Iraq War Latest

[Fintan]

Yeah, GaryGo - that's quite a catalog of bombings
this year for a so-called "situation is under control."

With financial and operational considerations on the US,
not least of which is the new push/focus on Afghan/Pakistan,
the rational move would be to keep paying the Sunni Awakening
forces so as to keep them on board.

How could the US/Saudis be so dumb as to cut their funding
and disenchant them at the very pivotal moment of US troop
withdrawal(redeployment lol) when they should instead be
more keen to keep them on board?!?

Unless of course the REAL objective is to ENSURE that Iraq
does NOT go down the path of rebuilding towards a fully
functional statehood.

Which suits the US/Saudis/Iranians just perfectly.

Yet another case of alleged "bungling"
producing a permanently failed State.

I've writen about this deliberate strategy before.

[bri]

Double car bomb strikes Baghdad
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8025298.stm

Two car bombs have exploded in the Shia district of Sadr City in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, killing at least 17 people, police say.

Dozens more people were wounded in the blasts, which occurred in busy markets in the impoverished area.

Suicide bombings last week, including one at a key Shia shrine, killed at least 150 people in just two days.

Correspondents say the violence has raised concerns that Iraq could slide back into sectarian conflict.

At least 45 people were wounded in the twin blasts, police and officials said.

A third bomb was being defused, police told Reuters news agency.

Iraq was wracked by sectarian conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslim groups in the wake of the US-led invasion in 2003.

The violence has been reduced in recent months.

But last week's attacks included a bombing which killed at least 60 people at Baghdad's main Shia shrine, sparking fears of Shia reprisals.

Sadr City has long been a stronghold of supporters of radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr.

[GaryGo]

Right to the very end in Iraq, our masters denied us the truth
Robert Fisk – The Independent May 2, 2009

'We acknowledge," the letter says, "that violence has claimed the lives of many thousands of Iraqi civilians over the last five years, either through terrorism or sectarian violence. Any loss of innocent lives is tragic and the Government is committed to ensuring that civilian casualties are avoided. Insurgents and terrorists are not, I regret to say, so scrupulous."

This quotation comes from the Ministry of Defence's "Iraq Operations Team, Directorate of Operations" and is signed by someone whose initials may be "SM" or "SW" or even "SWe". Unusually (but understandably), it does not carry a typed version of the author's name. Its obvious anonymity – given the fact that not a single reference is made to the civilians slaughtered by the Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Iraq – is no surprise. I, too, would not want to be personally associated with such Blair-like mendacity. What is astonishing, however, is that this outrageous letter should have been written this year.

I should say at once that I owe this revelatory text (actually dated 20 January) to a very un-anonymous Independent reader, Tom Geddes, who thought I would find its "economy with the truth" interesting. I certainly do. We are now, are we not, supposed to be in the age of Brown-like truth, as we finally haul down the flag in Basra, of near-certainty of an official inquiry into the whole Iraq catastrophe, a time of reckoning for the men who sent us off to war under false pretences. I suspect that this – like the Obama pretensions to change – is a falsehood. Well, we shall see.

Mr Geddes, I hasten to add, is a retired librarian who worked for 21 years at the British Library as head of Germanic collections and is also a translator of Swedish – it turns out that we share the same love of the Finnish-Swedish poet Edith Sodergrund's work – and he wrote to the Ministry of Defence at the age of 64 because, like me (aged 62), he was struck that John Hutton, the Secretary of State for Defence, described those who jeered at British troops returning home as "cretins".

"Such jeering is clearly not meant to denigrate individual bravery and sacrifice," Geddes wrote to Hutton on 28 October – readers will notice it took the Ministry of Defence's "SM" (or "SW" or "SWe") three months to reply – "(but) is a political comment on the general dubious legality and morality of recent military actions."

I'm not so sure the jeering was that innocent, but Geddes's concluding remark – that "unless you or the Government can explain and justify Britain's war activities, you cannot expect to have the country on your side" – is unimpeachable.

Not so "SM's" reply. Here is another quotation from his execrable letter. "It is important to remember that our decision to take action (sic) in Iraq was driven by Saddam Hussein's refusal to co-operate with the UN-sponsored weapons inspections... The former Prime Minister has expressed his regret for any information, given in good faith, concerning weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which has subsequently proven to be incorrect."

I am left breathless by this lie. Saddam Hussein did not "refuse to co-operate" with the UN weapons inspectors. The whole problem was that – to the horror of Blair and Bush – the ghastly Saddam did co-operate with them, and the UN weapons team under Hans Blix was about to prove that these "weapons of mass destruction" were non-existent; hence the Americans forced Blix and his men and women to leave Iraq so that they and Blair could stage their illegal invasion. I saw Blix's aircraft still on the ground at Baghdad airport just two days before the attack. Note, too, the weasel words. Blair did not give his information "in good faith", as SM claims. He knew – and the Ministry of Defence knew (and I suppose SM knew) – they were untrue. Or "incorrect" as "SM" coyly writes.

Then again: "We can assure you that the Government would not have engaged in military action if it were not satisfied that such a decision was justified and lawful. The former Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, confirmed on 17 March 2003 that authority to use force against Iraq existed from the combined effect of UN Security Council Resolutions 678, 687 and 1441."

But as an outraged Tom Geddes points out in his reply to this remark, "You must be aware that the decision to wage war on Iraq was neither justified nor lawful. The Attorney General's advice has been widely described as 'flawed'. Given that his previous advice was that an attack would be unlawful, we all know what 'flawed' means. I suspect the MoD (Ministry of Defence) also knows." So do I.

I'm also sure that this is a standard "reply sheet", sent out to all dissenting English people. The sentence "millions of Iraqis now live free of Saddam's oppression and have control of their own destiny" is pure public relations – not least because it fails to mention that up to a million Iraqis have not been able to control their own destiny since 2003 because they happen to be dead as a result of our invasion.

There's a lovely bit at the end of "SM'S" 's letter where he (or I suppose it could be a she) says that "our brave servicemen and women ... are ... preparing Basra airport for transfer to Iraqi control..." Well of course they are, because – since their own retreat from Basra city – Basra airport is the only square mile of Iraq in which the British are still in occupation.

The letter ends with "SM'S" 's surely sublime hope that this "letter goes some way to addressing your concerns" and I can only repeat Tom Geddes' reply: "I am grateful for the length of your response, but shocked by its contents." So am I. No doubt, when the Brown Government – or the Cameron government – holds its inquiry into this illegal war, "SM" will re-emerge as a witness or at least a spokesperson. By then, I suppose the "Iraqi Operations Team" will have been closed down – even, perhaps, by then transmogrified into the "Afghanistan Operations Team" with a parallel set of historical lies – but I trust there will be a retired librarian on hand to point this out.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/co ... 77680.html



Three US troops killed in Iraq

By Kim Gamel, Associated Press

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 77319.html

Last updated 02/05/2009

[Fintan]

U.S. Soldier Kills 4 Colleagues,
Himself at Baghdad Base

Monday, May 11, 2009

DEVELOPING: A U.S. soldier gunned down four of his fellow troops
and then killed himself at a stress clinic at the Camp Liberty military
base in Baghdad, FOX News confirmed.

The military said in a statement that the shooting occurred at about
2 p.m. Monday at the base, located near Baghdad International Airport.

No further details were released.

This is a developing story.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,519788,00.html

US troops 'killed by colleague'

A US soldier has shot dead five of his colleagues at a base
in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the Pentagon says.

An earlier military statement said the incident happened at Camp Liberty
near Baghdad's international airport at about 1400 (1100 GMT)...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle ... 044229.stm

Earlier this month, two US soldiers were killed by a man wearing an Iraqi
army uniform at an Iraqi military training centre in northern Iraq.

Violence has dropped sharply in Iraq, but insurgent attacks continue, and
a rash of big bombings has raised questions about security less than two
months before US forces are due to withdraw combat troops from urban
bases.

Thirteen US soldiers were killed in combat in April, including the five
who died in Mosul.

Separately, the military announced Monday that a U.S. soldier was
also killed a day earlier when a roadside bomb exploded near his
vehicle in Basra province of southern Baghdad.

Also Monday, a senior Iraqi traffic officer was assassinated Monday
morning on his way to work in Baghdad. It was the second attack on a
high-ranking traffic police officer in the capital in as many days.

A car cut off Brig. Gen. Abdul-Hussein al-Kadhoumi as he drove through a
central square in the capital and a second vehicle pulled up alongside and
riddled him with bullets, police said, citing witnesses. Al-Kadhoumi was
director of operations for the traffic authority.

