Life and Death Outside the Green Zone
We hear from the Bush administration breathy comments about democracy in Iraq and staying the course while all hell is breaking loose outside the walls of the Green Zone. Who is kidding whom? Read the following reports of the past two days. Notice also that our reporters -- apparently themselves only safe in the Green Zone -- now credit Iraqi assistants who help them compile their reports. Ed Kent
Fear Invades a Once-Comfortable Iraqi Enclave
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
The residents of Mansour worry that a wave of attacks that
has devoured large swaths of the city has begun encroaching
on them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/24/world/middleeast/24mansour.html?th&emc=th
Bomb Kills 12 Worshipers at Sunni Mosque in Iraq Near Site
of Zarqawi's Death
By JAMES GLANZ
The bombing came as the Iraqi government declared an
afternoon curfew after gun battles broke out in central
Baghdad.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/24/world/middleeast/24iraq.html?th&emc=th
..................
Basra bomb 'kills at least four'
At least four people have been killed and 14 others injured in a bomb attack in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, Iraqi police say. A state of emergency was declared in the city last month because of rising violence and crime.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5109196.stm
..................
Iraqi Government Declares State of Emergency
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/world/middleeast/23cnd-iraq.html?ex=1308715200&en=95a2c3b9e52a4576&ei=5090
By JOHN F. BURNS and JOHN O'NEIL
Published: June 23, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 23 - The Iraqi government declared a state of emergency in Baghdad after American forces were involved in quelling a firefight in the city's center.
Elsewhere in Iraq, at least 12 people died and 24 were wounded after a bomb exploded just outside in a Sunni mosque in the village where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed. And at least 10 people were killed by a car bomb in the southern city of Basra, news services reported.
The American military announced today that a Marine was killed on Wednesday during combat operations in al-Anbar province, and that a soldier in Baghdad had died the same day in an incident unrelated to fighting.
The gunfight today broke out in Baghdad as members of the Mahdi Army militia moved in force to escort the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to a Shiite mosque in a Sunni neighborhood. During last week's Friday services, a suicide bomber carrying explosives in his shoes blew himself up in a crowd of worshippers at the Baratha mosque, killing 11 and wounding 25.
Four members of the militia were killed when gunmen opened fire on the Mahdi Army convoy, in fighting involving guns and mortars that left eight of the group's vehicles ablaze, an official with the Interior Ministry said.
Iraqi and American troops rushed to the scene, and three Iraqi police officers and five Iraqi soldiers were wounded in the fighting, Reuters said. Televised images showed American helicopters swooping low to drop flares over the midday battle.
The government responded to the outbreak by ordering a sudden curfew, extending from 2 p.m. today to 6 a.m. Saturday, sending Baghdad residents scrambling to get home in time. Normally, vehicle traffic is banned in the city from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, to prevent repetitions of earlier car bomb attacks on the crowds attending Friday services.
And Iraqi forces today found five bullet-riddled bodies of factory workers who had been seized on Wednesday by a large group of gunmen, the Associated Press reported.
The gunmen had released all the workers they believed to be Sunni, along with a number of women and children, and 17 more were rescued by Iraqi police on Thursday on a raid on a farm north of Baghdad. After the five bodies were found today, about 30 people remain missing from the Wednesday incident.
The abduction, involving 40 or 50 gunmen, some wearing police uniforms, represented a sharp intensification of a tactic that has become increasingly common in Iraq.
The gunmen arrived at the factory, in northwestern Baghdad, in a large number of minibuses. They herded workers and their family members at gunpoint onto buses owned by the manufacturing company, which are ordinarily used to transport workers to Shiite neighborhoods around Baghdad, according to Iraqi officials and a bus driver who escaped.
One man who was released told The A.P. that the kidnappers sorted the hostages by ethnicity, and that he was let go because he had forged papers saying he was a Sunni.
"One of the gunmen told us to stand in one line, and then asked the Sunnis to get out of the line," said the man, who is a Shiite. "That's what I did. They asked me to prove that I am a Sunni, so I showed the forged ID, and three others did the same. They released us."
The American military also announced Thursday that four marines had been killed Tuesday by a roadside bomb in Anbar Province, and that a soldier had died Tuesday after his vehicle hit a roadside bomb south of Baghdad.
And in a predawn raid on Thursday in Basra, in the south, 20 gunmen dressed in commando camouflage and black masks stormed a police station and freed three prisoners who had been charged with killing police officers, Iraqi officials said.
The prisoners were described as members of the Tharallah Party, one of the numerous armed Shiite groups contending for power in Basra. They were being held on charges of attacking police officers in reprisal killings after clashes outside the home of the group's leader.
Police officials in Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, said Thursday that at least 25 people, mostly thought to be Kurds, were killed there in execution-style shootings in the past week, The Associated Press reported. The police have found the bodies, left alone or in pairs, around the city.
Mosul, in the north, has a mixed population, largely Kurds and Sunni Arabs, and tension often flares into violence. Police officials said they were not sure whether the killers were Sunni Arab insurgents, sectarian death squads or common criminals.
