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| Iraq |
| Iraqi commander backs US on details of raid |
| 2006-03-30 |
| The Iraqi commander during a controversial raid by American and Iraq forces is backing the U.S. version of a battle that left 16 Iraqis dead, CBS News correspondent Lara Logan reports. In an exclusive interview with CBS News, the Iraqi commander says accusations that U.S. forces killed innocent civilians in Sunday's raid on a mosque in Baghdad were "not true." Accounts of the Baghdad raid varied. Aides to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said 18 men were killed in the joint U.S.-Iraqi raid on a mosque. Police said 22 people were killed in the incident at the al-Mustafa mosque. The Americans said Iraqi special forces backed by U.S. troops killed 16 "insurgents" in a raid on a community meeting hall after gunmen opened fire on approaching troops. The commander insisted his Iraqi Special Operations troops had to fight their way into the target building where they killed gunmen guarding a hostage and found various weapons including rocket launchers and heavy machine guns. "We know this, the building, is used for to capture the civilians, the civilian people, by bad guys and they need money," the commander tells Logan. A man who claims he was held hostage in the mosque, says of his captors, "They beat me, they kicked me and they used an electric drill on me. I thought I was going to die." At one point during the emotional interview, he broke down and had to be comforted, Logan notes. When asked about the militia men who were holding him, he said he was too terrified to say anything about them. "If you go to the streets and see all the people who have left their houses and if you go to the morgue and see all the bodies then you will understand," he says. For security reasons, neither the Iraqi commander or alleged hostage would reveal their names or if they were Sunni or Shiite. • President George W. Bush said Wednesday that Saddam Hussein, not continued U.S. involvement in Iraq, is responsible for ongoing sectarian violence that is threatening the formation of a democratic government. In his third speech this month to bolster public support for the war, Mr. Bush worked to counter critics who say the U.S. presence in the war-torn nation is fueling the insurgency. • Another mass abduction took place Tuesday, when masked gunmen, many in military uniform, stormed into a currency exchange and two electronic stores in broad daylight, seized 24 Iraqis and took tens of thousands of dollars. The kidnappings occurred within a half-hour, and police were investigating whether they were linked. • Elsewhere, gunmen killed three staffers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in a drive-by shooting in west Baghdad, Abdul-Razzaq said. A mortar round struck just outside al-Sadr's home in the holy city of Najaf earlier in the week. The firebrand anti-American leader, who holds great sway among poor Shiites in Baghdad, was at home but not hurt in the Sunday attack, according to an aide. • Nearly 20 others, including a 6-year-old girl, were wounded in the capital in roadside bombings, mortar attacks, gunfire and an explosion on a minibus, police said. Gunmen also wounded an official from the Iraqi Central Bank, then later chased a car carrying five of the official's guards and wounded them as well, police said. • There were several attacks Wednesday in Diyala province north of Baghdad. Gunmen killed two civilians and wounded another in a drive-by shooting in the town of Khalis, 50 miles north of the capital, police said. A roadside bomb in front of an Iraqi soldier's home outside the provincial capital of Baqouba wounded the soldier's 7-year-old son, and another bomb targeted the house of a tribal sheik in Baqouba but caused no casualties, police said. Also Wednesday, gunmen lined up 14 employees of an electronics trading company in Baghdad on Wednesday and shot them all, killing eight and wounding six, police said. Politicians working on forming a national unity government postponed talks scheduled for Wednesday, saying they needed more time to consult their political blocs about what the security powers of the prime minister should be. The motive of the attack at the al-Ibtikar trading company in the upscale Mansour neighborhood was not immediately clear. According to survivors' accounts to police, the assailants first asked for the company's manager, who was not there, before shooting. The survivors said the assailants, some of whom wore police uniforms, identified themselves as intelligence agents from the Interior Ministry. Hundreds of Iraqis have been killed in sectarian violence and by death squads operating inside the Shiite-dominated ministry since the Feb. 22 bombing of an important Shiite shrine in Samarra set off a wave of revenge attacks. Usually, the victims are killed in secret, their bodies discovered hours or days later. The assault Wednesday was the second to target a trading company in Mansour this week. On Monday, gunmen wearing military uniforms and masks kidnapped 16 employees from the headquarters of the Saeed Import and Export Co. Police said the assailants went through papers and computer files before leaving with their captives. In Wednesday's attack, the gunmen arrived at the al-Ibtikar offices in five black BMWs about 8:15 a.m., police Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq said. They burned parts of the facility, but didn't appear to have taken any money, he said. The dead included five men and three women. "All these operations have one aim: to freeze life in Iraq and sabotage the democratic process. They want to take us back to the dictatorship," said Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Khafaji, a deputy interior minister. He blamed al Qaeda and said, "We will work day and night to arrest them. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #14 In even extreme circles, that makes you an extremist, no? Ever consider the fact that maybe you are extremely stuck on stupid? You neglect to observe how in that particular thread your @ss was thoroughly kicked by other people, including someone who actually has fought in Iraq. Quite obviously, you also neglect to read any of my other posts. Otherwise, you would note how often I have to take issue with those who advocate first use of nuclear weapons against Iran and other Muslim countries. If you read my posts you would also understand that I do not relish any blind slaughtering of the Muslim world. However, I also happen to be sufficiently schooled in world politics to know that Islam, in its current state, is positioned for a head-to-head confrontation with the West. Due to the incessant perfidy that Islam so readily employs, the outcome of this confrontation is less than optimistic. I would prefer that Islam make a genuine and authentic rejection of violent jihad. To date, there has been absolutely ZERO indication of this happening. That being the case, what awaits is the West reaching a tipping point whereby the cost of coexisting with Muslims outweighs the moral or financial cost of simply exterminating them. I do not relish or hungrily await such a catastrophe. I also happen to have the wits to know that such a tipping point is the most likely scenario. Peaceful coexistence is a ridiculous longshot, or did you get some other message from the cartoon jihad? On the other side of that tipping point is blowing away car swarms that seek to disfigure the remains of our soldiers. Other measures might include taking possession of the shrines at Mecca and Medina and holding them hostage or simply making a list of rogue nations and informing them that they all will be subject to immediate annihilation if there is a single nuclear terrorist attack on American soil. Sooner or later, the gloves will have to come off in the fight against Islamism. The very nature of Islam demands it. If you are sufficiently blind to where you cannot foresee this, that is your problem and not mine. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-03-30 17:07 |
