Well, after doing some basic math, the most recent War/Welfare Spending Bill not only will negate your check, you'll actually be losing money. With 124 million taxpayers recieving checks from $600-$1200, its nice that the $1306 per taxpayer bill will be discounted at least. Thanks Congress and thanks GW!
links: http://finance.yahoo.com/taxes/article/105310/IRS-Flooded-With-Calls-About-Stimulus-Checks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080630/pl_afp/usiraqafghanistan_080630152552
Monday, June 30, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Again, Imagine How Chaotic It Will Be If We Left
Nine civilians were killed today in two firefights with U.S. soldiers, local authorities reported. The military said U.S. soldiers were fired upon first in both incidents.In the capital, three people were killed in a fiery vehicle crash after gunfire erupted as they passed U.S. soldiers from another convoy stopped near the Baghdad International Airport to recover a stalled vehicle.
Officials at Yarmouk Hospital identified the dead as a manager and two female employees of a bank at the airport. Iraqi police also reported that two bodyguards were injured.A statement from the U.S. military said the three dead people were criminals who opened fire on the military convoy about 9 a.m. The statement said that the assault left bullet holes in the U.S. vehicles and that a weapon was found in the wreckage.The conflicting information in the two reports could not be immediately resolved.
Earlier today near Tikrit, about 90 miles north of Baghdad, six people were killed and two injured when a house was destroyed by a U.S. airstrike, police said. A U.S. ground patrol called in the strike after coming under fire.
Police said someone in the house heard the patrol outside about 2:30 a.m. and fired three warning shots in the air, thinking the soldiers were thieves.
link:http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq26-2008jun26,0,680763.story
Officials at Yarmouk Hospital identified the dead as a manager and two female employees of a bank at the airport. Iraqi police also reported that two bodyguards were injured.A statement from the U.S. military said the three dead people were criminals who opened fire on the military convoy about 9 a.m. The statement said that the assault left bullet holes in the U.S. vehicles and that a weapon was found in the wreckage.The conflicting information in the two reports could not be immediately resolved.
Earlier today near Tikrit, about 90 miles north of Baghdad, six people were killed and two injured when a house was destroyed by a U.S. airstrike, police said. A U.S. ground patrol called in the strike after coming under fire.
Police said someone in the house heard the patrol outside about 2:30 a.m. and fired three warning shots in the air, thinking the soldiers were thieves.
link:http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq26-2008jun26,0,680763.story
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
But You Said The War Wasn't for Oil........
After a sea of lies and a tsunami of propaganda, the ugly truth behind the Iraq and Afghanistan wars finally emerged into full view this week.
Four major western oil companies, Exxon, Mobil, Shell, BP and Total, are about to sign US-brokered no-bid contracts with the US-installed Baghdad regime to begin exploiting Iraq’s oil fields. Saddam Hussein had kicked these firms out three decades ago when he nationalized Iraq’s foreign-owned oil industry for the benefit of Iraq’s national development. The Baghdad regime is turning back the clock.
This agreement comes as talks are continuing between the Washington and its Baghdad client regime over future US basing rights in Iraq. After some face-saving Iraqi objections, it is expected that Baghdad will sign a compact with Washington giving US forces control of Iraq and its air space in a manner very similar to Great Britain’s colonial arrangement with Iraq.
Interestingly, the same oil companies that used to exploit Iraq when it was a British colony are now returning. As former US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan recently admitted, the Iraq war was all about oil. VP Dick Cheney stated in 2003 that the invasion of Iraq was about oil, and for the sake of Israel.
Meanwhile, according to Pakistani and Indian sources, Afghanistan just signed a major deal to launch a long-planned, 1680 km long pipeline project expected to cost $ 8 billion. If completed, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline (TAPI) will export gas and, later, oil from the Caspian Basin to Pakistan’s coast where tankers will transport it to the west.
The Caspian Basin located under the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakkstan, holds an estimated 300 trillion cubic feet of gas and 100–200 billion barrels of oil. Securing the world’s last remaining known energy Eldorado is strategic priority for the western powers. China can only look on with envy.
But there are only two practical ways to get gas and oil out of landlocked Central Asia to the sea: through Iran, or through Afghanistan to Pakistan. For Washington, Iran is tabu. That leaves Pakistan, but to get there, the planned pipeline must cross western Afghanistan, including the cities of Herat and Kandahar.
Read More: http://www.lewrockwell.com/margolis/margolis114.html
Four major western oil companies, Exxon, Mobil, Shell, BP and Total, are about to sign US-brokered no-bid contracts with the US-installed Baghdad regime to begin exploiting Iraq’s oil fields. Saddam Hussein had kicked these firms out three decades ago when he nationalized Iraq’s foreign-owned oil industry for the benefit of Iraq’s national development. The Baghdad regime is turning back the clock.
This agreement comes as talks are continuing between the Washington and its Baghdad client regime over future US basing rights in Iraq. After some face-saving Iraqi objections, it is expected that Baghdad will sign a compact with Washington giving US forces control of Iraq and its air space in a manner very similar to Great Britain’s colonial arrangement with Iraq.
Interestingly, the same oil companies that used to exploit Iraq when it was a British colony are now returning. As former US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan recently admitted, the Iraq war was all about oil. VP Dick Cheney stated in 2003 that the invasion of Iraq was about oil, and for the sake of Israel.
Meanwhile, according to Pakistani and Indian sources, Afghanistan just signed a major deal to launch a long-planned, 1680 km long pipeline project expected to cost $ 8 billion. If completed, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline (TAPI) will export gas and, later, oil from the Caspian Basin to Pakistan’s coast where tankers will transport it to the west.
The Caspian Basin located under the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakkstan, holds an estimated 300 trillion cubic feet of gas and 100–200 billion barrels of oil. Securing the world’s last remaining known energy Eldorado is strategic priority for the western powers. China can only look on with envy.
But there are only two practical ways to get gas and oil out of landlocked Central Asia to the sea: through Iran, or through Afghanistan to Pakistan. For Washington, Iran is tabu. That leaves Pakistan, but to get there, the planned pipeline must cross western Afghanistan, including the cities of Herat and Kandahar.
Read More: http://www.lewrockwell.com/margolis/margolis114.html
Monday, June 23, 2008
If We Leave, There Will Be Chaos
Because there isn't already......
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A member of an Iraqi city council shot at U.S. forces Monday outside Baghdad, killing at least three soldiers, two Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said.
But the U.S. military said one coalition soldier and an "enemy" were killed and five others were wounded. The military said it is investigating.
The Iraqi official fired an AK-47 at U.S. troops after they entered the City Council building in al-Madaen, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, according to one Interior Ministry official. The councilman killed at least three people and wounded four, a ministry official said.
U.S. forces returned fire, killing the councilman, according to two Interior Ministry officials.
The shooting happened after U.S. soldiers and local officials had attended a ceremony to open a park in al-Madaen, also known as Salman Pak, an Interior Ministry official said.
"The attacker came out of his car with an AK-47 rifle in his hand and started firing on the American soldiers until he was killed by the return fire," said Hussein al-Dulaimi, 37, who owns an agricultural machine shop across the street, according to The Associated Press.
link: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/23/iraq.main/index.html
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A member of an Iraqi city council shot at U.S. forces Monday outside Baghdad, killing at least three soldiers, two Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said.
But the U.S. military said one coalition soldier and an "enemy" were killed and five others were wounded. The military said it is investigating.
The Iraqi official fired an AK-47 at U.S. troops after they entered the City Council building in al-Madaen, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, according to one Interior Ministry official. The councilman killed at least three people and wounded four, a ministry official said.
U.S. forces returned fire, killing the councilman, according to two Interior Ministry officials.
The shooting happened after U.S. soldiers and local officials had attended a ceremony to open a park in al-Madaen, also known as Salman Pak, an Interior Ministry official said.