John F. Burns reported for this article from Baghdad and John O'Neil from New York. Sabrina Tavernise, Mona Mahmoud and Khalid al-Ansary contributed reporting for this article.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
Fear Invades a Once-Comfortable Iraqi Enclave
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
The residents of Mansour worry that a wave of attacks that
has devoured large swaths of the city has begun encroaching
on them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/24/world/middleeast/24mansour.html?th&emc=th
Bomb Kills 12 Worshipers at Sunni Mosque in Iraq Near Site
of Zarqawi's Death
By JAMES GLANZ
The bombing came as the Iraqi government declared an
afternoon curfew after gun battles broke out in central
Baghdad.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/24/world/middleeast/24iraq.html?th&emc=th
..................
Basra bomb 'kills at least four'
At least four people have been killed and 14 others injured in a bomb attack in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, Iraqi police say. A state of emergency was declared in the city last month because of rising violence and crime.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5109196.stm
..................
Iraqi Government Declares State of Emergency
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/world/middleeast/23cnd-iraq.html?ex=1308715200&en=95a2c3b9e52a4576&ei=5090
By JOHN F. BURNS and JOHN O'NEIL
Published: June 23, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 23 - The Iraqi government declared a state of emergency in Baghdad after American forces were involved in quelling a firefight in the city's center.
Elsewhere in Iraq, at least 12 people died and 24 were wounded after a bomb exploded just outside in a Sunni mosque in the village where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed. And at least 10 people were killed by a car bomb in the southern city of Basra, news services reported.
The American military announced today that a Marine was killed on Wednesday during combat operations in al-Anbar province, and that a soldier in Baghdad had died the same day in an incident unrelated to fighting.
The gunfight today broke out in Baghdad as members of the Mahdi Army militia moved in force to escort the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to a Shiite mosque in a Sunni neighborhood. During last week's Friday services, a suicide bomber carrying explosives in his shoes blew himself up in a crowd of worshippers at the Baratha mosque, killing 11 and wounding 25.
Four members of the militia were killed when gunmen opened fire on the Mahdi Army convoy, in fighting involving guns and mortars that left eight of the group's vehicles ablaze, an official with the Interior Ministry said.
Iraqi and American troops rushed to the scene, and three Iraqi police officers and five Iraqi soldiers were wounded in the fighting, Reuters said. Televised images showed American helicopters swooping low to drop flares over the midday battle.
The government responded to the outbreak by ordering a sudden curfew, extending from 2 p.m. today to 6 a.m. Saturday, sending Baghdad residents scrambling to get home in time. Normally, vehicle traffic is banned in the city from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, to prevent repetitions of earlier car bomb attacks on the crowds attending Friday services.
And Iraqi forces today found five bullet-riddled bodies of factory workers who had been seized on Wednesday by a large group of gunmen, the Associated Press reported.
The gunmen had released all the workers they believed to be Sunni, along with a number of women and children, and 17 more were rescued by Iraqi police on Thursday on a raid on a farm north of Baghdad. After the five bodies were found today, about 30 people remain missing from the Wednesday incident.
The abduction, involving 40 or 50 gunmen, some wearing police uniforms, represented a sharp intensification of a tactic that has become increasingly common in Iraq.
The gunmen arrived at the factory, in northwestern Baghdad, in a large number of minibuses. They herded workers and their family members at gunpoint onto buses owned by the manufacturing company, which are ordinarily used to transport workers to Shiite neighborhoods around Baghdad, according to Iraqi officials and a bus driver who escaped.
One man who was released told The A.P. that the kidnappers sorted the hostages by ethnicity, and that he was let go because he had forged papers saying he was a Sunni.
"One of the gunmen told us to stand in one line, and then asked the Sunnis to get out of the line," said the man, who is a Shiite. "That's what I did. They asked me to prove that I am a Sunni, so I showed the forged ID, and three others did the same. They released us."
The American military also announced Thursday that four marines had been killed Tuesday by a roadside bomb in Anbar Province, and that a soldier had died Tuesday after his vehicle hit a roadside bomb south of Baghdad.
And in a predawn raid on Thursday in Basra, in the south, 20 gunmen dressed in commando camouflage and black masks stormed a police station and freed three prisoners who had been charged with killing police officers, Iraqi officials said.
The prisoners were described as members of the Tharallah Party, one of the numerous armed Shiite groups contending for power in Basra. They were being held on charges of attacking police officers in reprisal killings after clashes outside the home of the group's leader.
Police officials in Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, said Thursday that at least 25 people, mostly thought to be Kurds, were killed there in execution-style shootings in the past week, The Associated Press reported. The police have found the bodies, left alone or in pairs, around the city.
Mosul, in the north, has a mixed population, largely Kurds and Sunni Arabs, and tension often flares into violence. Police officials said they were not sure whether the killers were Sunni Arab insurgents, sectarian death squads or common criminals.
John F. Burns reported for this article from Baghdad and John O'Neil from New York. Sabrina Tavernise, Mona Mahmoud and Khalid al-Ansary contributed reporting for this article.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
posted by Ed Kent at 10:54 AM
1 Comments:
The Iraqi Government of the Green Zone (IGGZ) is the puppet state we have, not the puppet state you might want or wish to have at a later time.
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