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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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July 9th,
2009 - Worst Violence since US Pullback Hits Iraq |
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Worst Violence
since US Pullback Hits Iraq By Christopher Torchia Associated Press July 9, 2009 Baghdad - Bombs killed
nearly 60 people in Iraq on Thursday in the worst violence since U.S. combat
troops withdrew from urban areas last week, and American forces released five
Iranian officials suspected of aiding Shiite insurgents. U.S. officials said they
believe the Iranians, detained in northern Iraq in January 2007, had
facilitated attacks on American-led forces but handed them over to the Iraqi
government at its request because they were obliged to do so under a
U.S.-Iraqi security agreement. The U.S. State Department
said it was concerned their release could present a security threat to
American troops in Iraq. Iraq's foreign minister,
Hoshyar Zebari, called the release a "good initiative" that could
encourage dialogue between Washington and Tehran, which are longtime foes. Iranian Embassy spokesman
Amir Arshadi said Iraq had transferred the Iranians, described by their
government as diplomats, to the embassy. Washington believes they are
associated with the Quds Force, part of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard
Corps, and that they trained Iraqi militants. The carnage within Iraqi
borders Thursday was a sign that insurgents remain intent on destabilizing
Iraq as the United States shifts its focus to the war in Afghanistan. Attacks
are down sharply from past years of war and militants have been driven from
many strongholds, but they routinely inflict casualties in Baghdad and
northern Iraq, a cauldron of ethnic and sectarian tension. The most lethal attack
Thursday was in the northern city of Tal Afar, where women sat in the street
amid torn and bloodied bodies in the aftermath of suicide bombings, wailing
and beating their chests in grief. Several men crouched and wept into their
hands. Others rushed the wounded to ambulances; some used a bed sheet as a
makeshift stretcher. In a statement on his Web
site, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani condemned the attacks and said the
"forces of evil and terrorism" were trying in vain to demoralize
Iraqi security forces and the civilian population. Some 130,000 U.S. troops
remain in Iraq, but they have a much lower profile and are preparing for a
complete pullout by the end of 2011. Iraqi attitudes are mixed, with some
rejoicing over the absence of American troops in their streets and a new
sense of sovereignty, and others worried that extremists will now have more
freedom to operate. "Our security forces
are still weak, with poor intelligence," said Saeed Rahim, a government
employee in Baghdad. "Deploying more unqualified troops into the streets
does not necessarily lead to better results." The day's violence began at
6:30 a.m., when a suicide bomber in a police uniform and carrying a radio and
a pistol knocked on the door of an investigator in the anti-terrorism police
force in Tal Afar. When the officer opened the door, the bomber detonated his
explosive belt, killing the officer, his wife and son, said Maj. Gen. Khalid al-Hamadani,
police chief of the northern Ninevah province. As people gathered in the
aftermath, another suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt, al-Hamadani
said. The coordinated attack killed a total of 38 people and injured 66. Army
Brig. Abdul-Rahman Abu Raghef said the first suicide bomber was a local
resident who had been jailed for one year on suspicion of terrorism, but was
released in an amnesty in June. A day earlier, car bombs in
two Shiite villages near Mosul, another northern Iraqi city, killed 16
civilians and injured more than two dozen. Haneen Qaddo, a lawmaker
representing Shiites in the Mosul region, complained about a "big
security vacuum" in the north and said Kurdish forces, known as
peshmerga, should withdraw from some areas and allow Iraqi army units to
deploy. Tensions between Iraqi Arabs and Kurds, who run a virtual mini-state
in part of northern Iraq, are considered a major threat to long-term
stability. Factions are maneuvering for
control of Kirkuk, a disputed northern city in an oil-rich area that is seen
as a flash point for conflict. Police there said a civilian bystander died in
a bomb attack on a police patrol on Thursday. Insurgents also struck
Baghdad on Thursday morning, detonating bombs that killed 18 people and injured
dozens. Eight of them died and 30 were injured in coordinated blasts near an
outdoor market in the Shiite district of Sadr City, said Maj. Gen. Qassim
al-Mousawi, spokesman for the city's operations command center. Hassan Abdullah, a vegetable
salesman, said he heard the first blast and went to see what was happening
when a second bomb hidden in trash about 100 yards away exploded. He was
taken to a hospital with hand and leg injuries. In the Karrada district of
central Baghdad, one civilian died in a bomb attack on the convoy of Central
Bank Gov. Sinan al-Shibibi, a police officer said on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The governor was
unharmed. In Washington, State
Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the U.S. had to release the Iranians
under a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that took effect in January. Kelly said
the release was not part of a deal or prisoner exchange with Tehran. He said Iraq has issued
arrest warrants for all non-Iraqi detainees held by American forces and asked
the U.S. to transfer them to the Iraqi government's custody. Kelly described the five
Iranians as being "associated with" the Quds force. Kelly said the
possibility of the five creating security problems in Iraq was "a big
concern." A senior Iraqi government
official said on condition of anonymity that the Americans had advised Iraqi
counterparts that the Iranians should leave the country. Also Thursday, the U.S. military
said it was investigating the death of a U.S. soldier who had been found
"unresponsive" on a military base. Associated Press Writers
Qassim Adbul-Zahra and Saad Abdul-Kadir in Baghdad and Matthew Lee in
Washington contributed to this report. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD99B4V780 |