Baghdad Green Zone Bombarded With Rockets

Reuters reports that the U.S. Green Zone in Baghdad was bombarded by rockets in one of the heaviest assaults in weeks on the fortified compound:

Militants bombarded Baghdad's Green Zone with rockets on Sunday, taking advantage of the cover of a blinding dust storm to launch one of the heaviest strikes in weeks on the fortified compound.

The strikes appeared to defy a renewed call for a ceasefire issued on Friday by Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which has seen many of his masked gunmen leave the streets of the Sadr City slum where they hold sway in eastern Baghdad...

...Iraqi police said eight missiles or mortars had hit the Green Zone and another 14 fell in other parts of the Iraqi capital, killing two people and wounding 20.

Fighting continued in al-Sadr's stronghold Sadr City, and a female suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi security forces' checkpoint, killing three people (from CNN):

A female suicide car bomber attacked an Iraqi security forces' checkpoint in eastern Baghdad on Sunday, killing three people, military officials said.

The bombing came as fighting in the capital's Sadr City neighborhood killed at least seven Shiite militants.

The suicide bomber detonated her taxi near Shaab stadium in a mostly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said.

Comments

[MikeDu]

I recently surfed over to the army.mil official government website. Not only was there precious little recent news on the Iraq war at the site but they've even cleansed the site of most of its older Iraq war images! The Army or the Marines home pages, you'll find more 'official' photos of beauty pageants than the of the war. This is on purpose. They know news outlets nowadays won't print a story if there's no accompanying photo. Its a simple equation: Provide no Iraq war images, no Iraq war news reports will be printed.

[speakingtruth2power]

The militants are Iraqi nationalists & al Qaeda is a Sunni 'radicalized' minority.

All the violence will be blamed on the Iranians because more war is where the

neocons want to take US so they can continue their profiteering, privatization &

pro-fascist promulgations as is the right and duty of the one last Super Power,

even if these cowardly chicken hawks have to borrow from the Chinese to do it.

[curioustorquemada]

I wish the US would send in the flying meat grinder to take care of those "militants"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQhjaCgAS80

[speakingtruth2power]

I wish the haters would stop being the tolls of the greedy.

[VivaZapata]

McCainially speaking, "make it two hundred years. fine with me, my friends."

[BlueStateMan]

I'll see your 200 & raise you 500.

[Irons]

Is Blackwater sitting on it's collective hands again? These frickin' mercenaries are getting paid big bucks to shoot the shit out of Iraq malcontents. So what have they done for the stars and stripes lately?

[EyeballKid]

Collected hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars so that they an kill with amoral impunity?

[HumeSkeptic]

I think it's time to turn another corner. It has been a while since we tried that trick.

[SuiginTou7]

We've turned so many, does this mean we're just going in circles?

[zerocoma]

That's why bushies like corners.... they never have to "come around" and face reality.

[Rog49Thomas]

For the record, I believe it is a fact (neocon fact which may not necessarily be congruent with reality as that term is commonly understood), but we have had almost as many victories in Iraq as the Wehrmacht declared on the Ostfront in 1944-45.

Endsieg is just one more surge away.

And if that's not enough, our scientists working under the direction of our enlightened Leader are preparing WuWa which will ensure a favorable outcome.

[JuneCleaversBeaver]

We've turned so many corners, we are back to the original starting point.

[Podewumun]

Are there corners in aroundaroundaround room?

[rivrgrrl]

'The strikes appeared to defy a renewed call for a ceasefire issued on Friday by Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which has seen many of his masked gunmen leave the streets of the Sadr City slum where they hold sway in eastern Baghdad...'

The ceasefire that I read about on Fri by al-Sadr was one involving Iraqis only. It did not include the 'occupying forces' (his words). In fact, al-Sadr calls on his supporters to step up attacks against.

So why is the article portraying this as al-Sadr breaking some ceasefire, when in fact he is doing exactly what he warned he would do.

We need to get our troops out of there now.

[rivrgrrl]

...step up attacks against occupying forces and those who support them.

[Gilda]

There has to be a way to pressure the media to start covering this war in depth, the way the media
covered the Vietnam War. We need to focus on the big picture again. If the BBC and other
media outlets can do comprehensive coverage, why is ours only devoting minutes of spoon fed propaganda from the white house and Pentagon. I think we all know the answer to these questions
but a boycott of network and cable news could do wonders for pressuring them into becoming
journalists again instead of the fluffcasters they all are. I think it would be awesome publicity for a network to have a few reporters jailed for trying to cover the funerals of troops returning in flag-draped caskets. Katie Couric? CBS? You need the ratings? Here's a golden opportunity!
Let us see what is really going on in Iraq, in the veteran hospitals, in the homes of families with
members of military. It is our tax dollars and we still have freedom of the press.
End the blackouts and propanganda.

[BlueStateMan]

That's the reason that our "reporters" were EMBEDDED... so as to blind them to the BIG picture.

They fell for it, too.... hook, line, & sinker.

[dotmafia]

They didn't "fall" for it as much as they willingly and complicitly grabbed opportunities in the name of ratings.

[BlueStateMan]

You're right about that, friend.

[rivrgrrl]

Watch, listen to and support financially indie news networks.

On TV, Link TV and FreeSpeech TV.

Pacifica Radio, NPR, Air America. There are many to choose from, but they can't keep going without support and voices. They truly are bring you the news and stories the msm won't.

[JuneCleaversBeaver]

Things changed in this country when the networks no longer hired journalism majors and started hiring communications majors.

