Massive Suicide Bombing Near US Convoy in Baghdad

[maxrandb]

Just heard on the radio. Saying potentially "many casualties".

Apparently it was a car bomb.

Looking for a link now.

[alarcojon]

1. Here's one

At least three Iraqi civilians have been killed in a suicide car bombing in central Baghdad, Iraqi police said.

The vehicle was detonated near a US convoy in Tahrir Square, a police spokesman is quoted as saying.

US and Iraqi forces have sealed off the area. There is no word on American casualties from the attack.

Anti-US insurgents launch daily attacks on troops, foreign contractors and Iraqi government targets, causing indiscriminate carnage among civilians.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4134506.stm

[Taxloss]

2. Tahrir Square is where the Saddam statue was famously toppled.

Oh, irony.

[Fridays Child]

5. That was al Firdos Square.

[Taxloss]

7. You're right. But here's a funny thing.

Search the BBC News website for "Tahrir square" and you get a result saying that the statue was toppled there. But click on the link and the word Tahrir is replaced by al-Fardus. Curious.

Apols for the error.

[maxrandb]

3. Also Found This One

**Removed Link. It was old.

On the radio, it did not sound good. Said potentially a lot of casualties. Said it was a suicide carbombing.

Damn, Damn, Damn....Just Damn

[Divernan]

8. So crack Iraqi police allowed to report Iraqi dead, but not US

dead or wounded? Shows that the Iraqi police, touted by Rice and Bush as getting so close to being able to handle security so that US can reduce the number of troops, aren't even considered intelligent or competent enough to report on injuries to Americans.

"No word on American casualties from the attack" is never a good sign, especially since dead Iraqi civilians have been counted. The greater the number of Americans killed (and we never seem to get a count on American wounded), the longer it takes the military to release the news.

On edit: re Iraqi police, see other breaking news thread about 8 Iraqi police being shot to death in Baghdad. Six of them were ASLEEP IN THEIR VEHICLE, with their weapons piled in the back. Read that Condoleeza, and tell us what a great job the US is doing in preparing the Iraqis to take over when the US leaves
!

[dbt]

4. Looks like SOMEBODY has some leftover steam, Dr. Reisssssssssss.

How long do "last throes" last, anyhow?

:freak:

[Javaman]

18. The Continental Army was in their "last throws"

but then came bunker hill and all bets were off.

[RoyGBiv]

20. Ohhh....

That just inspired an idea.

Time to start combing some Rev. War literature for British quotes about the "insurgency."

[toey]

26. totally unrelated to thread

i've been curious about firefox, etc. how long have you used it?

[RoyGBiv]

29. Since version 0.6 ...

Over a year, IOW. You can PM me if you need more info, or you can ask a question in the Computer Help and Support Forum if you like. Lots of FF users there, and I read it regularly.

[Fridays Child]

6. Shhh. George is on vacation.

:mad:

[Tsiyu]

9. Kick

Any more on this?
:kick:

[Fridays Child]

10. Seems to be wall-to-wall shuttle news.

Hello, CNN. I'm glad the shuttle is safely down but our soldiers are not so safe and their situation needs some attention.

[maxrandb]

12. Only the BBC Link and what I heard on the radio so far

I keep checking all the news sites I can think of, but it's been all Space Shuttle all the time.

Maybe now that it's safely landed, the MSM will move onto something else.

I heard a report that Natalee Holloway's family doubled the reward money. <sarcasm off>

Also, until the military releases data on numbers of casualties, it will probably not be updated.

It's also probably a bit true that "Car Bomb in Baghdad Killing American Soldiers" is just not "news" anymore. It's beginning to get a bit like "dog bites man" stories.

Sad, but true. People getting killed in Iraq, though important, is not "news" anymore. At least it's not to our MSM.

[Ilsa]

33. That's right. We don't want to awaken him while he's

passed out, I mean snoozing, in his hammock.

[leftchick]

11. Three Iraqis, one US soldier, killed in Baghdad suicide bombing

"losing steam".....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050809/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrest_050809122413


:(

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Three Iraqis and a US soldier were killed and 52 others wounded, including two US soldiers, when a suicide car bomber blew himself up in central Baghdad, US and Iraqi officials said.


"A suicide car bomber blew himself up right next to one of our convoy," killing one US soldier and wounding two others, US military spokesman Sergeant David Abrams said.

Earlier, an Iraqi interior ministry official said three Iraqis died in the same attack and Al-Kindi hospital officials put the number of those wounded at 52.

The latest death brings the total of US military deaths in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 1,825, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.

Elsewhere, at least 19 other Iraqis were killed, many of them security personnel, in a series of rebel attacks across Iraq.

[Tsiyu]

13. Yep, looks like everything's under control over there

Yessirreee....I think all of our soldiers should take a nice long vacation.....since the insurgents are losing steam and all. I mean, that's a real dry fire in your picture, for sure. No steam there.