The gunmen were armed with pistols equipped with silencers, the police
added on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
speak to the media.

Incidents involving gunmen armed with sophisticated weapons, including
silencers, have been on the rise since a string of high-profile robberies in
April.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... wD98438U80

[bri]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 6504.story
U.S. soldier charged with murder in shootings at Iraq base

Reporting from Baghdad -- The U.S. soldier who allegedly gunned down five fellow troops at a stress clinic in Baghdad had had his weapon taken away from him within the last week because of concerns about his behavior, a senior U.S. military official said today.

Maj. Gen. David Perkins identified the suspect as Sgt. John M. Russell with the Army's 54th Engineer Battalion based in Bamberg, Germany. Russell was completing at least his third deployment to Iraq since the war began in 2003, he said.

"The commander of the suspect had taken his weapon away. He had been referred to counseling a week beforehand," Perkins told journalists at a briefing at the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. "There was a concern that he should not have a weapon."

The military has filed five murder charges and one charge of aggravated assault against Russell, Perkins said.

Authorities said Russell had not used his own weapon in the shootings, which took place Monday at Camp Liberty near Baghdad International Airport. The military is still trying to determine how he managed to get his hands on a gun, Perkins said.

Details of the incident are still being investigated, Perkins said. He declined to confirm accounts circulating in Washington that the suspect had visited the clinic earlier in the day, had an altercation and left, then returned later and managed to wrestle a weapon from his escort before opening fire.

The five victims included two members of the clinic's medical staff and three enlisted soldiers. The military has not released their identities pending notification of their relatives.

The military has also opened an inquiry into the availability of health services and counseling to determine if steps could have been taken to prevent the killings.

That investigation will focus on questions such as: "Are we doing the right things to diagnose people? Are there things we can do in the future to prevent something like this?" Perkins said.

The shootings have sent shock waves through the military. They come at a time of rising concerns about the stresses borne by soldiers who have served repeated tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many soldiers are on their third or fourth tours in Iraq.

It was unclear what duties Russell had been performing in Iraq. But Maj. Gen. Dan Bolger, who commands U.S. forces in Baghdad, said an engineering battalion would typically be responsible for clearing routes of roadside bombs, repairing roads and building military facilities.

"If we've learned anything from this war . . . it is that not all injuries are physical," he said.

[Rumpl4skn]

In a related story - I'd meant to post this over a month ago, but kept forgetting:

I new friend of mine had a 25 year old tenant renting half her house from her. (Partly for the financial convenience and partly for the company.) This girl - let's call her Beth - was dating a US Army soldier - let's call him Steve. When I met Steve he had just finished his 2nd tour in Iraq (Mosul, I believe, but I'm not sure I recall correctly) and he seemed a bit introverted, but not particularly abnormal. My friend's odd experiences with him were confined to him simply not speaking on some occasions or not even looking up as he entered a room to see who was there.

Then Beth began to confide in my friend and tell her of incidents with Steve - one in particular, where they were shopping at a WalMart when Steve insisted they leave immediately, because as he said quite seriously, "One of the Iraqi's I killed is following me around the store." This was one of about a dozen incidents she detailed, all of which painted a rough psychological portrait of a very disturbed individual.

On top of this somewhat understandably weird, stress-born behavior, he and Beth would regularly argue because he had recently been offered a position as drill sergeant in the US, but was leaning towards taking a 3rd tour in Iraq, which confused and angered Beth, for obvious reasons. His explanation to her was that Iraq was "his calling", which she at times begrudgingly accepted. About a months ago, a visibly upset Beth told my friend that the previous night, she had found "lots of child porn" on Steve's laptop. When confronted with it, he passed it off alternately as "harmless fun" and "art."

Beth and Steve have since broken up, but she does still speak to him, and he is passionate as ever about returning to Iraq. And the thought occurs to me - is this an isolated case, or perhaps not? What are the chances that perhaps - in what is often described as a "wild west" atmosphere of this occupied nation - there are somewhat organized networks that cater to pedophiles and other sex offenders. Amongst other more exotic - and illegal - forms of adult entertainment.

