Bombers kill over 130, wounding over two Hundred
US Embassy Orders Personal Armor in Green Zone
Oh, yeah. Those rightwing Iraqi bloggers that Bush depends on for his news about the country have sure imposed security on Iraq by their sunny faces.
Reuters reports on the horrific and massive bombings carried out by Sunni Arab guerrillas against Shiite civilians in markets that left at least 130 dead and over 200 wounded. At a market in the Shaab district of Baghdad two suicide bombers wearing bomb belts killed 76 persons, mainly women and children, and left about 100 wounded. Reuters says that a senior Iraqi health minister said, "It is impossible to tell the exact number of dead because we are basically counting body parts."
The bombers in Baghdad had to use bomb vests because increased security and checkpoints have made it more difficult to pull of a big car bombing in the capital. I had thought that car bombings could actually be stopped with better security techniques. But I don't know what you could possibly do to stop the deployment of a bomb belt in a market by local inhabitants. This development is very depressing.
On the other hand, in Diyala Province, which is not getting the same number of troops or checkpoints as Baghdad, is a place they can still carry off truck bombings. And the guerrillas did, deploying 3 car bombs and mortar strikes in the small town of Khalis against the Shiite minority there. They killed 53 and wounded 103. They saved the third bomb for when the police showed up to respond to the second, setting it off on their arrival and killing a lot of them.
The US embassy in Baghdad circulated a memo to all Americans working for the US government in the Green Zone. It ordered them to wear protective gear whenever they were outside in the Green Zone, including just moving from one building to another. Guerrillas have managed to lob a number of rockets into the area in recent days, and killed one US GI on Tuesday.
The Green Zone is therefore actually the Red Zone. I.e., it is no longer an area of good security contrasting to what is around it. Senator McCain was more wrong than can easily be imagined. Not only can American officials not just stroll through Baghdad districts unarmed and unprotected by armor, but they can't even move that way from one building to the next inside the Green Zone!
Al-Hayat writing in Arabic confirmed that Shiite police particiapted in the massacre of Sunnis on Sunday at Tel Afar. Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi called for a purge of Shiite militia elements from the Iraqi security forces.
The US Thursday expressed puzzlement over the statement by Saudi King Abdullah that the US was engaged in an illegitimate occupation of Iraq. Various government spokesmen pointed to UN Security Council resolutions authorizing US troops in Iraq.
But those ex post facto resolutions cannot go back and change the fact that the Bush administration violated the UN charter when it invaded Iraq in spring of 2003. I think that is what King Abdullah was driving at.
Labels: Iraq War
posted by Juan Cole @ 3/30/2007 12:28:00 AM
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11 Comments:
Juan, your link to that Seattle PI article on rightwing Iraqi bloggers is broken (I assume that's the one you wanted?).
My own post about the Fadhil brothers, which I first pimped here are few days back, has now been picked up by antiwar.com and Buzzflash, among others. I hope some REAL JOURNALISTS will now get onto this story and provide us all with some REAL ANSWERS about these very dodgy fellas.
I don't pretend to be a journo, just a humble blogger. But I have asked some questions that deserve to be answered.
When the President of the United States of America is reduced to quoting propaganda nonsense fabricated by his own neocon supporters, that's pathetic.
When he does so specifically in order to justify failed policies which continue to see dozens, if not hundreds, dead every day in Iraq, that's worse than tragic. It's criminal.
I thought the King was referring to the fact that the resolution was to depose Saddam and find WMDs. And since there are no WMDs and Saddam is long gone, even the cover we had for invasion has been gone for some time now.
Juan - an 'about' was added to the URL for the Seattle PI article.
The quote isn't really from a blog, it is from the Wall Street Journal opinion pages (via Google and IraqSlogger).
FYI al-Hayat is not exactly an impartial observer in Arab affairs. It is now fully owned by Saudi Arabian interests, although it keeps many Lebanese journalists on its staff. It even issues a special, watered-down Saudi edition, like its sister Asharq Alawsat of which are published in London. Both papers tend to exaggerate the Shi'a (Shiite) aspects of Iraqi turmoil. As an example, they never mention that the suicide bombings are "Sunni' operations.
Cheers
Mohammed
www.infidelus.blogspot.com
I was just talking to a colleague about the Green Zone the other day...we were surprised that it hadn't been a target up until recently. What do you think has brought the change?
Also, just wanted to let you know about a really interesting program called the 3D Security Initiative. I blogged about it here if you want to give it a look, I think you might dig some of the concepts they are working with.
There is also that it remains contrary to the UN charter, the Geneva Conventions, and the Hague Convention of 1907 to wantonly slaughter and terrorize civilians, for the occupier to overturn the existing constitution and install his own government, and to issue legislation to enable the plunder of the occupied nation's economy by the occupier's businesses (Bremer's Order 39 privatizing the economy). Concentration camps full of mostly innocent people and widespread and continuing torture, even if they're no longer taking pictures of themselves, are also not consistent with the requirement to protetc the civilian population.
Fomenting sectarian strife by a policy from the beginning of emphasizing sectarian divisions in order to divide and rule, and intentionally abandoning everything except the Oil Ministry and the Interior Ministry to looters are also violations.
UN SCRs after the fact in contravention of international law no more legitimize this than the US COngress's similar actions contrary to the US Constitution. The US Congress is responsible for upholding the US Constitution, and the UN Security Council is responsible for upholding the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Convention, and all other international law. Failing to exercise that oversight does not invalidate the law so flouted in either case, and neither body is authorized to do so.
If anything the shia militias need to come back. The spike in bombings of shia civilians is due to the Mahdi Army going underground due to the "surge". When they return we will hopefully see a reduction in the horrendous terrorist attacks. like Juan has continuously pointed out, even defenceless pilgrims arent safe. Militia does not equal death squad just as resistance fighters arent all shia killing terrorists. Tareq al Hashimi would do well to condemn those who are carrying out these atrocities in the name of his sect, Lest he forget that the attacks in Tal Afar were reprisals for the original terrorist killings of shias. No police would have taken part in any such attacks had no bombings taken place. This only blackens the image of the sunnis and their resistance.
I would suggest that the remarks by the Saudi king are indicative of the the sea-change (yeah, it's a desert but those camels are referred to as 'ships') of the perpectives, opinions, and directions of the Arabs in the region, given, giving an almost simultaneous 'offer' to the 'Israelis' for 'peace' (if they recognise the 1967 borders). I think that the Arabs, collectively, are a little tired of the Anglo-Saxons interfering in their region. I believe the Saudis have also stated that they will support the survival of the Sunnis in Iraq, therefore hoping to get the Americans and Angaloids to withdraw, effecting a regional solution to the matters at hand. This would assist in stifling the Shi'ite drive to dominate Iraq with help from the Iranis.
The Green Zone is merely another in the growing list of targets of opportunity, kind of like a insurgent circus that has to make the rounds, unlike a public event in that the destinations are unannounced. The Green Zone's number has come up, perhaps through the rolling of dice to randomly determine which of the targets to go after next. Quelling disturbances in one location only allows that place to lie fallow for a while until the insurgents plant their seeds of destruction, only to move on to another fallow field shortly thereafter. This can be also likened to trying to squash mercury: the greater the force, the more dispersion and scattering.
As Prof Cole has repeatedly stated, even defenceless pilgrims arent safe from salafic terrorists. It seems the low profile kept by the militias due to the surge is putting every shia citizen at risk from another atrocity. Maybe Mr Al Hashimi should focus his attentions on stopping the horrendous murders which are being perpertrated in the name of the sunnis.
Don't bother trying to explain what 'King' Abdullah was driving at - hardly anyone knows what the Saudis are driving half the time anyway... Do they even let women drive now?
I think the most significant aspect of the Saudi performance at the summit was the clear sign that they are playing the role of a anti-Iran facilitator that the Bushiites wanted them to - instead, they are harping more about pan-Arabism and the importance of Syria in the region...
The surge is working - the stats point to this - but then one spate of bombings changes that and puts it on its head... Ultimately, things will look better if the Shiite militias stay home - but the moment they head out, the stats fall apart...
I'm more keen to see how the British-Iranian stand-off plays out - this is probably a great opportunity for the Bushiites to up the ante against Iran and start a shooting war... Problem is, gas prices are jumping up due to the prospect of the Gulf oil traffic being disrupted by naval warfare...
And I don't think the British public is rallying around Blair and baying for Iranian blood... Yet.
"When the President of the United States of America is reduced to quoting propaganda nonsense fabricated by his own neocon supporters, that's pathetic."
And he has been doing exactly this for over five years now.
"When he does so specifically in order to justify failed policies which continue to see dozens, if not hundreds, dead every day in Iraq, that's worse than tragic. It's criminal."
Well, yes. Which is why he needs to be impeached.
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