"The attacker came out of his car with an AK-47 rifle in his hand and started firing on the American soldiers until he was killed by the return fire," said Hussein al-Dulaimi, 37, who owns an agricultural machine shop across the street, according to The Associated Press.
link: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/23/iraq.main/index.html
Friday, June 20, 2008
Money > Freedom (at least when it comes to Afghanistan)
Don Bacon writes a great report on the status of freedom and oil pipelines in the "other" US war in the Middle East. Guess which one of the two is doing better?
link: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/bacon6.html
link: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/bacon6.html
Thursday, June 19, 2008
500,000 Forced From Their Homes For No Good Reason
A half-million Iraqis fled their embattled country in 2007, the third consecutive year more Iraqis were displaced than any other nationality, a survey of the world's refugees reported Thursday.
As before, most went to neighboring Syria, and some fanned out into other neighboring countries, the survey by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants said. It said the United States accepted few, just over half the 3,000 it had promised to resettle by the end of September.
link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080619/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_refugees_survey
As before, most went to neighboring Syria, and some fanned out into other neighboring countries, the survey by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants said. It said the United States accepted few, just over half the 3,000 it had promised to resettle by the end of September.
link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080619/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_refugees_survey
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Torture is not OK
AMMAN, Jordan - Former detainees from American military jails in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and lingering physical injuries and scars that can be traced to their imprisonment, according to a human rights group.
Ali Shallal al-Qaisi, a former inmate at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and one of those cited in the Physicians for Human Rights report, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his U.S. captors sodomized him and forced him to stay naked for several weeks at a time.
"I had dogs sniffing and barking at me. I had women captors kicking me in the crotch," al-Qaisi said in an interview at his Amman, Jordan office. After spending six months in U.S. custody in Baghdad in 2003 and 2004, al-Qaisi founded a non-profit group in Jordan for fellow victims.
A lawyer for Iraqi detainees, Susan Burke, confirmed that al-Qaisi was cited in the report even though Physicians for Human Rights used pseudonyms for privacy reasons.
The report from the Cambridge, Mass.-based advocacy group, which investigates abuse around the world and advocates for global health and human rights, was obtained by the AP before its official release.
It is the most extensive medical study of former detainees published so far to determine whether their stories of abuse at American hands could be corroborated with physical evidence. It followed standards and methods used worldwide to document torture.
Doctors and mental health professionals examined 11 former prisoners in intensive two-day sessions. All the prisoners were freed without charges, either innocent or not valuable enough to the military to hold.
The group alleges it found evidence of U.S. torture and war crimes, and said some U.S. military health professionals allowed the abuse of detainees, denying them medical care and providing confidential medical information to interrogators which was then exploited.
"Some of these men really are, several years later, very severely scarred," said Barry Rosenfeld, a psychology professor at Fordham University who conducted psychological tests on six of the 11 detainees covered by the study. "It's a testimony to how bad those conditions were and how personal the abuse was."
The report came as the Senate Armed Services Committee revealed documents showing military lawyers warned the Pentagon that some of the methods it used to interrogate and hold detainees after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks violated military, U.S. and international law. Those objections were overruled by the top Pentagon lawyer, who said he was unaware of the criticism.
President Bush said in 2004, when the prison abuse was revealed, that it was the work of "a few American troops who dishonored our country and disregarded our values." Bush and other U.S. officials have consistently denied that the U.S. tortures its detainees.
Seven of the former detainees in the study were held at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq between late 2003 and the summer of 2004, a period that coincides with the known abuse of prisoners at the hands of some of their American jailers. Four of the former detainees were held in the detention center at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, beginning in 2002 for one to almost five years. All 11 were released without criminal charges. None are identified in the report to respect their privacy.
Those examined alleged that they were tortured or abused, including sexually, and described being shocked with electrodes, beaten, shackled, stripped of their clothes, deprived of food and sleep, and spit and urinated on.
One former Iraqi prisoner, identified in the report only as Yasser, said he was subjected to electric shocks three times and sodomized with a stick. His thumbs bore round scars consistent with shocking, the report said. He would not allow a full rectal exam.
Another Iraqi, identified only as Rahman, reported he was humiliated by being forced to wear women's underwear, stripped naked and paraded in front of female guards, and was shown pictures of other naked detainees. The psychological exam found that Rahman suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and has enduring sexual problems related to his humiliation, the report said.
The abuse of some prisoners by their American captors is well documented by the government's own reports. Once-secret documents show that the Pentagon and Justice Department allowed, at least for a time, forced nakedness, isolation, sleep deprivation and humiliation both at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison.
Because the medical examiners did not have access to the 11 patients' medical histories prior to their imprisonment, it was not possible to know whether any of the prisoners' ailments, disabilities and scars pre-dated their confinement. The U.S. military says an al-Qaida training manual instructs members, if captured, to assert they were tortured during interrogation.
However, doctors and mental health professionals stated they could link the prisoners' claims of abuse while in U.S. detention to injuries documented by X-rays, medical exams and psychological tests.
"The level of the time, thoroughness and rigor of the exams left me personally without question about the credibility of the individuals," said Dr. Allen Keller, one of the doctors who conducted the exams, in an interview with the AP. "The findings on the physical and psychological exams were consistent with what they reported."
All 11 former detainees reported being subjected to:
_Stress positions, including being suspended for hours by the arms or tightly shackled for days.
_Prolonged isolation and hooding or blindfolding, a form of sensory deprivation.
_Extreme heat or cold.
_Threats against themselves, their families or friends from interrogators or guards.
Ten said they were forced to be naked, some for days or weeks. Nine said they were subjected to prolonged sleep deprivation. At least six said they were threatened with military working dogs, often while naked. Four reported being sodomized, subjected to anal probing, or threatened with rape.
"We found clear physical and psychological evidence of torture and abuse, often causing lasting suffering," he said.
Said Rosenfeld: "If anything I think some of these guys really downplayed the severity of the symptoms and the severity of what happened to them, because it's embarrassing. If you are a proud macho man its very hard to admit you've been victimized in that way."
Keller, who directs the Bellevue/New York University Program for Survivors of Torture, said the treatment the detainees reported were "eerily familiar" to stories from other torture survivors around the world. He said the sexual humiliation of the prisoners was often the most traumatic experience.
Most former detainees are out of reach of Western doctors because they are either in Iraq or have been returned to their home countries from Guantanamo.
link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/detainees_rights_report
Ali Shallal al-Qaisi, a former inmate at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and one of those cited in the Physicians for Human Rights report, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his U.S. captors sodomized him and forced him to stay naked for several weeks at a time.
"I had dogs sniffing and barking at me. I had women captors kicking me in the crotch," al-Qaisi said in an interview at his Amman, Jordan office. After spending six months in U.S. custody in Baghdad in 2003 and 2004, al-Qaisi founded a non-profit group in Jordan for fellow victims.
A lawyer for Iraqi detainees, Susan Burke, confirmed that al-Qaisi was cited in the report even though Physicians for Human Rights used pseudonyms for privacy reasons.
The report from the Cambridge, Mass.-based advocacy group, which investigates abuse around the world and advocates for global health and human rights, was obtained by the AP before its official release.
It is the most extensive medical study of former detainees published so far to determine whether their stories of abuse at American hands could be corroborated with physical evidence. It followed standards and methods used worldwide to document torture.
Doctors and mental health professionals examined 11 former prisoners in intensive two-day sessions. All the prisoners were freed without charges, either innocent or not valuable enough to the military to hold.
The group alleges it found evidence of U.S. torture and war crimes, and said some U.S. military health professionals allowed the abuse of detainees, denying them medical care and providing confidential medical information to interrogators which was then exploited.
"Some of these men really are, several years later, very severely scarred," said Barry Rosenfeld, a psychology professor at Fordham University who conducted psychological tests on six of the 11 detainees covered by the study. "It's a testimony to how bad those conditions were and how personal the abuse was."
The report came as the Senate Armed Services Committee revealed documents showing military lawyers warned the Pentagon that some of the methods it used to interrogate and hold detainees after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks violated military, U.S. and international law. Those objections were overruled by the top Pentagon lawyer, who said he was unaware of the criticism.
President Bush said in 2004, when the prison abuse was revealed, that it was the work of "a few American troops who dishonored our country and disregarded our values." Bush and other U.S. officials have consistently denied that the U.S. tortures its detainees.
Seven of the former detainees in the study were held at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq between late 2003 and the summer of 2004, a period that coincides with the known abuse of prisoners at the hands of some of their American jailers. Four of the former detainees were held in the detention center at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, beginning in 2002 for one to almost five years. All 11 were released without criminal charges. None are identified in the report to respect their privacy.
Those examined alleged that they were tortured or abused, including sexually, and described being shocked with electrodes, beaten, shackled, stripped of their clothes, deprived of food and sleep, and spit and urinated on.
One former Iraqi prisoner, identified in the report only as Yasser, said he was subjected to electric shocks three times and sodomized with a stick. His thumbs bore round scars consistent with shocking, the report said. He would not allow a full rectal exam.
Another Iraqi, identified only as Rahman, reported he was humiliated by being forced to wear women's underwear, stripped naked and paraded in front of female guards, and was shown pictures of other naked detainees. The psychological exam found that Rahman suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and has enduring sexual problems related to his humiliation, the report said.
The abuse of some prisoners by their American captors is well documented by the government's own reports. Once-secret documents show that the Pentagon and Justice Department allowed, at least for a time, forced nakedness, isolation, sleep deprivation and humiliation both at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison.
Because the medical examiners did not have access to the 11 patients' medical histories prior to their imprisonment, it was not possible to know whether any of the prisoners' ailments, disabilities and scars pre-dated their confinement. The U.S. military says an al-Qaida training manual instructs members, if captured, to assert they were tortured during interrogation.
However, doctors and mental health professionals stated they could link the prisoners' claims of abuse while in U.S. detention to injuries documented by X-rays, medical exams and psychological tests.
"The level of the time, thoroughness and rigor of the exams left me personally without question about the credibility of the individuals," said Dr. Allen Keller, one of the doctors who conducted the exams, in an interview with the AP. "The findings on the physical and psychological exams were consistent with what they reported."
All 11 former detainees reported being subjected to:
_Stress positions, including being suspended for hours by the arms or tightly shackled for days.
_Prolonged isolation and hooding or blindfolding, a form of sensory deprivation.
_Extreme heat or cold.
_Threats against themselves, their families or friends from interrogators or guards.
Ten said they were forced to be naked, some for days or weeks. Nine said they were subjected to prolonged sleep deprivation. At least six said they were threatened with military working dogs, often while naked. Four reported being sodomized, subjected to anal probing, or threatened with rape.
"We found clear physical and psychological evidence of torture and abuse, often causing lasting suffering," he said.
Said Rosenfeld: "If anything I think some of these guys really downplayed the severity of the symptoms and the severity of what happened to them, because it's embarrassing. If you are a proud macho man its very hard to admit you've been victimized in that way."
Keller, who directs the Bellevue/New York University Program for Survivors of Torture, said the treatment the detainees reported were "eerily familiar" to stories from other torture survivors around the world. He said the sexual humiliation of the prisoners was often the most traumatic experience.
Most former detainees are out of reach of Western doctors because they are either in Iraq or have been returned to their home countries from Guantanamo.
link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/detainees_rights_report
More Deaths in Afganistan
Two Afghan soldiers and at least 23 militants were killed Wednesday during a military operation to push out Taliban rebels from several villages in south Afghanistan, the country's defense ministry said.
Afghan troops, backed by Canadian forces, targeted villages in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province, where 400 militants escaped from prison in a jailbreak Friday.