That would serve two purposes: (a) it would give an incentive to some who would certainly otherwise want to get out asap, to return to the battle field in exchange for access to these forbidden fruits, and (b) it would also increase the percentage of mentally unstable sociopaths in the ranks - precisely what would be wanted if general societal instability is a short- or long-term goal. And this would not have to be a deliberate concoction of the military or it's support wings - it may just be a naturally seedy side effect of this kind of situation. But add in Edwin Crosby's Spin Code scenario, and it would seem likely the military pretty much knows who the disturbed soldiers are.

As I said, maybe this guy is the only one of his type in the military. But it seems odd to me that it would dump right on my radar if it were not more of a systemic problem in the ranks.

Just wanted to pass this anecdote along, disgusting as the scenario is that it implies.

[bri]

I have heard of or seen too many similar anecdotal references from these wars. Those that are still alive. Almost every town in my area how now been at least affected by a dead kid, if not a shell-shocked 10 or 20 from this war alone.

In my experience, the only people I've known who've wanted to go back are dead. Though I didn't know them on too deep of a level, it was apparent to me in chance meetings or anecdotes of friends of theirs, that they were called back on being a hero. These were seemingly innocent, good kids that suddenly found the ultimate purpose in life.
The people from the Military that I do associate with are quite cynical at this point, from the pencil pushers to the combat vets.
That's not to say psychopaths wouldn't join the military and get media attention by executing despicable acts.
More importantly: That's not to say a nice guy wouldn't join the military and very likely be driven to despicable acts after 3 tours.
To tell an acquaintance or let alone a friend that they may be involved in pointless measures is considered disrespectful. So strange.


This poem by Wilfred Owen is meant for all people of all wars future and past in my mind. This was a man who thrown by a mortar shell into the remains of a fellow soldier. He knew.

What passing bells for those who die as cattle?

Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Wilfred Owen died shortly before the end of WWI. Which since I've gathered from grade school was a rather pointless War, as if any aren't (---they told us some rich bastard was shot, no details except for Gavrilo's name to be tested on later perhaps---which battles, when, where---) and has lead to every war since then, whether you believe mainstream history entirely or not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq#World_War_I

World War Ir
Main articles: Mesopotamian campaign, Damascus Protocol, McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, and Sykes–Picot Agreement

During World War I the Ottomans were driven from much of the area by the United Kingdom during the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The British lost 92,000 soldiers in the Mesopotamian campaign. Ottoman losses are unknown but the British captured a total of 45,000 prisoners of war. By the end of 1918 the British had deployed 410,000 men in the area, though only 112,000 were combat troops.

During World War I the British and French divided Western Asia in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. The Treaty of Sèvres, which was ratified in the Treaty of Lausanne, led to the advent of modern Western Asia and Republic of Turkey. The League of Nations granted France mandates over Syria and Lebanon and granted the United Kingdom mandates over Iraq and Palestine (which then consisted of two autonomous regions: Palestine and Transjordan). Parts of the Ottoman Empire on the Arabian Peninsula became parts of what are today Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

[bri]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009- ... 368444.htm

Father: Army 'broke' soldier accused of killing 5

http://tinyurl.com/oz892j

SHERMAN, Texas – The father of a U.S. soldier accused of killing five fellow troops in Iraq said his son "forfeited his life" but the military bears some responsibility for the rampage.

Wilburn Russell said Tuesday that 44-year-old Army Sgt. John M. Russell wasn't typically a violent person, but counselors "broke" him before gunfire erupted in a military stress center Monday in Baghdad.

"John has forfeited his life. Apparently, he said (to his wife), 'My life is over. To hell with it. I'm going to get even with 'em,'" said the elder Russell, 73.

His father said the younger Russell, an electronics technician, was at the stress center to transfer out of active duty. He said his son was undergoing stressful mental tests that he didn't understand were merely tests, "so they broke him."

"I hate what that boy did," said the elder Russell, speaking in front of the two-story house his son was buying with his German wife in a new subdivision. "We're sorry for the families, too. It shouldn't have happened."

Excerpts of his military record, obtained by The Associated Press, show Sgt. Russell previously did two one-year tours of duty in Iraq, one starting in April 2003 and another in November 2005. The stress of repeat and extended tours is considered a main contributor to mental health problems among troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sgt. Russell, who is facing charges of murder and aggravated assault, was about six weeks from the end of his third tour of duty in Iraq, his father said. Wilburn Russell said his son e-mailed his wife in Germany early this month, telling her officers threatened him during what he called the two worst days of his life.

