40 tortured bodies found in Baghdad

[tocqueville]

40 tortured bodies found in Baghdad 7 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The bodies of 40 men who were shot and had their hands and feet bound have been found in the capital over the past 24 hours, police said Thursday.

All the victims showed signs of torture, police Lt. Thayer Mahmoud said. They were dumped in several neighborhoods in both eastern and western Baghdad, he said.

The top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, on Wednesday said murders and executions are currently the main cause of civilian deaths in Baghdad.

Much of the violence has been attributed to death squads, many of which are thought to be offshoots of mainly Shiite militias

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060928/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_060924161050

[Erika]

1. genocide

Ignored by the U.S.

[psychopomp]

2. Not genocide, but horrible nonetheless

does anybody have a plan as to how to settle the problems in Iraq? Would the US leaving be a meaningful first step?

[Screwfly]

3. Re: Not genocide, but horrible nonetheless

If the U.S. pulled out of Iraq the on going civil war there would probably expand into a huge conflict between Iran & the rest of the Arab world.

[phrenzy]

4. So what is the correct plan? (n/t)

[krispos42]

8. The genie is out of the bottle

Saddam was a murdering psychopathic bully with delusions of grandeur, but he kept this kind of crap uner control. He knew he was in a cobbled-together country, and kept things secular and together.

I really do think that the Iraqi parliment has to have a meeting and become a confederation. Kurdistan to the north, and then split Baghdad and put the Sunnis east of the Tigris and the Shia to the the west. Make the Shia capitol Fallujah and the Sunni capitol East Baghdad. Hammer out some sort of agreement on oil-sharing.

Withdraw our air assets to our new friends in Kurdistan so we can keep our UAVs in the region, working with the Iraqis to track down insurgents, terrorists, and militias. Move some of our troops as well into Kurdistan, maybe the 101st Air Assault. They have the helicopters to move entire brigades quickly into combat in case things go to hell in Baghdad or something. Keep a Marine brigade at sea nearby with plenty of carrier and cruise-missile support. And bring the rest of the troops home.

Iraqi contractors employing Iraqis as workers but using US money (and maybe a few advisors) to start bebuilding the infrastructure.

Find the senior NCOs of the old Iraqi army and fly them to Arizona. Under the sharp eyes of US military drill instructors, whip the Iraqis back into shape. Fly them back to Iraq and get the NCOs to start training the new recuits for the Iraqi army.

And keep a close eye on the Iranians in case they decide to get frisky.

Just a thought...

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. I think you've got Shia and Sunni mixed up

Fallujah is a Sunni city (see eg http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0922/p06s01-woiq.html), and the Shia live mainly in the south and east of Iraq, eg Basra.

Dividing up the country may look OK in theory, but "Hammer out some sort of agreement on oil-sharing" is like saying "fix the Israel-Palestine problem". These people are fighting for land and oil they regard as "their's", and don't look in any mood to sit down at talk rationally about it.

[krispos42]

22. LOL I'm not that edjamakated

I looked at a map and said "Okay, east of the Tigris is smaller than west of the Tigris, so put the Sunni minority there." Plus I figured that a Sunni nation (or autonomous region) might temper Iranians Shia influence into western Sunni Iraq. Sort of a barrier.

I dunno, maybe have all of the money from oil pumped out of Kurdistan, Sunni Iraq, and Shia Iraq is put in a common pool and allocated once a quarter to the three governments based on population. Or the Iraqi military, universal health care, and the national road network is paid for by the oil profits. I dunno, but unlike the Bushies I'm giving it an honest try!

[OhioChick]

12. .....???

Do enlighten us on how this should be resolved.

[Chico Man]

14. With the Administration's pattern of success

We aught to make sure they keep making the important decisions, eh? Kind of like I should keep playing the lotto? Maybe I'll get it right some day.

[Dover]

5. I think these may very well be the victims of torture by U.S. / CIA

and they are trying to get rid of the evidence by dumping then "finding" the bodies and blaming it on "insurgents". If the recent stories are to be believed, the CIA may be anticipating legal proceedings against them and a change in the winds. And Bushco is changing the torture laws.
The heat is on.

[mom cat]

15. The Salvadorian option and Negroponte are tools of

Cheney's "dark side" agenda.

[gratuitous]

18. Negroponte just has the worst luck, doesn't he?

Seems like everywhere he goes, death squads, torture and terrorism just spontaneously break out. The poor guy's going to develop a complex. To say nothing of the populace trying to live where he's posted.

[davekriss]

21. haha, yes, poor John

Hey! Poor us!! He's now Director of National Intelligence, overseeing the CIA, the NSA, the DIA, and all various and nefarious black box operations. Will death squads, torture, and terrorism florish here, too, under John's sinister hands? An El Mozote in Kansas? Battalion 3-16 roving the lands between California and Maine? Dulles turned into an El Aquacante where American's expressing dissent are "roughly" interrogated before shipping them off to unfettered fiends in Syria, Egypt, and elsewhere?

Good gawd, what have we turned into as a nation... very sad...

[saigon68]

23. JOHN NEGROPONTE= NUN RAPIST

[maddezmom]

6. more from today:Suicide attack on Baghdad army post as violence surges

BAGHDAD (AFP) - A man drove a minibus packed with explosives into an army post in northeast Baghdad, killing two soldiers in a trend of attacks US forces say is at an all time high.

Another 11 soldiers and a civilian in the mostly Shiite Shaab neighborhood were wounded in the blast, which sent up a massive plume of smoke visible across the city.

While suicide attacks have always been a feature of Iraq's violence, US military spokesman Major General William Caldwell described them Wednesday as being at an all time high, with half of them targeting security forces.

The first week of Ramadan has seen a spike in attacks, with not only drive-by shootings and explosions, but also the night time killings generally attributed to Shiite death squads that leave corpses strewn across the city.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060928/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_060928082241

[Eugene]

7. Three months into the crackdown, Bagdad is right back where it started.

The lastest reports have the killings back at 100 a day
despite the ever increasing number of troops thrown
at the problem. Iraq is coming unglued and the Bushies
are still in hardheaded denial about it.

[maddezmom]

9. AFP-Violence returns to 'cleared' Baghdad neighborhoods

BAGHDAD (AFP) - A suicide car bomb has killed two Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad, as a US intelligence official revealed that militias are re-infiltrating previously cleared neighborhoods with the assistance of police.

A minibus packed with explosives drove into an army post in the northeast largely Shiite Shaab neighborhood where US forces have recently conducted a comprehensive house-searching operation.

Baghdad neighborhoods that have been searched as part of the joint US-Iraqi attempt to stabilize the strife-ridden capital are showing renewed violence and assassinations by armed gangs, reported a coalition intelligence official.

"The pattern we have tended to see is that, as we've cleared areas, the numbers of murders and executions have decreased in most sectors," he told reporters, admitting that in some places the violence has returned.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060928/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_060928100724

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

10. They weren't tortured unless Bush says so..

Because Common Article Three is so vague, we should really wait until we get an opinion from the stupidest person to every set foot in the White House (and that includes those who came in on the Tour).

[dubyaD40web]

13. comma

[progressoid]

16. How does Sadam do that when he's in jail?

:shrug:

[maxrandb]

17. Shades of things to come here in America

and that's not hyperbole!!

I know the "wingers" say that the goal is to give the Iraqi's the kind of government and security we have here, but we're on a slow creep to give us the kind of government and security they have in Iraq.

[Drifter]

19. Is Bush killing Iraqis at a faster pace than Saddam ?

I think this is the answer to the "Was Iraq better off with Saddam ?" question.

It has to be pretty close.

Cheers
Drifter

[saigon68]

24. The CHIMP'S Crusaders are mowing them down by the thousands

[Cerridwen]

20. Did "we" do it? Or did "they"?

That was my first thought when reading the thread title.

:cry: