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| Iraq-Jordan |
| 105+ killed by Hilla car bomb |
| 2005-02-28 |
| At least 105 people have been killed in a massive car bomb south of Baghdad, local medical officials say. At least 130 others have been wounded in the blast in Hilla, 100km (60 miles) south of the capital. The car, reportedly driven by a suicide bomber, exploded near a queue of people applying for government jobs. A statement from local police said a suicide car bomb "hit a gathering of people who were applying for work in the security services", the Associated Press news agency reported. "Several people" were arrested in connection with the blast, the statement added, without elaborating further. Witnesses reported seeing dozens of bodies and body parts lying on the ground after the blast. Footage showed pools of blood at the scene, with dozens of people helping to put body parts, including arms, feet and limbs, into blankets. Shoes and tattered clothes were piled up in a corner. The director of the Hilla teaching hospital, Mohammed Dia, told the BBC the explosion was far worse than anything the town had ever experience before. A medical official told the Reuters news agency that local people had been called on to donate blood and that expert assistance had requested from further afield. "We've called on doctors from Karbala, Diwaniya and Najaf to come and help and they have started to arrive," he added. Hilla is a mainly Shia town, and Sunni militants have been openly striking at Shia targets in an attempt to stir up sectarian strife, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad. |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #15 And there is my own personal hell. We had river crossing points set, phase lines drawn up, and logistics prepared for a "lightning thrust" stright up to Baghdad. And there was NOTHING in our way. We had rendered any significant surviving RG divisions combat incapable, had their comms and logistics networks down, hard - and had trashed the "secret police" units along the entire route of march. Except for GHW Bush and his playing the Washington Insider game, not wanting to piss off "the international community". So we stopped. And sat. And that was hell, for us and for the Iraqi people. We watched while Saddams henchmen, safe on the other side of a demarcation line, started killing the locals who had dared to rise up becaue there were US tanks nearby. Old men, women & children. Shot. Or loaded on to trucks, never to be seen again. And we were ordered to sit on our damned hands. It was a disgrace. And these troops over there now are paying the price for our failure to finish the war we started. Thats why I do not like Bush the Elder - He was not really a conservative, nor was he that good of a president. He is why I voted Libertarian in 92 and let Clinton into office - I could not bring myself to vote for that Bush. Thank God his son is nothing like him, at least in foreign policy. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2005-02-28 5:00:23 PM |
| #14 And there is my own personal hell. We had river crossing points set, phase lines drawn up, and logistics prepared for a "lightning thrust" stright up to Baghdad. And there was NOTHING in our way. We had rendered any significant surviving RG divisions combat incapable, had their comms and logistics networks down, hard - and had trashed the "secret police" units along the entire route of march. Except for GHW Bush and his playing the Washington Insider game, not wanting to piss off "the international community". So we stopped. And sat. And that was hell, for us and for the Iraqi people. We watched while Saddams henchmen, safe on the other side of a demarcation line, started killing the locals who had dared to rise up becaue there were US tanks nearby. Old men, women & children. Shot. Or loaded on to trucks, never to be seen again. And we were ordered to sit on our damned hands. It was a disgrace. And these troops over there now are paying the price for our failure to finish the war we started. Thats why I do not like Bush the Elder - He was not really a conservative, nor was he that good of a president. He is why I voted Libertarian in 92 and let Clinton into office - I could not bring myself to vote for that Bush. Thank God his son is nothing like him, at least in foreign policy. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2005-02-28 5:00:23 PM |
| #13 So, this is the uprising wining the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, eh Teddy? Does anyone now doubt the utter insanity and irrelevance of Theodore Kennedy? Oldspook, I wish I had been there and wish I could go now but I'm too damn old and health is gone. These evil people need to be exterminated. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2005-02-28 8:59:45 PM |
| #12 OS, speaking as a clueless civilian, let me ask you: if we had gone for Baghdad in '91 would Saddam have used chemical-biological weapons? And could we have handled that given the technical capabilities of our equipment back then? |
| Posted by: Matt 2005-02-28 5:43:39 PM |
| #11 And there is my own personal hell. We had river crossing points set, phase lines drawn up, and logistics prepared for a "lightning thrust" stright up to Baghdad. And there was NOTHING in our way. We had rendered any significant surviving RG divisions combat incapable, had their comms and logistics networks down, hard - and had trashed the "secret police" units along the entire route of march. Except for GHW Bush and his playing the Washington Insider game, not wanting to piss off "the international community". So we stopped. And sat. And that was hell, for us and for the Iraqi people. We watched while Saddams henchmen, safe on the other side of a demarcation line, started killing the locals who had dared to rise up becaue there were US tanks nearby. Old men, women & children. Shot. Or loaded on to trucks, never to be seen again. And we were ordered to sit on our damned hands. It was a disgrace. And these troops over there now are paying the price for our failure to finish the war we started. Thats why I do not like Bush the Elder - He was not really a conservative, nor was he that good of a president. He is why I voted Libertarian in 92 and let Clinton into office - I could not bring myself to vote for that Bush. Thank God his son is nothing like him, at least in foreign policy. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2005-02-28 5:00:23 PM |
| #10 mhw---you hit the nail on the head. Saddam took over Kuwait. We kicked him out of there. He set of a huge ecological mess with oil wellhead destruction, oil spills, and fires (***crickets chirping, no ecological protests from the LLL***). Then we did not finish the job. Thousands died at the hands of Saddam's henchmen. All because the Arab members of the coalition did not want to take him out. We lost about 148 or so in that war. We have lost over 1300 in this war. Bad decisions cost us a lot of good people. I hope that we learn from this war that the job must be finished. If you kick the king, ya better kill him. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-02-28 4:19:16 PM |
| #9 If only we had invaded in 91 before Saddam was able to create terrorist infrastructure. |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-02-28 3:25:07 PM |
| #8 That's right trac, if the boys weren't there, the Sunnis would still be killin the Shiites and the Kurds. Only they wouldn't be doin it to get their 72 virgins, it would be make sure Saddam's feet was properly kissed or to keep theirselves outta one of them torture rooms. |
| Posted by: Hank 2005-02-28 2:59:33 PM |
| #7 Having a tractor "pull" in public is rather crass, wouldn't you agree? |
| Posted by: .com 2005-02-28 2:26:54 PM |
| #6 Gotta love liberal democracy. Just think, they'd really be killing each other if our boys hadn't arrived. Makes me damn proud to be an American, eh boys?? |
| Posted by: Tractor 2005-02-28 2:25:11 PM |
| #5 These mass homicides by suicide bombers create local havoc but don't help the terrorist cause in the long run. Beneath the surface, the battle of ideas continues, and Islamicist terrorists murdering Muslims don't advance the ball. |
| Posted by: Hank 2005-02-28 11:22:13 AM |
| #4 "Hilla is a mainly Shia town, and Sunni militants have been openly striking at Shia targets in an attempt to stir up sectarian strife, says the BBC’s Jim Muir in Baghdad." "Militants" and "Shia targets" not "terrorist suicide bombers" and "job-seekers," and this is merely an effort to "stir up sectarian strife," rather like a quaint rabble-rouser holding forth in Hyde Park; and not a monstrous atrocity on a par with the Madrid bombings of 3-11-04. The Beeb belongs in Hell. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2005-02-28 8:40:05 AM |
| #3 They are forming vigilante groups but they are more focused and are taking down perps only. They don't want to start the civil war, but they do want to eliminate the uncivil people. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-02-28 8:38:01 AM |
| #2 I read about these horrific crimes and wonder: how long before the Shiites decide they've had enough, form a vigilante group, and take down an entire Sunni village? I'm surprised it hasn't happened already. |
| Posted by: Captain Pedantic 2005-02-28 8:36:29 AM |
| #1 Looks like a major success for the Michael Moore Minutemen. Al-Beeb naturally has to attribute it to "sectarian strife" to maintain the all-important air of equivalency between terrorist savages and lawful processes like a hiring line. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2005-02-28 8:20:57 AM |