"His life was over as far as he was concerned," said the elder Russell, who didn't know whether his son was being disciplined or facing a discharge. "He loved the military."

The soldier's son, John M. Russell II, said he has communicated with his father by e-mail regularly. In the last message he received — April 25, the day after his 20th birthday — the younger Russell said his father sounded normal and planned to be back in Texas to visit in July.

"He's not a violent person," the son said. "He's just a loving, caring guy. He doesn't like to see anyone get hurt. For this to happen, it had to be something going on that the Army's not telling us about."

Sgt. Russell grew up in a rural, unincorporated area of Grayson County and graduated from Tom Bean High School in 1985. Records show he entered the Army National Guard in 1988 and served in the Guard until 1994, when he became an active duty soldier. His military record shows Russell served in Serbia through the last half of 1996 and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last half of 1998.

He lives with his wife in Germany, where he's been for most of the past 10 to 15 years, but comes home a couple times a year, his father said.

The elder Russell said his son went active-duty after working various maintenance jobs around Sherman, a town of about 35,000 located about 60 miles north of Dallas. He'd also had a divorce and a few minor criminal scrapes in his hometown before enlisting.

When Russell's ex-wife sued for divorce in 1991, she obtained a temporary restraining order against him and an order withholding earnings for child support.

In an affidavit attached to the divorce petition, Denise Russell said her husband had committed "acts of family violence" and should be barred from coming within 200 yards of her or their son, then 2 years old. The document specifically cited an incident in which John Russell allegedly took the child after a confrontation with Denise Russell's mother.

"During this time, respondent physically attacked my mother, age 58, hitting her on the shoulders and about the head," the affidavit stated.

A call and visit to Russell's ex-wife weren't answered Tuesday.

In 1993, a month after the divorce decree was issued, Russell was charged with misdemeanor assault by threats, Grayson County online records show. The matter was later dropped.

Jack McGowen, listed as Russell's attorney for the divorce as well as the threat case, said Tuesday he couldn't recall either matter.

[GaryGo]

Interesting post Rumple... Most of or certainly the Sunni dominated parts Iraq must be like hell on Earth in many respects - with normality gone the vacum war creates gives birth to all kinds of warped and strange behavour
The Deer Hunter was only a film but Saigon was a weird place during the conflict and if you had money Im sure you could get anything you wanted..
psychology and Mind Control are married to sexual repression and moral
degeneracy, - Whats the chances the Paedo soldier was groomed and inducted by a "Pimp" from the Tavistock Inst who spend Millions of taxpayer dollars to "depattern" children's minds with the mass media and that the soldier is now "part of an experiment

Then again if you are clinically insane then perhaps a place like Iraq which lacks the Societal banana skins of Gotham City can appear quite alluring in a Psycho-Paedo kind of way

[bri]

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-06-24-voa45.cfm

Blast in Iraqi Capital Kills 72
Iraqi police say 72 people have been killed in a bomb blast in Baghdad, less than a week before U.S. troops are to withdraw from Iraq's urban areas.

More than 160 people were injured in Wednesday's blast, which tore through a market in the mostly Shi'ite district of Sadr City. Officials say the attacker hid the bomb under a cart of vegetables loaded on a motorcycle.

In other violence, officials say one person was killed and at least 14 wounded in two other attacks in the Iraqi capital.

A U.S. Defense Department spokesman said Wednesday a rise in violence is expected as U.S. combat forces prepare to withdraw from Iraqi cities on June 30. But he noted the overall security climate is good.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has also warned that insurgents are likely to intensify their strikes.

Earlier this week, a series of attacks in Iraq left dozens dead, and a truck bombing last Saturday near Kirkuk killed almost 70 people.

[Fintan]

<iframe id="ytplayer" type="text/html" width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DCy3FlFnXA4" frameborder="0"></iframe>

U.S. officials say the attacks are likely the work of Sunni extremists who
want to undermine the Shiite-led government as U.S. troops draw down
and as Iraq's Jan. 16 national election looms.
Link

75 killed by Baghdad bombs in deadliest day for months

Ben Bailey - 19.08.09

At least 75 people were killed and more than 300 wounded in a series of explosions across central Baghdad today.

Truck bombers struck first near the finance ministry in northern Baghdad and then, minutes later, close to the foreign ministry which is next to the heavily-fortified Green Zone.

