Now Bush is gone...

[Peikko 1,575]

Link

Sixty die in deadliest Iraq bombing since June

April 24 - In a second day of major bloodshed, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up near the gates of a Shi'ite Muslim shrine in Baghdad on Friday, killing 60 people, Iraqi police said.

The attack was the deadliest single incident in Iraq since 63 people died in a truck bomb blast in Baghdad on June 17 last year, and came amid growing concern that a recent decline in violence might turn out to have been just a temporary lull.

At least 125 people were wounded in the blasts that took place within minutes of one another at the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim shrine in the Shi'ite neighbourhood of Kadhimiya, police said. Many of the dead and wounded were Iranian Shi'ite pilgrims.

Police said the attackers approached two gates to the shrine, which contains the tombs of two important holy men, or imams, and has been a frequent target of Sunni Islamist extremists who consider Shi'ite Muslims to be heretics.

"They used sidestreets to get there and this enabled them to avoid checkpoints. They blew themselves up in the crowd," Major-General Jihad al-Jabiri, head of an Interior Ministry unit that investigates explosions, told Reuters Television.

He said the attackers placed two leather bags full of explosives among the crowds at the two main gates. They were detonated by grenades whose pull rings were attached to strings and yanked from a short distance away.

Earlier reports that the suicide bombers were wearing explosive vests were not accurate, Jabiri said.

In a street leading to the shrine, workers afterwards swept up waves of glass from shattered shop windows.

"My message to the filthy hands behind this cruel attack is, they will not stop us from loving the descendants of the prophet

(Mohammed) and they will not stop us from showing devotion," one survivor said from his hospital bed.

The blasts on the Muslim holy day followed two suicide bombs on Thursday, one in Baghdad and the other in the northeastern province of Diyala, in which a total of at least 89 people died.

Most of the 57 dead in Diyala were Iranians, who have flocked to Iraq's Shi'ite holy sites in the millions since Sunni Arab dictator Saddam Hussein was ousted in the 2003 invasion.

"The incident (in Iraq) yesterday was a very, very hateful example of those who harm religion in the name of religion," influential Iranian cleric and former president Ali Akbar Rafsanjani told worshippers at Friday prayers in Iran.

He criticized the United States for failing to protect Iraqis.

GROWING FEARS OF RESURGENCE IN VIOLENCE

While violence has fallen sharply over the past year, insurgent groups like al Qaeda still carry out frequent attacks. Suicide bombings are a hallmark of Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.

The latest attacks coincide with growing fears of a resurgence in violence as U.S. combat troops prepare to pull out of Iraqi cities in June, ahead of a full withdrawal by the end of 2011, and amid doubts over the effectiveness of Iraqi forces.

A national election at the end of the year has also heightened apprehensions as political parties and armed groups jostle for dominance of the oil-producing nation.

Analysts say the sectarian divide that caused Shi'ites and Sunnis to slaughter each other remains, while Kurd-Arab tensions over disputed lands could also provoke renewed conflict.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office set up a commission to investigate Friday's explosions and ordered the detention of two Iraqi commanders responsible for securing the shrine.

Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani blamed al Qaeda.

"It's not a security failure because they aren't targeting government or security facilities. They are targeting civilians. That is proof of how weak they are," Bolani told Reuters.

General Ray Odierno, the U.S. commander in Iraq, said the last two days had been tragic for Iraqis.

"We will assist the government of Iraq in going after these networks and individuals who continue to conduct these attacks," Odierno told CNN. "I believe the Iraqi people ... will not let this stand in their way of moving forward."

On Thursday, Iraqi authorities announced the arrest of a leader of an al Qaeda-linked insurgent group. But neither they nor the U.S. military were able to confirm on Friday that the person was Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the purported head of a group called the Islamic State of Iraq.

(Additional reporting by Washington bureau and Zahra Hosseinian in Tehran; writing by Michael Christie; editing by Andrew Roche)

See Mr Obama, your appeasement tactics are costing lives.

