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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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January 26th,
2010 - 21 Killed in Bombing at Baghdad Government Building News article from the Los Angeles
Times |
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21 Killed in Bombing at
Baghdad Government Building More than 80 are injured in the suicide attack, which comes just one
day after coordinated explosions at three Baghdad hotels kill 37 people. By Liz Sly & Raheem Salman Los Angeles Times January 26, 2010 Reporting from Baghdad - A
suicide bomber plowed into an Interior Ministry building in central Baghdad
today, killing 21 people and wounding more than 80 in an attack that raised
fears extremists were escalating a campaign of bombings aimed at
destabilizing the government. The attack came a day after
a triple bombing against three major Baghdad hotels in which 37 people died.
Though there have been several occasions in recent months in which multiple
bombings have taken place, it has become rare in the Iraqi capital for suicide
attackers to strike twice in as many days. Today's attack targeted a
building housing a forensics-crime laboratory and fitted with a pattern of
recent bombings against government institutions and high-profile landmarks
ahead of the pivotal national elections due to be held in March. The bomb pulverized blast
walls intended to protect the facility, caused extensive damage to the
building and shattered windows for hundreds of yards around. People at the scene accused
the Iraqi security forces of failing to protect them. But they mostly blamed
the former Baath Party, which ruled Iraq under Saddam Hussein, reflecting the
official government view that Baathists were responsible for most of the
bombings. "The Baathists are
ready to ally with even the devil, not only Al Qaeda, to create unrest,"
said Marwan Abid Salman, 35, who lived near the bomb site. The top U.S. military
commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, said he was convinced that Al Qaeda in
Iraq was behind the latest attacks, perhaps acting in coordination with some
Baathists. "We don't have proof
yet, but I believe this was Al Qaeda," he told journalists. Odierno noted that Monday's
bombings featured a new tactic, in which gunmen helped the bombers gain
access to two of the hotels by firing on guards at the gate. The bombings
showed Al Qaeda was still capable of launching sophisticated attacks, but
Odierno said he believed they lacked the capacity to mount a sustained
campaign. "They are doing a lot
less attacks," he said, "but they are trying to get a bigger
outcome." External link: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-iraq-bombing27-2010jan27,0,1817867.story Iraq bombings: Gen. Odierno
blames a changing Al Qaeda On the second consecutive day of major suicide bombings in Iraq, top
US Gen. Raymond Odierno says Al Qaeda in Iraq had changed focus in the past
six months. By Jane Arraf Christian Science Monitor January 26, 2010 Baghdad - A suicide car bomb
detonated outside the Interior Ministry’s forensics department in Baghdad
Tuesday, killing more than 18 people and severely damaging the building in
the second consecutive day of high-profile attacks. An Interior Ministry
official said that in addition to those killed, at least 80 people were
injured in the blast, which took place near a checkpoint close to the
forensics department on al-Tahariyat Square in the Karrada neighborhood. At
least five of those killed and half of those wounded were police officers
injured when part of the building collapsed, he said. The explosion also sent
glass and pieces of metal flying through nearby cafes. It was the third time
in two years that the directorate had been bombed, he said. Following Monday’s suicide
bombings of three major hotels in Baghdad, the attacks were widely seen as an
escalating attempt to destablize the country ahead of key parliamentary
elections in March. The top US general in Iraq
said that while there was no definitive proof, he believed Monday’s attacks
were conducted by Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) - an organization whose leaders
appear to be increasingly well-educated and increasingly Iraqi, he said. Gen. Raymond Odierno added
that, since August, AQI had transformed itself from an organization dedicated
to sustaining a long-term insurgency to one that was conducting clear-cut
terrorist attacks aimed at destabilizing the government and weakening support
for Iraqi security forces. AQI has taken credit for a
series of coordinated bombings starting in August that targeted key
government institutions - among them the Foreign, Justice, and Finance
ministries - with huge suicide bombs. Iraq relying on fraudulent devices At security checkpoints -
including those surrounding Baghdad - the Iraqi government has relied heavily
on an explosive detection device manufactured by a British private company
that is being investigated for fraud. Last week, the British government
stopped the export of the hand-held devices, which the US military has
determined to be "totally ineffective," but they are still widely
in use in Baghdad. The Iraqi government is
believed to have paid more than $18,000 each for each of the devices under an
$850 million contract. An investigative BBC report on Jan. 22 found that they
were manufactured for about $250 each, using the same sensors found in antishoplifting
devices. The case has sparked the
Iraqi government’s own investigation as well as anger among ordinary Iraqis.
That anger was evident in the streets surrounding the blast on Tuesday, where
the impact tore through surrounding apartment buildings, leaving residents
injured and homeless. Basim Mohammad Ismail, a
Ministry of Interior employee, says he was having breakfast with his family
when the blast tore through his apartment. “It was just one second but
it caused so much destruction and pain,” he says, picking up a piece of metal
that came flying through their window. “My 8-year-old daughter is in hospital
- her beautiful face is full of glass splinters - she might lose her
eyesight.” He said he believed everyone in the government knew the explosives
detection devices were ineffective and bought them anyway to make money from
them. “The security agencies are a
failure. The explosives detectors are a failure,” says Raed Issam, whose
niece and nephew were also injured by flying glass. “[The Iraqi government]
knows that but they are too busy stealing. They don’t care what happens to us,
as long as they are safe in their secure Green Zone.” Odierno: Bombs may be made in ‘Baghdad belt’ On Monday, car bombs struck
at three high-profile hotels in central Baghdad, one of them used by foreign
journalists. Casualty estimates varied widely but at least 16 people appear
to have been killed in the bombings, which extensively damaged the hotels and
surrounding buildings. Odierno said the explosives
detonated on Monday were much less powerful than those seen in previous
high-profile bombings, but at least one of the audacious attacks marked a
change in tactics. Gunmen outside the Hamra
Hotel, popular with Western journalists, opened fire on the compound's
security guards before the suicide truck bomb drove through the barrier and
detonated. “It’s the first time we’ve
seen it executed this way,” Odierno told journalists. “As time goes on, their
ability to impact becomes less and less, so they are trying to get the
biggest outcome.” While the US and Iraq had
made great progress, they should not underestimate the difficulty of dealing
with a sophisticated and constantly shifting organization, he said. “This is a slog. This is not
something that changes immediately overnight - it takes time to develop
capacity, to develop investigative capacity, it takes time to develop the
relationship between the judiciary and the Iraqi police regarding evidence,”
he told a group of Western reporters. Odierno said he believed
most of the suicide car bombs were being assembled in rural areas outside
Baghdad, where there was minimal Iraqi security presence, and driven into the
city. Those areas - known as the
Baghdad belt - were the focus of the US military surge three years ago when
thousands of American troops were placed in the area to prevent the flow of
ammunition and fighters into the capital. In many of the areas there were not
enough effective Iraqi security forces to replace them when the Americans
pulled out. Sahar Issa contributed to
this report. External link: http://tinyurl.com/yfkma4p |