The deadliest blast was near the foreign ministry &#8212; it killed at least 48 and wounded more than 240. The death toll in both attacks was expected to rise as rescuers searched through rubble and debris.

The blasts followed a string of attacks in Iraq this month that have claimed hundreds of lives and raised concerns about the ability of Iraqi security forces to keep the lid on violence before the full American withdrawal.

In the deadliest day in the capital since US troops withdrew from urban centres in June, at least six bombs and mortar rounds struck near ministries and other sensitive targets in quick succession.

Some of the mortars exploded inside the Green Zone. One is thought to have landed near the UN compound and smashed windows in the Iraqi parliament building.

Concrete slabs were blown off the front of the 10-storey foreign ministry and crushed parked cars, dozens of which were set alight. The blast also damaged nearby buildings, and a large area outside the ministry was covered by debris and broken glass.

A weeping employee, who gave her name as Asia, said: &#8220;The windows of the foreign ministry shattered, slaughtering the people inside. I could see ministry workers, journalists and security guards among the dead.&#8221;

Another car bomb targeted a joint Iraqi police and army patrol just outside the finance ministry, killing one Iraqi soldier and two civilians, a police official said. Twenty-two people were wounded.

A blast in the commercial area of western Baghdad's Bayaii district killed six and wounded 21.

Three other blasts struck different parts of the capital, including one in a residential district in northern Baghdad where one person was killed and 18 injured.

The Baghdad government said this month that most of the city's blast walls would be removed within 40 days, a sign of confidence in its security forces ahead of national elections which are due in January.

But today's violence undermined confidence in the government's ability to ensure security, on which Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has staked his reputation.

Link

[Fintan]

"The neighboring and distant countries should immediately refrain,
forever, from harboring, financing and facilitating forces that openly
proclaim their hostility to the Iraqi state."
--Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in a statement.

I can't believe we are witnessing the same carnage
again which is detailed in the post above from August.

The U.S. is part of the Iraqi security apparatus. They
have the smarts to run proper security. So how come
key buildings are not protected by a security cordon??
That is basic security that all organized governments
can do --even those not under direct attack.

The previous attacks in August should have resulted
in the imposition of a security cordon. Period.

This stinks.

Update on the story below is that at least 132 are dead
and up to 600 injured! Both blasts were car bombs, neither
was a truck.

Two car bombs kill scores
in downtown Baghdad

Bombs explode in Iraqi capital during morning rush hour near
Ministry of Justice killing scores and injuring hundreds of people

Martin Chulov, Baghdad - guardian.co.uk, Sunday 25 October 2009 10.42 GMT

Two explosions ripped apart government buildings in Baghdad this morning for the second time in two months, killing at least 91, wounding hundreds more and demonstrating once again that insurgents maintain the capacity to mount-large scale attacks in the heart of the capital.

The blasts, one from a car bomb and the other possibly a truck bomb, targeted the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad Governorate in central Baghdad. Both buildings are close to the Foreign Ministry and Finance Ministry, which were blown up in August, killing 132 people and wounding up to 600. Security had been tightened sharply across Baghdad in the wake of the earlier blasts, which eroded confidence in the Iraqi government's security gains ahead of national elections in January. The explosion at the Governorate was about 500 metres from the site of the Foreign Ministry blast.

Dozens of people remained trapped in the wreckage of the two buildings, with emergency crews unable to reach them through tonnes of destroyed masonry and shattered glass.

The bombs detonated within seconds of each other shortly after 10.30am. Displaced families queueing for compensation in the wake of the sectarian war were among the victims of the Governorate attack.

Justice Ministry employees, including a large number of judges and lawyers appeared to make up the bulk of the victims at the second site.

Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki had been campaigning heavily on the gains of Iraq's police and military, especially since the withdrawal of American troops from city streets on 30 June. He blamed Syrian government figures for harbouring former leaders of Iraq's ousted Ba'ath party after the August attacks, but has not publicly revealed evidence linking the Ba'athists to the blasts.

American and British officials said at the time that the attacks bore many hallmarks of an al-Qaida in Iraq strike. The Sunni insurgent network that aligns with the world view of Osama bin Laden has been trying various means to undermine the legitimacy of the Iraqi regime and was widely expected to ramp up violence ahead of the national poll.

Cars lay blackened along streets outside both ministries. After the August blasts, trucks carrying loads larger than one tonne were banned from city streets before 4pm.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oc ... bs-baghdad