The term terrorist shouldn't just imply those that acting against a state. It should imply anyone that is using terror at all. And Bush therefore can be called a Terrorist.
Well you seem to have missed all the human rights violations in Iraq by the USA against civilians
In case you didnt watch this video of troops shooting civilians as a 'game' and for 'fun' you really should and dont think of it as an isolated incident, I am sure it happens all over the place really...so who is the real terrorist..not to mention the US waged an illegal war against UN resolution and majority world opinion. bombing and destroying every thing. The country is literally in ruins, its no light matter at all! these people have had their families and homes destroyed and burned to a char. I am only a human and I can tell u if someone killed my family tomorrow and I didnt have a home, I would probably go mad with rage and turn into some sort of rage drive vengance machine. I cant say for sure, but seriously there are some things a person dosent even want to imagine in their head happening to themselves because they are so horrible!
The video doesn't load, but if it is the video I think it is it doesn't appear to be U.S. soldiers at all. Mainly because of the vehicle they are riding in and the firearms they are using. My bet would be private security contractors.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is."
try following the source page link
there is no vehicle being used in the video by the troops, they appear to be firing on a corner news stand from the roof and then some civilian cars appear and get fired on it. Where the civilians come out of the cars trying to run away and are shot and killed. And in the background you can hear he troops boasting about how they shot the guy in the head and 'f***ed him up' and also the weapons showed (esp the rocket launcher) appears to be the ones used by american troops shows on tv nearly all the time
try following the source page link
there is no vehicle being used in the video by the troops, they appear to be firing on a corner news stand from the roof and then some civilian cars appear and get fired on it. Where the civilians come out of the cars trying to run away and are shot and killed. And in the background you can hear he troops boasting about how they shot the guy in the head and 'f***ed him up' and also the weapons showed (esp the rocket launcher) appears to be the ones used by american troops shows on tv nearly all the time
Okay, different video than the one I was referring to.
I watched the whole video and I'm not clear what exactly is going on. I know the soldiers are taking fire from somewhere in the general vicinity. I don't know who the individuals in the car were, and neither does "informationclearinghouse". They do appear to be unarmed though. I'm not going to second guess the decisions made here however. I have no idea, and neither do you, what the circumstances of this event are. If those people were simply civilians then the incident should be investigated, if it hasn't been already.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is."
Well either ways the atrocities are from both ends and effecting the Iraqi people in general.
The reason I choose to blame the US admin for this whole mess is because like I said before, today I am a peaceful man, but I truly cannot say that tomorrow (God Forbid) after a bomb falls on my house and I come back to find the charred remains of my baby, wife, mom and dad's skeletons lying in the rubble of my destroyed house, that I wont go mad with rage and totally become the opposite of who I am.
So even though the blame does lie on the actions of those people who may do bombings and abductions, but at the same time every action has a reason behind it. And I see it as a direct reaction to the destruction of countless peoples families, homes, lives, jobs etc. It is easy for all of us here to type but its something to think about deep.
Saddam could have been removed in many other ways, but war was the worst, not for him, but for the Iraqi people really.
I will agree that each and every war Death is a casualty. Perhaps I am getting bit too old but as a 4 year old child I can still remember June 6, 1944. And we did not have TV then. But this made a huge impact. The newspapers wer putting out new editions almost every hour to keep up with what was happening. For my Family it was a personal impact, my Father and 2 uncles were there. they survived but badly wounded.
Over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy. This figure includes over 209,000 Allied casualties, with nearly 37,000 dead amongst the ground forces and a further 16,714 deaths amongst the Allied air forces. SOURCE: http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/faq.htm
That was in a matter of a few hours in one day.
I will agree that 508 killed in one week is horrible. But that is not all out war.
Well either ways the atrocities are from both ends and effecting the Iraqi people in general.
The reason I choose to blame the US admin for this whole mess is because like I said before, today I am a peaceful man, but I truly cannot say that tomorrow (God Forbid) after a bomb falls on my house and I come back to find the charred remains of my baby, wife, mom and dad's skeletons lying in the rubble of my destroyed house, that I wont go mad with rage and totally become the opposite of who I am.
So even though the blame does lie on the actions of those people who may do bombings and abductions, but at the same time every action has a reason behind it. And I see it as a direct reaction to the destruction of countless peoples families, homes, lives, jobs etc. It is easy for all of us here to type but its something to think about deep.
Saddam could have been removed in many other ways, but war was the worst, not for him, but for the Iraqi people really.
I agree with you for the most part. However, I don't think one can generalize and suggest all the violence going on in Iraq is because each individual involved saw his family die. Much of this is political and religious in nature. Of course the damage to the infrastructure and status quo of Iraq was a major disruption, and people are doing what they deem necessary to insure their own survival, at least from their point of view. I'm just not so cynical that I believe the U.S. should just back out and watch Iraqis tear each other apart. Maybe that is the solution, I don know, but I hope for a more constructive solution.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is."
I agree with you for the most part. However, I don't think one can generalize and suggest all the violence going on in Iraq is because each individual involved saw his family die. Much of this is political and religious in nature. Of course the damage to the infrastructure and status quo of Iraq was a major disruption, and people are doing what they deem necessary to insure their own survival, at least from their point of view. I'm just not so cynical that I believe the U.S. should just back out and watch Iraqis tear each other apart. Maybe that is the solution, I don know, but I hope for a more constructive solution.
I agree with you. But, I have no solution. One part of me says we need to get out of Iraq Yesterday if not sooner. Then I say do we have the right to pull out if we think it will result in the lose of more lives? I don't know. It would be an easy choice if we had an identifiable enemy that did pose a danger to us. But, what we see are people trying to survive and only trying to fight at what they see is hurting them.
And it is really irritating that Muslims killing each other with car bombs is compared to a battle in WW2! People here do it all the time!
Isnt it funny the lengths people will go to justify something? "Well half a million people died in a fight in WWII so it is ok for 500 to die in a week in Iraq"
It does sound rather stupid doesnt it?
"War does not determine who is right - only who is left."
- Bertrand Russell
"He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the
enemy." - George Washington
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