"We got the bubble headed bleach-blonde who comes on at five. She can tell you 'bout a plane crash with a gleam in her eye. It's interesting when people die, give us dirty laundry!"

[Podewumun]

So true. I get a giggle out of watching "Network News" every now and then.

[rivrgrrl]

Yup.

But Amy Goodman, INN news and others are still out there reporting the unvarnished truth.

We need more of them and less of abc, cbs and faux news.

[sassafra]

al sadr's mouth says, "no, no no" to his militia, but his lying eyes say,"yes, yes, yes". i wouldn't trust that weasel for a second. maliki has no choice but to terminate him and his militia at this point. sadr can't be allowed to challenge the elected iraqi government time and again.

[EyeballKid]

eh... Maliki was APPOINTED as prime minister. He was appointed because Bush wanted him as Prime Minister. So, where's the democracy? Democracy is on the rise only when it benefits Bush. And even then, it becomes a commodity, like magnetic bumper stickers. Or service revolvers. Bush knows this.

[minerva117]

or American flag lapel pins.

[doug108]

That weasel is just reminding the weasels in Washington who runs shit over there. Unmitigated greed and lust for power got us into this mess, and the treasonous bastards who did this to us are going to leave office in a few months, richer and more powerful than ever.

I know Congress will never raise a hand to Bush. But, maybe they could investigate the ex-military brass who conspired with Rumsfeld to poison public debate in this country about the war. Any of them who are found to have abused their position of trust, and who stood to personally gain by telling the American people lies, ought to be tried for treason and hanged. It would make it harder for those in office to find willing lackies next time.

[sassafra]

i'd like to see them all charged with treason myself.

[cdnnewsjunky]

" al sadr's mouth says, "no, no no"...but his lying eyes say,"yes, yes, yes"." - sassafra

What nerve, to post here about al Sadr's lying mouth, when your president lied to the world, to justify what turns out to be an illegal and immoral invasion of a sovereign country! You have no business in Iraq, and al Sadr's business is certainly none of yours.

The arrogance of the American right, is astounding to the rest of the world!

[sassafra]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaahahahahaha*sniff* you think i'm a republithug?
not in a milliion years skippy.
i'm just not stupid.
sadr *is* a lying sack of manure. we sure wouldn't put up with it for a second if someone like dobson formed a militia and tried to take down a city, why should iraq's government and maliki? *our* problem is iraq's army sucks and american forces will have to do most of the heavy dirty work. sadr's set it up now so it's either his and his militia's death or failure. high stakes stuff. open your eyes. i caertainly don't like it or condone it but i'm not blind.
it's a stinking civil war now and *that* sucks.
chimpy's got a lot to answer to yes.

[rivrgrrl]

They are the drunkard, perverted 'uncle' that no one wants to invite to the family reunion anymore.

[Podewumun]

But they show up anyway bearing a box of day old Krispy Kremes and a gallon of MD 40/40.

[ThunderclapNewman]

The Iraqi government is filled with Sadr loyalists, so they are not going to challenge him.

[kardwell]

Regardless of party affiliation, blame and finger pointing aside (I am guilty as anyone), is this really the world we want to live in. Is this all we can offer the next generation? War and more war? Is this truly worth it?

We are have one massive catastrophe in Iraq-- not just in terms of American lives, as we are the occupier -- but in also in terms of hundreds of thousands of dead, maimed and desperate Iraqis who didn't choose, and didn't welcome the devastation we've wrought. In the process, our country has gone to shit as well.

What kind of person supports this? What sort of individual takes pride in what we are doing, and what we have become? Guaranteed, no one on this post (and likely who reads this site, either) is getting rich off this war. Not that personal gain would justify it either.

[shag11]

The Surge is working like a charm. Sadr ask his peole to honor the cease-fire, yet the ignore him. The Iraqi "government" is friendly with the Iranian government, and on and on. What a fucking joke. And this clown is passing it along to the next administration.

[jdmccl]

War is never an F..ing joke(exept maybe the Faulklands). Get out of your mamas house and look at the real world. Sadr is a paper tiger and pretty much a has-been. Osama would kill for a real terrorist leader in Iraq these days. S Korea and Germany were also "passed" to the next administration. Bubba "passed" Bosnia, Carter "Passed" Iran to Regan so what"s the point? Should we follow Switzerland"s model? Isolationism is almost as bad as totalirism, especially with today technical advancements in death weapons.

Iraq is not Palestine, we are not the Zionists. The only ones who wish we were not there and claim Iraq sovereignty is the former Baathists and they are a small minority. I wish we could leave (Syria anyone?) but that would leave those poor Iraq citizens without much hope. They do need to build an economy and start making jobs or they will end up like those PLO conscripts.

[Podewumun]

And what, praytell, does PLO stand for?

[MikeDu]

Palestinian Liberation Organization, Arafat's organization. The Israelis went into Lebanon in '82 after the PLO and then-general Sharon committed/permitted atrocities in the Beirut refugee camps.

[JoJoKewl]

al Sadrs' Mahdi Army must die because he wants to nationalise the Iraqi oil industry. Not because he's a thug - tho he probably is a thug. If Iraqi oil is nationalised then the petrol won't go down to Texass and the war will have been in vain. Hence the Mahdis must die! It is always about the oil folks.

[BlueStateMan]

It always HAS been about the oil (waging war for gold is about as LOW a thing ANY nation can do)...

The Mahdi Army has existed since the original followers of Muhammad split into two factions.... it has nothing to do with "Iraqi" nationalism.... it has to do with RELIGIOUS fanaticism & spans all borders.

We stuck our foot into the Middle East this time.... & these people hold grudges for EONS.