Edited April 24, 2009 by Madame Cleo

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Impeach Obama!

He's a war criminal!

[Peikko 1,575]

Well, to be fair, these are not US lives that are being lost - so I think that's going a tad too far...

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Well, to be fair, these are not US lives that are being lost - so I think that's going a tad too far...

Well the only reason this is happening is because Bush was negligent in his duties and so many Iraqis continue to be alive as a result.

[Peikko 1,575]

That's true - Bush didn't finish the job he started - but the point is, Bush is gone, this is Obama's watch and it's all his fault now!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

That's true - Bush didn't finish the job he started - but the point is, Bush is gone, this is Obama's watch and it's all his fault now!

Indeed it is.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

In several Middle East panels it was said that if the US pulls out that Iraq would be a million times worse and thrown into the most bloodiest civil war they've ever seen as their new government is not stable yet. However, the people of the US voted Obama to pull us out as he campaigned on that platform and he is keeping that promise. I feel terribly saddened for those women who suicide bomb since I read what they have to go through since the 'Mother of Martyrs" article in the New York Times. They are generally already mentally vulnerable women that are kidnapped, gang raped, verbally abused and guilt tripped and shamed into suicide bombing by saving the family honor since they are no longer virgins. Gawd! War!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

In several Middle East panels it was said that if the US pulls out that Iraq would be a million times worse and thrown into the most bloodiest civil war they've ever seen as their new government is not stable yet. However, the people of the US voted Obama to pull us out as he campaigned on that platform and he is keeping that promise. I feel terribly saddened for those women who suicide bomb since I read what they have to go through since the 'Mother of Martyrs" article in the New York Times. They are generally already mentally vulnerable women that are kidnapped, gang raped, verbally abused and guilt tripped and shamed into suicide bombing by saving the family honor since they are no longer virgins. Gawd! War!

They are Iraqis.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

That's true - Bush didn't finish the job he started - but the point is, Bush is gone, this is Obama's watch and it's all his fault now!

Indeed it is.

As Borat would say - Obama has failed to "drink the blood of every man, woman and child of Iraq".

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

That's true - Bush didn't finish the job he started - but the point is, Bush is gone, this is Obama's watch and it's all his fault now!

Indeed it is.

As Borat would say - Obama has failed to "drink the blood of every man, woman and child of Iraq".

Impeach him now!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

In several Middle East panels it was said that if the US pulls out that Iraq would be a million times worse and thrown into the most bloodiest civil war they've ever seen as their new government is not stable yet. However, the people of the US voted Obama to pull us out as he campaigned on that platform and he is keeping that promise. I feel terribly saddened for those women who suicide bomb since I read what they have to go through since the 'Mother of Martyrs" article in the New York Times. They are generally already mentally vulnerable women that are kidnapped, gang raped, verbally abused and guilt tripped and shamed into suicide bombing by saving the family honor since they are no longer virgins. Gawd! War!

Oh yeah - that's the reasoning why we didn't depose Saddam in '91, because it would open up a huge Pandora's box and we'd be stuck in there for years.

This is one of those cases where "you broke it, you bought it", I'm afraid.

[Peikko 1,575]

Indeed, simple savages, we can expect nothing less.

[peejay 327]

Oh what a tangled web we weave when we buy foreign oil for our SUV.

People can blame Bush, Obama, Saddam, or whoever for these deaths, but behind the whole thing is the fact that the USA imports 2/3 of our oil needs.

And most of the oil is from the Middle East. It doesn't matter if the actual gasoline in your tank originates from Mexico, Venezuela, Canada, etc. The oil market is one big barrel that acts like a domino.

Hence...America does and will have a presence when and where oil is involved. Anyone that believes the USA invaded Iraq for freedom and democracy is an idiot and a fool.

[Peikko 1,575]

It's the SUV"s that are to blame? Impeach the Hummer!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

... the USA imports 2/3 of our oil needs.

And most of the oil is from the Middle East.

From http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petrole...nt/import.html: