Suicide Bomber Kills Dozens In West Baghdad

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest at a dinner feast in western Baghdad's Abu Ghraib district, killing at least 21 people, police said.

Police colonel Dawood Suleiman in the nearby city of Fallujah gave the initial death toll as 21.

A police source in Baghdad who declined to give his name said 25 had died. Earlier the source had given a much lower figure.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[marissyb29]

Hizbullah involved in suicide bombings in Iraq: Read more about this news piece from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=1&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=442&PID=0&IID=2509&TTL=Hizbullah"s_Role_in_Attacks_Against_U.S._and_British_Forces_in_Iraq

[Americatortures]

surge continues to work...ONLY IRAQIS murdered!! McBush praises Iraqi parliament for going on vacation as goal of surge,RECONCILIATION ,is NOT even a pipe dream of Iraqis! Demands the oil companies" DRILL HERE and Drill NOW" at his 14-acre Sedona estate!

[danoj]

How bout we just make kenedy let us put up those wind turbines where he lives. since he fought so hard to keep them from going up in his backyard.

[Big0725]

Glad to see the surge working so well.

[TLV]

WHY did one single fool vote for Bush/Cheney?

[danoj]

You should just count your lucky stars they can't run again. Last round you all said no way kerry looses. I'm sure if they could run for a third term O would get a good ol' fashion can of Texas repub whoop arse opened on him.

[ContraEgoiste]

ahh, the delusional world of cons.

Yep, a man polling in the low 20's and a VP in the low teens, both the reason why the GOP is in dire straits, are going to whoop arse. Riight.

LOL

[rosal]

Hey McWorsethanBush I thought the surge was working. How are you going to spin this? And of course the MSM silent on the subject, they wouldn't want to make the GOP or corporate world mad, right? When are the Dems going to start mentioning this every time something happens?

[navy62802]

Here's the thing...senseless slaughter occurs while we're in Iraq now. It will occur when we're long gone. It has occurred for thousands of years before we were even a nation and will continue for thousands of years after the USA no longer exists. We have to focus on our own problems here in the US before they consume us. Besides, there are much larger problems developing with Russia, and Iraq is nothing but a distraction, except for those oil companies which are seeking major oil contracts in the country. We need to withdraw from Iraq gracefully and move on. Shouldn't have gone there in the first place, but we still have a responsibility to our military personnel to withdraw without endangering them further. Iraq is not our responsibility...the sovereignty of the US is, and with the international showdown with Russia gaining speed rapidly, we'll need our full military force available as a deterrent for war. Right now, the Russians see us spread out over two middle east nations and believe, rightly so, that they can operate with impunity. The recent Georgian conflict is a glaring example of our military weakness at this point in history.

[ContraEgoiste]

More than our military being over-streched, conflicts cost money, lots of money, like the 2+ billion per week that our ME venture is costing us. Money that we are borrowing from a country with close relations with Russia for which we have NOT even begun to pay the interest on.

Meanwhile, our economy is in shambles. Our deficit is hitorical to say the least, while Russia is enjoying an economic boom.

The ironic tragedy is that this piece of history was played once before with the same players, with one exception. The US and the then USSR roles are exactly reversed. But where it took the USSR 10 years mired in Afghanistan, we have done it in half of the time.

The end result is that there is little we can do against Russia except sabre rattle and few sanctions through NATO. An untenable position we have been put on by a bunch of zealous and very stupid NeoCons that thought this was the century for a US empire and our military was the key.

[LorettaSingbiel]

"Meanwhile, our economy is in shambles. Our deficit is hitorical to say the least, while Russia is enjoying an economic boom."

The economy is GREAT because I own more houses than I'm aware of. I'm John McCain and I approve this message."

[LorettaSingbiel]

"there are much larger problems developing with Russia...with the international showdown with Russia gaining speed rapidly, we'll need our full military force available as a deterrent for war."

With prodding persuasion from Bush & Co., Georgia attacked their separatist provinces ... and (to everyone's surprise?) neither the breakaway-from-"democracy" provinces, nor Russia, rolled over and played dead.

Perhaps Bush & Co. thought that "much larger problems developing in Russia" would help McCain add yet ANOTHER house (OUR White House) to his list of houses he's unaware of owning?

WE have used OUR military force to take control of OIL in a sovereign country...so I doubt WE have the moral authority to criticize Russia for attempting to do the same!!!

Georgia sits on a strategic oil pipeline carrying Caspian crude to Western markets bypassing Russia.

So now what? Do WE use OUR military force to finish what Georgia started? ... Do WE use OUR military force to insure Russia won't have a share in the oil that WE steal?

[danoj]

yes we do. how about we just allow more drilling here. Then you guys wouldn't have to worry about our military running all over the planet to secure it.

[taitracee]

HONEY .. I thought the SURGE was working.. hell I heard them say it again this morning on meet the press that it was undeneyable that the surge is working.. WTF

[Logicnotfaith]

You didn't answer my question, or are you telling me you can sleep comfortably at night when the senseless slaughter escalates beyone imagination... as long as our troops are out.

[lornejl]

Who are you talking to ?

[Heavy]

Ironic coming from someone supporting the illegal occupation of a sovereign nation. Even the Rand corporation says fighting terrorism should have been a police action. Iraq is asking for a timetable for withdrawl. Perhaps you should honor THEIR request.

[ContraEgoiste]

a) There were no "muslin extremists" in Iraq before our occupation. Saddam ran a scular country.

b) Now that we have let them reverse back to warring religious tribes, there won't be a cease of violence until they work the peace on their own.

c) (b) Will never ever happen while we are there. So you are suggesting we stay there forever.

d) We can not stay there forever because it would drive us bankrupt (reacall the USSR and Afghanistan??). And whenever we leave, whether now or 100 years from now, violence will erupt as they will fight for control and power.

Further, I find your "corncern" for Iraqis highly dubious and more than a bit hypocritical, since you were the ones cheering "shock and awe", calling for "the death of all ragheads" and "converting the survivors to christianity", and defending Abu Gharig. You also don't seem concerned about continually having to bomb their country and slowly turning it into rubble while we are there, the half a million dead civilians that have occurred during our invasion, the 2 million refugees, the ones now dying of malaria and depleted plutonium, the decay of human rights now that they have reverted to fundamentalism. I bet you are also ok with giving all the jobs to Halliburton subcontractors instead of the Iraqis themselves.

Actually I would venture to say, you don't really give a s#!t about Iraqis, but believe that you have a good excuse for continued war.

[Logicnotfaith]

I would love for one of you lefty wingnuts explain to me how pulling out our troops will make the vicious suicide bombings and senseless murder by muslin extremists go away and how there will be peace in Iraq when we are gone!

[Nyland8]

What makes you think there will be peace in Iraq when we're gone? Whatever gave you that stupid notion?

8

[functor]

There is violence in some other parts of the world. Please send some of your troops over there. People are begging for peace.

[Heavy]

I would love it if we hadn't been lied into war by righty wingnuts and occupied the wrong country. I would love if if right wingnuts would quit coming in here insulting people and just go enlist. Now

[Jahmekyah]

Dude. There was violence and senseless suicide bombings in Iraq BEFORE the US occupied illegally, there were suicide bombings during the occupation (more so in fact), and there will be AFTER. Bush, having lied to the people, sold you a load of crap that said the mighty US and its military force can just walk into a conflict that has been going on since forever, and voila..it would end. NOT GONNA HAPPEN. Try to approach these things with some sense of history and logic instead of trying to jump at an opportunity to flash ur talking points and one-up "lefty wingnuts"

[southafrica4obama]

THE SURGE...

[SaltySaltillo]

But didn't Mac Daddy assure us at Broke Back Church that the Iraq war is over and we won?

[Guynemer]

1981 Saddam invaded Iran - estimated casualties 300k Iranian dead / 160k - 240k Iraqis dead

1990 Saddam invaded Kuwait - estimated casualties 20k - 200k Iraqis deaths

1991 -2003 Saddam brutalizes his own people - 20k - 100k Kurds dead / 60k - 130k Shi'a dead

1991 - 2003 UN Sanctions due to Saddam's treaty violations - 250k - 1 million Iraqi dead

This is what we're competing against folks - a madman that killed a minimum of 600,000 and possibly more than 2,000,000 people in the span of of two decades. The data is in and the results or undeniable. The surge has brought Iraqi violence down to their lowest levels since the invasion in 2003. If one is to factor in the deaths caused by UN sanctions deaths are the lowest in decades.

Just this summer we have seen similar suicide bombings in India, Pakistan, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Chechny etc. This seems to be the most common method of terror used in the Muslim world today - it will exist in Iraq whether we are there or not. For now, we're helping to keep the number of incidents down.

[InformedVoter08]

This is not our fight to win...we INVADED!!!...The surge is not working...how many lives does it take for it to become serious???

[danoj]

Yup, the surge tha's not working that O is calling for in A-Stan.

[FogBelter]

The Pentagon has reporting out of Iraq completely locked down, so we really don't know what is happening there anyway ... unless it is close enough for reporters in the Green Zone to hear and the Military has to come up with a story.

[danoj]

Ahh, since you pointed it out. we did indeed invade so it is our fight to win and our problem to fix. What is your solution pull out like we did in vietnam and allow another killing fields to occur? 3 Mill dead when we abandon those folks.

[researcher]

guy is living proof that brainwashing works.

peace be you

illegal war illegal invasion illegal occupation

what dont americans understand about illegal

pure imperialism and people like guy dont have a clue

iraq and afgan will bankrupt us then americans will slow down from their shopping long enough to acutally care about their imperialism

but not before decades of fascism

nationalism and patroitism can overwhelm the rational mind

we americans are living proof of that

[Guynemer]

"illegal war illegal invasion illegal occupation"

You must be talking about the Balkans, as Serbia never had a single UN resolution authorizing the use of force - much less 17 such resolutions.

[FogBelter]

And who was providing financial, political, and military support to Saddam while he was unleashing the mayhem you described?

The United States of America.

You see, the way Saddam, Diem, Marcos, and Noriega (among others) were handled is the way the United States downsizes an asset that has outlived their usefulness.

[SaltySaltillo]

How many Iraqis have died since the Invasion and occupation of Iraq began?

[Guynemer]

Alot. Now answer this - how many would have died had we not invaded? Furthermore, how many Kurds and Shi'a would have been wiped out, like in 1991, had we left our Northern and Southern no-fly zones to Saddam's tanks and gunships - as we surely would have done when Saudi Arabia ejected us from combat mission originating from their airspace?

[ThunderMongoose]

You didn't put the Pre-1981 notes in there. US encouraged the Iran invasion. Should someone take us out?

Oh, and I can see from the headlines, the surge worked......NOT.

[Guynemer]

Really, Jimmy Carter (the President at the time of the Iraq invasion) encouraged Saddam to invade? Wow - and you're going to vote Democrat?

[RightBrain]

Better there than on the streets of Manhattan.

[FogBelter]

It may be hard for you to comprehend, but grief is grief be it in Baghdad or Manhattan.

Unless you are something other than human?

[smitallica]

Still flogging that one, righty? How's that working for you?

[SaltySaltillo]

Really? Why?

[Ramirez]

Because we're Americans and we protect ourselves first.

0bama can change that if he's elected, but right now that's how we roll.

[RightBrain]

Is there any group on the planet so depraved that the American Left won't adopt them as a pet?

[Heavy]

Why not fight the terrorists in the Bahamas, the beaches are nice. Fun crashing the scooters too after you get drunk.

[FogBelter]

I wonder if the grief on the face of this poor Iraqi woman inspires the same emotion in Americans as the pictures of the grief stricken Georgian woman was meant to?

[Nyland8]

Did we invade and occupy Georgia, too?

8

[FogBelter]

I think we were busy, so the Russians took care of it for us.

[gcallaghan]

Republicans = Military Failure

[danoj]

Love that line from the party that cut the military in half in the 90's.

[Destin]

Time to pwn a republican troll. I was in the military up until Aug 1990. I saw first hand the military cutbacks of the first Bush regime. And who was the SecDef back then? Dick "Trickier than Tricky Dick" Cheney. My fighter squadron manning was slashed by almost 50% BEFORE we went into the first Gulf War. And Cheney, on the whole, cut the military by 25% between 1991 and his leaving office in Jan 1993. Why can't you read it? You can find that information with a quick Google. ;)

Plus you forget the disastrous Gramm-Rudman Act, named after 2 influential lobbyist congressional Republicans. That also cut the military's throat. For one, it put a cap immediately, on how high a wage increase we could be given on a yearly basis. Everyone brags about Reagan giving almost a 5% pay increase to the DoD during his years, but that was all a political stunt, and Gramm-Rudman sought to close that from ever happening again, which hamstrung Clinton when he tried to give us pay raises. Which, while I was out of the military during Clinton's years, I was still working for the same DoD as a civil servant. So I know damn well what I'm talking about. Still, Clinton did manage to give us a 4.4% pay increase in 1999, which was the largest pay increase for the military since 1984 in Reagan's famous "buy the troops" pay raise that got him re-elected. ;)

[dphilip]

Democrats equal = harrass and discourage your own military, embolden the enemy. But the bright side is ,it looks like your "slow bleed" strategy is having an effect.

[Heavy]

Yeah that's why the soldiers are donating 6 to 1 for Obama. Go smoke some more crack, no better, I'll say it again. Go enlist. Just remember that Mc Cone has voted down 4 billion in veterans benefits so if you do you better hope he is not elected.