Meanwhile, four British soldiers were killed Tuesday in a separate operation in Lashkar Gah, also in southern Afghanistan.
And in another incident on Wednesday, two NATO-led soldiers were killed and 10 wounded during a patrol in southeastern Afghanistan. The incident occurred in the Paktika province, the alliance force said without releasing the nationalities of these troops.
link: http://www.wibw.com/nationalnews/headlines/20390694.html
Afghan troops, backed by Canadian forces, targeted villages in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province, where 400 militants escaped from prison in a jailbreak Friday.
Meanwhile, four British soldiers were killed Tuesday in a separate operation in Lashkar Gah, also in southern Afghanistan.
And in another incident on Wednesday, two NATO-led soldiers were killed and 10 wounded during a patrol in southeastern Afghanistan. The incident occurred in the Paktika province, the alliance force said without releasing the nationalities of these troops.
link: http://www.wibw.com/nationalnews/headlines/20390694.html
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
If they are Muslim, they must be a terrorist.....
.....According to McCain:
McCain Misspeaks on Iran, Al Qaeda
"Mr. McCain said several times during his visit to Jordan – during a news conference and a radio interview — that he was concerned that Iran was training members of Al Qaeda in Iraq. The United States believes that Iran, a Shiite country, has been training and financing Shiite extremists in Iraq, but not Al Qaeda, which is a Sunni insurgent group."
link: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/mccain-misspeaks-on-iran-al-qaeda/
McCain Misspeaks on Iran, Al Qaeda
"Mr. McCain said several times during his visit to Jordan – during a news conference and a radio interview — that he was concerned that Iran was training members of Al Qaeda in Iraq. The United States believes that Iran, a Shiite country, has been training and financing Shiite extremists in Iraq, but not Al Qaeda, which is a Sunni insurgent group."
link: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/mccain-misspeaks-on-iran-al-qaeda/
We already know McCain is an Interventionalist Warmonger. But Obama?
He doesn't seem to be much better. Depending on the audience, Barack can sometimes rival John's hell-bent attitute on destroying the "terrist" threats from the Middle East. He's even starting to change his mind on when will be a good time to get out of Iraq.
Obama’s foreign policy flop-down
"I will do everything in my power to stop Iran from going nuclear,” thus spake Barack Obama while addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) soon after he clinched the nomination of the Democratic Party for the US Presidency.
link: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/322519.html
Obama’s foreign policy flop-down
"I will do everything in my power to stop Iran from going nuclear,” thus spake Barack Obama while addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) soon after he clinched the nomination of the Democratic Party for the US Presidency.
link: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/322519.html
Great Speech by Anthony Gregory
Amazing speech by Anthony Gregory on the effect the warfare state has on the freedom's of individuals. A bit long, but well worth the read.
War and the Common Good
Intro: "We are used to hearing discussion of political issues boiled down to a conflict between the individual and the greater good. Nearly anyone’s pet project for government can be sold as a way to promote the common, or general interest – a mission so compelling that the interests of mere individuals must be sacrificed. "
link: http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory162.html
War and the Common Good
Intro: "We are used to hearing discussion of political issues boiled down to a conflict between the individual and the greater good. Nearly anyone’s pet project for government can be sold as a way to promote the common, or general interest – a mission so compelling that the interests of mere individuals must be sacrificed. "
link: http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory162.html
Car bomb kills more than 50 people in Baghdad
BAGHDAD - A car bomb tore through a market area in a mainly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people and wounding dozens, officials said, the deadliest such attack in more than three months.
The attack occurred just before 6 p.m. as the market in the northwestern Hurriyah neighborhood was packed with shoppers preparing for their evening meals.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, but it bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq, which is known to use car bombs and suicide attacks.
A soft drink vendor who witnessed the blast, Kamil Jassim, said the car that exploded was parked near a two-story building with shops on the bottom floor and apartments on top. He said a nearby generator caught on fire, partially collapsing the building and burning several other houses.
The casualty toll spiked to at least 51 people killed and 75 people wounded after rescue crews extinguished the blaze and found the bodies of dozens of victims who had been trapped inside or buried in the rubble, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.
Most of those killed were burned to death or suffocated, he added.
The blast shattered the relative calm in the capital amid stepped up security measures. American commanders have consistently said they have al-Qaida in Iraq on the run but warned that the insurgents retain the ability to stage high-profile attacks.
Haider Fadhil, a 25-year-old metal worker, said he was shopping with his two friends when the force of the blast tossed him through the air and knocked him out.
"When I regained consciousness, I found that my left hand and leg were broken," he said from his hospital bed. "Thanks be to God for saving me and thanks to those who carried me in their pickup truck to the hospital."
Tuesday's attack was the deadliest car bombing since March 6, when a twin bombing killed 68 people in a crowded shopping district in the central Baghdad district of Karradah.
It occurred on the same day the Iraqi parliament announced it will start holding sessions outside the U.S.-protected Green Zone in the fall — the latest bid by Iraqi authorities to bolster public confidence in the security gains and assert their independence.
The 275-member legislative body currently meets in a heavily guarded convention center inside the Green Zone, a sprawling maze of concrete barriers and checkpoints in central Baghdad.
Deputy parliamentary speaker Khalid al-Attiyah told lawmakers they will move to the Saddam Hussein-era parliament building for the next legislative term, which is due to begin on Sept. 1.
The National Assembly building that was used by the Iraqi parliament under Saddam is in the Allawi district, about 500 yards away from the blast walls that form the perimeter of the Green Zone on the west side of the Tigris River.
It was looted and burned in the chaos that followed the fall of Baghdad to U.S. forces in April 2003. But al-Attiyah said its reconstruction has been completed.
"There is progress in the security situation and the reconstruction has been completed of the new building," al-Attiyah said
The Green Zone, which also houses the U.S. and British embassies and the Iraqi government's headquarters, is one of the main symbols of the continued American presence more than five years after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam.
Iraqi legislators hold sessions in a former convention center amid tight security that was reinforced after a suicide bomber slipped through the checkpoints and blew himself up in the building's cafeteria, killing a lawmaker, on April 12, 2007.
The relocation itself, however, was meant to be temporary until a new compound for the parliament can be built, al-Attiyah added.
His adviser, Wissam al-Zubaidi, also said the parliament planned to shorten its two-month break that was due to start in July and adjourn only for the month of August.
The legislative body has come under past criticism for failing to take advantage of the decline in violence to make sufficient progress on U.S.-backed legislation aimed at promoting national reconciliation among Iraq's divided Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-led government has been trying to assure a fearful public that recent security gains can be maintained and has launched a series of offensives aimed at clamping control on some of the most violent areas in Iraq.
It also is in talks with the Bush administration over a long-term agreement to replace the U.N. mandate for U.S.-led forces that expires at the end of this year.
In other violence Tuesday, an Iraqi state TV reporter was shot to death near his apartment in the northern city of Mosul, police said.
Colleagues said the slain journalist — 50-year-old Muhieddin Abdul-Hamid — was a local anchor for the station in Mosul, the center of an ongoing U.S.-Iraqi operation against the most prominent remaining stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq, a Sunni extremist group.
Excluding Abdul-Hamid's death, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 129 journalists and 50 media support workers have been killed since the war started.
A suicide bomber on a motorcycle also struck a Baghdad checkpoint manned by U.S.-allied fighters Tuesday, killing one and wounding four, in the latest attack targeting Sunni groups that have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq.
Another suicide car bomber struck a police checkpoint in central Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, killing one policeman and wounding 19 other people.
source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080617/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
The attack occurred just before 6 p.m. as the market in the northwestern Hurriyah neighborhood was packed with shoppers preparing for their evening meals.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, but it bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq, which is known to use car bombs and suicide attacks.
A soft drink vendor who witnessed the blast, Kamil Jassim, said the car that exploded was parked near a two-story building with shops on the bottom floor and apartments on top. He said a nearby generator caught on fire, partially collapsing the building and burning several other houses.
The casualty toll spiked to at least 51 people killed and 75 people wounded after rescue crews extinguished the blaze and found the bodies of dozens of victims who had been trapped inside or buried in the rubble, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.
Most of those killed were burned to death or suffocated, he added.
The blast shattered the relative calm in the capital amid stepped up security measures. American commanders have consistently said they have al-Qaida in Iraq on the run but warned that the insurgents retain the ability to stage high-profile attacks.
Haider Fadhil, a 25-year-old metal worker, said he was shopping with his two friends when the force of the blast tossed him through the air and knocked him out.
"When I regained consciousness, I found that my left hand and leg were broken," he said from his hospital bed. "Thanks be to God for saving me and thanks to those who carried me in their pickup truck to the hospital."
Tuesday's attack was the deadliest car bombing since March 6, when a twin bombing killed 68 people in a crowded shopping district in the central Baghdad district of Karradah.
It occurred on the same day the Iraqi parliament announced it will start holding sessions outside the U.S.-protected Green Zone in the fall — the latest bid by Iraqi authorities to bolster public confidence in the security gains and assert their independence.
The 275-member legislative body currently meets in a heavily guarded convention center inside the Green Zone, a sprawling maze of concrete barriers and checkpoints in central Baghdad.
Deputy parliamentary speaker Khalid al-Attiyah told lawmakers they will move to the Saddam Hussein-era parliament building for the next legislative term, which is due to begin on Sept. 1.
The National Assembly building that was used by the Iraqi parliament under Saddam is in the Allawi district, about 500 yards away from the blast walls that form the perimeter of the Green Zone on the west side of the Tigris River.
It was looted and burned in the chaos that followed the fall of Baghdad to U.S. forces in April 2003. But al-Attiyah said its reconstruction has been completed.
"There is progress in the security situation and the reconstruction has been completed of the new building," al-Attiyah said
The Green Zone, which also houses the U.S. and British embassies and the Iraqi government's headquarters, is one of the main symbols of the continued American presence more than five years after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam.
Iraqi legislators hold sessions in a former convention center amid tight security that was reinforced after a suicide bomber slipped through the checkpoints and blew himself up in the building's cafeteria, killing a lawmaker, on April 12, 2007.
The relocation itself, however, was meant to be temporary until a new compound for the parliament can be built, al-Attiyah added.
His adviser, Wissam al-Zubaidi, also said the parliament planned to shorten its two-month break that was due to start in July and adjourn only for the month of August.
The legislative body has come under past criticism for failing to take advantage of the decline in violence to make sufficient progress on U.S.-backed legislation aimed at promoting national reconciliation among Iraq's divided Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-led government has been trying to assure a fearful public that recent security gains can be maintained and has launched a series of offensives aimed at clamping control on some of the most violent areas in Iraq.
It also is in talks with the Bush administration over a long-term agreement to replace the U.N. mandate for U.S.-led forces that expires at the end of this year.
In other violence Tuesday, an Iraqi state TV reporter was shot to death near his apartment in the northern city of Mosul, police said.
Colleagues said the slain journalist — 50-year-old Muhieddin Abdul-Hamid — was a local anchor for the station in Mosul, the center of an ongoing U.S.-Iraqi operation against the most prominent remaining stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq, a Sunni extremist group.
Excluding Abdul-Hamid's death, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 129 journalists and 50 media support workers have been killed since the war started.
A suicide bomber on a motorcycle also struck a Baghdad checkpoint manned by U.S.-allied fighters Tuesday, killing one and wounding four, in the latest attack targeting Sunni groups that have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq.
Another suicide car bomber struck a police checkpoint in central Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, killing one policeman and wounding 19 other people.
source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080617/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
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This is my small attempt to help the anti-war/non-intervention movement. I'll be posting news stories, essays, and even throw in some of my thoughts. Thanks for visiting.
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