Let those Iraqi forces we've trained clean up the few scuffles left. Our troops need to spend private time with their families and play golf and go fishing and drive trucks and ....oh....wait....only the Cocaine-addicted AWOL rich guys get to have vacations like that!

Sorry, I forgot for a moment there.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

14. Hey, why don't we simply invade baghdad and clean it up?

Didn't that work in Tikrit, Fallujah, Samarah, Balad and other places?

Frankly, I have lost count how many times we have "cleaned up and cleared out" Baghdad.

[leftchick]

15. and there is Samawa yesterday.....

Armed men stand along a street in the city of Samawa, 270 kms south of Baghdad. Armed men took to the streets the day after two people were killed and 45 others were wounded in a protest yesterday in which as some 1,000 people marched to the office of the governor of Muthanna province, of which Samawa is the capital, protesting corruption and demanding jobs and reliable electricity and water supply.(AFP/Essam al-Sudani)

[DrZeeLit]

16. Hey! Look! Democracy in action!

Yep, certainly looks like downtown Houston to me.

I was reading in NYT about the troops from Ohio and how, since their deaths, nobody wants to dis the war -- not the soldiers (never!) - but the war. They think that if they do, their kids will have died in vain. They believe (this was the majority) that the mission must be achieved -- which is (they said it, not me) ---> bringing democracy to Iraq.

I hate to tell them, but THIS (the picture above) is what democracy in Iraq will look like. It will not be like democracy in Ohio. Women will have little or no rights, children will be slave labor. Eventually civil war and an Ayatollah for a leader.

And I sooo hate to say this, but * is gonna have to say it, I hope--> yes, their children died in vain, for no reason.

Damn. And then I remember... we have 3 more years of this idiot "in power." And this when he's ON VACATION.

[maxrandb]

17. Not to Be Crass

But didn't Tom Delay come out recently and say that "Bagdhad was safer than Houston?"

Or some such idiot statement like that?

[redwitch]

22. seriously?

shit, i'm never, ever going to houston!

[DrZeeLit]

34. Yes... that's the ref... so Houston... you got some 'splainin' to do! n/t

[Roland99]

19. What happened to Operation Lightning and the cement wall around Baghdad

to keep everyone safe from the "evil doers"?

[leftchick]

21. I really don't know what the purpose of these daily convoy rides

around Iraq serve. Just targets for the rebels if you ask me. :(

[leftchick]

23. well well... the US soldier came back to life...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq


BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber struck near a U.S. convoy in Baghdad and gunmen opened fire on police patrols around the city Tuesday in attacks that killed at least 15 people.

The violence provided an unwelcome backdrop as Iraqi politicians prepared to resume talks on drafting a new constitution that had been postponed by a severe sandstorm.

The suicide bombing occurred Tuesday afternoon when a driver detonated a vehicle packed with explosives near a U.S. convoy in downtown Baghdad, killing at least five Iraqi civilians and wounding 11, police said. No American casualties were reported.

The attack occurred in early afternoon near Tahrir Square in the heart of the city, police Capt. Abdul-Hussein Munasaf said. Five civilian cars, a U.S. Army Humvee and an SUV were damaged. U.S. and Iraqi authorities sealed off the area.

[alarcojon]

24. Nice catch! eom

[leftchick]

27. I suspect this is the soldier who didn't die....

I don't believe the US bodybags Iraqi civilians...



US troops load a bodybag into an army ambulance in front of a US military Humvee damaged by a suicide car bomb explosion, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2005, in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraqi government officials say five civilians were killed and 11 injured. It was not immediately known if there were any US military killed or wounded in the attack. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hato

[cliss]

31. Hm....good catch.

.....while they're doing their best to hide the numbers of casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, parents and family members gather right outside Bush's doorstep.....in Crawford.

How do they hide that fact? You can hide it at the battlefield, but the news comes home just the same.

They will NEVER be able to draw down troops, like they're promising. It's all lies, and we know it. They're looking at the same photos we are (see photo above).

They KNOW it's a Dante's Inferno.

[alarcojon]

25. AP story

This one says no American casualties in the suicide bombing, but a Marine killed by small arms fire in Ramadi.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ?SITE=MITRA&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&SECTION=HOME

[leftchick]

28. does not explain the body bag....

US troops load a bodybag into an army ambulance in front of a US military Humvee damaged by a suicide car bomb explosion, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2005, in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraqi government officials say five civilians were killed and 11 injured. It was not immediately known if there were any US military killed or wounded in the attack. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hato

[alarcojon]

30. Absolutely not

Like you, I am trying to document how the media are trying to spin this death away.

:kick:

[auburngrad82]

32. Centcom news release confirms us death

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/Casualty_Report.asp?CasualtyReport=20050813.txt

U.S. SOLDIER KILLED IN CAR BOMB ATTACK

BAGHDAD, Iraq — One U.S. Soldier was killed and two were wounded when a terrorist detonated a homicide car bomb near a Task Force Baghdad convoy at 1:50 p.m. Aug. 9 in central Baghdad.