| #13 Bravo...I think the point is unless the Arabic and Persian speaking countries clean up their collective islamo-cesspools quickly, somebody else is going to do it for them. And like Sherman's march through Georgia there will innocent bloodshed and collateral damage. The sad part is that though the number of actual murdering, terrorists is small...the number who secretly and actively sympathize with them is quite large. I do not think it is absurd to believe that maybe 20% of the islamic world fall in this catagory. That's ballpark 200 million people. They are almost as dangerous as the bomb throwers because they provide support and money for the killers. I say again...unless someone in the islamic world steps to plate and reigns this group into "the mainstream"...there will be massive bloodshed...and it's going to be disproportionately non-Western. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2006-03-30 16:31 |
| #12 Zenster, please, enough already. All this from the man who last week was calling for the indiscriminate bombing of children in "kiddieswarms..." In even extreme circles, that makes you an extremist, no? Since you are so desperate for death and destruction Why dont you go to Iraq and kill as many muslims as you can. Maybe that will get it out your system.... Then you can come back and tell us all about it. ;-) Another point. Just because there are bad muslims does not make all muslims bad. Just the same as a few bad US soldiers does not mean all US soldiers are bad. I think you are getting a little mixed up. |
| Posted by: Bravo7 2006-03-30 15:59 |
| #11 Where is our next Lincoln ? Like a Phoenix, such a leader will probably arise from the ashes of a nuclear atrocity wreaked upon our shores. And as before, with unrelenting determination, our nation will be forced to subjugate yet another threat to democracy, and likely it will be with a redeux of Sherman's march. Only this time, the swath of destruction shall be through the Middle East and all Islam will put paid to price of terrorism. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-03-30 12:33 |
| #10 Zenster, that's what happens when politicians follow instead of lead. Where is our next Lincoln ? |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-03-30 12:01 |
| #9 Of course the MSM would never bring themselves to address one simple question. Mosque or no mosque, wasn't the place was an insurgent stronghold full of weapons and torturing hostiles that needed cleaning out worse than a bus station toilet? If these f&ckwits bring weapons and materiel into their places of worship, those locations immediately become enemy territory and deserve only to be treated as such. Shiite or Sunni it matters not, they all think they can have it both ways. Their religion must be respected by outsiders regardless of how badly they desecrate it themselves. This is exactly like the cartoons. We are not allowed to poke even a smidgen of fun at the least part of their belief structure while they malign any and all comers with the most abusive and derogatory filth. So often, Islam involves such a brute force combination of cognitive dissonance and moral hypocrisy that there is ever-diminishing hope for any sort of peaceful coexistence. Toss in a few more of their typical Islamist atrocities and any hope for peaceful coexistence will shift over to a desire for hostile confrontation in all parts. I have never seen a culture so actively harvest the benefits of gobal religious tolerance while simultaneously taxing the patience of all whom their continued existence depends upon. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-03-30 11:18 |
| #8 perfesser: I agree with you. I just hope it's sooner than later. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2006-03-30 10:21 |
| #7 Ah, democracy at work! And no, I'm not being sarcastic. They'll figure it out -- eventually. |
| Posted by: Perfesser 2006-03-30 09:13 |
| #6 Aye ! The democrats and Hollyweird too. We know who they are. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-03-30 09:03 |
| #5 No, no mouse. The MSM never ever questions the stories or reports or actions of the enemy. They'll devote five nights of the talking heads in NY or Washington and pages and pages of verbage anal-izing and monday morning quarterbacking of any US action. However, any criticism of the the 'enemy' is never to be done. Cause they're on the same side. Have to be. If they were unbiased they'd have similar coverage |
| Posted by: Elmeter Slans6241 2006-03-30 07:32 |
| #4 Note to MSM: If you really want to know why I wouldn't piss in your mouth if you were dying in the desert..it's things like this. US forces are tainted at best, and guilty at worst as typified by the spin on the interview. Did it not ever occur to you, Lara, that Tater and his iranian puppetmasters are using you like a two-bit whore? Did it never occur to you that what the US said was true? A reason I never watch the broadcast news...ever. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2006-03-30 01:58 |
| #3 cBS headline: Iraq Soldier Backs U.S. On Mosque Raid..NOT *It was an annex, being used as a kidnap/torture/slaughter room, and Taters Fuckwit Tots fired up the Iraqi Special FGorces & American advisors from the annex* ] cBS) The Iraqi commander during a controversial raid by American and Iraq forces is backing the U.S. version of a battle that left 16 Iraqis dead, CBS News correspondent Lara Logan reports. fuck you cBS, but i repeat myself! |
| Posted by: RD 2006-03-30 01:05 |
| #2 gunmen killed three staffers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in a drive-by shooting in west Baghdad, Abdul-Razzaq said. A mortar round struck just outside al-Sadr's home in the holy city of Najaf earlier in the week Now there's a good idea. Tater next? |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-03-30 00:30 |
| #1 Sadr? A sucking liar? Whoda thunk it? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-03-30 00:26 |