Explosions in Basra

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-04-21 02:22am

CNN wrote:BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A series of explosions at three Iraqi police stations Wednesday morning in Basra caused "many casualties," according to a British military source in the southern Iraqi city.

Early reports indicated up to 40 people may have been killed.

The suspected car bombs exploded between 7:15 and 7:30 a.m. (12:15 a.m.-12:30 a.m. EDT).

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source told CNN that crowds were throwing stones at the coalition forces as they were trying to reach the sites of the blasts.

Further details were not immediately available.

The explosions come a day after Iraqi leaders set up a tribunal to try ousted dictator Saddam Hussein and other members of his Baathist regime.

Salem Chalabi, the nephew of the head the Iraqi National Congress, was named to head the tribunal of judges and prosecutors, according to council spokesman Entefadh Qanbar. (Full story)
U.S.: Clock ticking in Fallujah, Najaf

Iraqis and coalition officials worked Tuesday to stabilize restive Fallujah, but U.S. authorities in Baghdad and Washington warned that time is running short for a peaceful solution.

"In Fallujah, discussions are seeking an Iraqi-centered solution there," Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld said at a news conference in Washington.

"The current state of affairs in Fallujah will not continue indefinitely. Thugs and assassins and former Saddam henchmen will not be allowed to carve out portions of that city and to oppose peace and freedom," he said.

Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman Dan Senor said, "If the peaceful track does not play itself out, and there is not a serious effort by all parties, major hostilities will resume on short notice."

Senor said key demands sought by the coalition are the handing over by insurgents of illegal heavy weapons and the removal of "foreign fighters, criminals, drug users" and others who are using Fallujah as a base of operations to "engage in violence and terrorist acts."

Senor told reporters coalition and Iraqi authorities are working with local officials to implement a number of steps designed to achieve peace and stability.

They include:

# Giving unfettered access to the general hospital

# Allowing removal and burial of the dead

# Making provisions for food and medicine in isolated areas

# Moving the overnight curfew start time from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

# Allowing for the passage of official ambulances in the city

# Returning of 50 families back to the city per day.

A March 31 attack by insurgents that killed four American contractors, whose bodies were mutilated and dragged through the streets, prompted the coalition to send the Marines to Fallujah, about 35 miles west of Baghdad.

U.S. troops remain massed on the outskirts of the holy Shiite city of Najaf, but it remains under the control of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia.

In Najaf, a coalition source said al-Sadr "controls the Kufa mosque and the Shrine of Imam Ali" and he "reserves the right to send his militia into any place at any time here. We still hear reports of him rounding up people and putting death threats on the heads of anyone who has worked with the coalition."

In Washington, Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "there's a swap-out of forces going on now" in the Najaf region, saying "the Spanish are leaving and other coalition forces are moving in." Spain has announced it will withdraw its more than 1,300 troops from Iraq.

"We're going to position ourselves militarily to be able to take the appropriate, decisive military action if that's called for, but at the same time trying to create the atmosphere with military forces that will get the people to talk to each other and find a peaceful solution," Pace said.

These two hubs of anti-U.S. sentiment remained relatively quiet Tuesday, and there were only scattered reports of fighting between coalition forces and insurgents throughout the country.

Shits hit the fan...

h0rus · Post by **h0rus** » 2004-04-21 02:54am

Just heard this news on a dc hub. How shitty.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-04-21 03:24am

CNN is now reporting 22 confirmed fatalities.

Supreme_Warlord · Post by **Supreme_Warlord** » 2004-04-21 08:11am

Latest reports have the casualty figure at 68.

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2004-04-21 08:35am

Many of which were school children. But I'm SURE the insurgents and I'll-just-jeer-ya will say that teh 3\/01 coalition forces did it. already there are crowds of ignorant moron dipshits saying ther they have pieces of british missiles from the explosion sites.

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2004-04-21 09:02am

Well, the Brits had problems of even reaching the sites, because they were attavked by crowds, who threw rains of stones at them.
First bad sign.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-04-21 09:18am

See, this is the kind of shit that makes me say fuck it, pull out. Shi'ite civilians stoning British troops on their way to *help*. Someone explain this to me? Anyone?

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-04-21 09:22am

Vympel wrote:See, this is the kind of shit that makes me say fuck it, pull out. Shi'ite civilians stoning British troops on their way to *help*. Someone explain this to me? Anyone?

They didn't ask us to come in and topple their government Vympel. Pulling out at this point would be to duck our responsibilities.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2004-04-21 09:29am

The Kernel wrote:
Vympel wrote:See, this is the kind of shit that makes me say fuck it, pull out. Shi'ite civilians stoning British troops on their way to *help*. Someone explain this to me? Anyone?
They didn't ask us to come in and topple their government Vympel. Pulling out at this point would be to duck our responsibilities.

They're "government" was a freaking Stalinist dictatorship! That's absolutely no excuse for abducting aide workers and stoning the soldiers who are trying to help those hurt by this blatant act terrorism.

Anyhoo...looks like there are 68 dead, according to Reuters and Yahoo! News:

Suicide Bombers Kill 68 in Southern Iraq
1 hour, 59 minutes ago

By Abdel-Razzak Hameed

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Suicide bombers killed at least 68 people, some of them children, in co-ordinated strikes on four police stations that inflicted bloody chaos on Iraq (news - web sites)'s southern city of Basra Wednesday, officials said.

Reuters Photo

Reuters

Basra mayor Wael Abdul-Hafeez accused Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network of being behind the morning rush-hour blasts.

Near-simultaneous explosions hit three police stations in Basra and one in the town of Zubair, 16 miles south of the mainly Shi'ite city, the British military said.

"All four attacks seem to have been carried out by suicide bombers," said a British Defense Ministry spokeswoman in Basra.

Hafeez told a news conference 68 people, not including the bombers, had been killed and 99 wounded. Among the dead were children going to school in a minibus that was incinerated in one of the car bombings.

Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority, which in Basra is British-led, vowed to pursue those behind "these despicable attacks" and urged Iraqis to "isolate those who use violence to try to disrupt the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty."

The U.S.-led occupation is due to end on June 30 with the formal transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government.

A wounded Iraqi, Amin Dinar, said he had heard a huge explosion as he stood at the door of his house.

"I looked around and saw my leg bleeding and my neighbor lying dead on the floor, torn apart," he said from his hospital bed. "I saw a minibus full of children on fire."

AL QAEDA ACCUSED

The mayor, speaking at Basra police headquarters, said police had recovered the remains of one bearded bomber.

"I accuse al Qaeda," the mayor said. "We have arrested a person disguised in a police uniform. We are questioning him."

U.S. officials have blamed al Qaeda or its affiliates for some of the violence sweeping Iraq.

Interior Minister Samir Sumaidy said the Basra attacks were similar to devastating suicide attacks in the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala and the Kurdish capital Arbil earlier this year. But he told a news conference it was too early to assign blame.

Witnesses at hospitals said 200 civilians and police had been wounded. Reuters counted 55 bodies at one hospital. A morgue attendant said 39 bodies had been identified and at least 16 others were burned beyond recognition.

A British military spokesman said three vehicles had exploded at Basra police stations at about 7:15 a.m. British officials said the Zubair blast killed three Iraqis and wounded four British soldiers, two seriously.

The explosions sowed panic across Basra, which had been relatively peaceful during this month's surge of violence in other parts of central and southern Iraq.

Josh Mandel, at Control Risks Group, a security firm based in London, said the attacks did not necessarily mean guerrilla activity was about to engulf previously calm areas.

"The guys who are carrying out these major vehicle bomb attacks have shown they are able to penetrate into pretty much any part of the country and carry out large-scale coordinated attacks," Mandel said.

TRUCE SPLINTERS

In Falluja, west of Baghdad, fighting violated a fragile truce just hours after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested the cease-fire in the Sunni city would not last.

Six civilians were killed and 10 wounded in clashes between Marines and rebels that erupted at dawn, residents said.

"Thugs and assassins and former Saddam henchmen will not be allowed to carve out portions of that city and to oppose peace and freedom," Rumsfeld said Tuesday.

Dozens of families who had fled earlier fighting queued on the edge of Falluja Wednesday waiting to be allowed home. The truce deal stipulates that 50 families may return each day.

Marines at the desert roadblock initially turned people back, but let some through as the fighting died down.

Muthanna Harith al-Dari, a mediator from the Muslim Clerics Association said Falluja talks would go on despite the latest fighting. He said some insurgents had begun to hand in heavy weapons in line with a U.S. truce condition.

But a senior official in the U.S.-led administration said the response to the weapons demand had been "very limited."

North of Baghdad, U.S.-backed Iraqi soldiers killed four insurgents and seized three explosive-laden cars in a raid overnight, said Iraqi Major-General Anwar Amin in Kirkuk.

President Bush (news - web sites), seeking re-election in November with Iraq high on the campaign agenda, said U.S. forces remained strong despite the decisions of Spain, Honduras and the Dominican Republic to pull their troops out of the country.

Canada said one of its citizens had been kidnapped in Iraq -- the latest in a spate of hostage-taking this month that has snared foreign civilians from more than a dozen countries.

KrauserKrauser · Post by **KrauserKrauser** » 2004-04-21 09:44am

Pretty shitty all around.

But it's not like we can leave anytime soon. More meat for the meatgrinder.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-04-21 10:29am

The Kernel wrote:
They didn't ask us to come in and topple their government Vympel. Pulling out at this point would be to duck our responsibilities.

Responsibility to who, and to do what? You know how I felt about this ridiculous democracy excursion into the Middle East, but if they didn't ask the US to invade, maybe the US should listen when they ask it to leave.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-04-21 11:27am

Vympel wrote: Responsibility to who, and to do what? You know how I felt about this ridiculous democracy excursion into the Middle East, but if they didn't ask the US to invade, maybe the US should listen when they ask it to leave.

And I felt the exact same way, but that decision is over and done with. Do I think there is a snowballs chance in hell of us salvaging the situation? No. But that doesn't mean we can just walk away with a clear conscience. It is our responsibility to leave Iraq with at least a chance at stability.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2004-04-21 05:11pm

And not a total power vacuum that couls potentially just lead to somone as much of a cock as the one that just left.

We broke it, now we have to see it gets fixed, even though it's not going to be appreciated all the time.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2004-04-21 05:26pm

Vendetta wrote:And not a total power vacuum that couls potentially just lead to somone as much of a cock as the one that just left.

We broke it, now we have to see it gets fixed, even though it's not going to be appreciated all the time.

I'm pretty sure it was already broken. That is, of course, unless you think that Saddam was getting along just peachy.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2004-04-21 06:29pm

I'm pretty sure it was already broken. That is, of course, unless you think that Saddam was getting along just peachy.

Why is it that people like you always shout stuff like "WHY DO YOU LIKE SADDAM/OSAMA/THE TERRORISTS" whenever someone criticizes American government policy?

Yeah, no one's saying that Saddam was anything but a totalitarian dictator, but the country was stable then. Because of our actions, it is no longer stable, therefor, it is our responsibility to make it stable once more.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2004-04-22 01:32am

HemlockGrey wrote:
I'm pretty sure it was already broken. That is, of course, unless you think that Saddam was getting along just peachy.
Yeah, no one's saying that Saddam was anything but a totalitarian dictator, but the country was stable then. Because of our actions, it is no longer stable, therefor, it is our responsibility to make it stable once more.

Did I ever say that it *was* stable or that it wasn't our responsibility to restablize it? Of course it's not. It was somewhat stable under Saddam, but, overall, I'd say that the Iraqi people (and the world, for that matter) are better off without him.

I'm simply stating by that quote that it already was broken.