Reuters: Large explosion at Baghdad Sheraton hotel, just on CNN no link

[karlschneider]

yet.

[Champion Jack]

1. This isn't possible

we "got" Saddam [/sarcasm}

[lostnfound]

28. Al Jazeera propaganda no doubt ;-) -- here's a link:

"Explosion rocks central Baghdad hotel" http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5435FE9D-CE4E-48D2-AF10-0AFF208F8CAF.htm

At approximately 20:30pm, a car pulled up near a palm tree in a small field near the Tigris River, approximately one block from the Sheraton Hotel. Two men calmly got out from the car and unloaded a small missile. It was launched and looked like it slammed into the top floor of the hotel".

Another eyewitness near the hotel said a rocket had been fired at the building from a car, but the hotel appeared to be untouched.

Security guards from a neighbouring sports club said the top floor of the hotel had been hit, but hotel employees denied that any rocket had struck the hotel.

[killbotfactory]

2. But at least we're safer with Saddam captured...

so much safer...

soooo soooooo much safer...

and anyone who denies it is a FOOL!

[fishguy]

3. RPG was behind the huge explosion-CNN

This will never end in Iraq.

[Kremer]

4. No big deal. Just US soldiers firing at more reporters they don't like!

[Champion Jack]

5. I wonder where Letterman is staying....

hmmmmmmmmmm

[grasswire]

7. it sounds worse

....from what I'm hearing, there was more after that initial blast. Lots of automatic weapons fire and I think I heard them talk about another explosion.

[Cooley Hurd]

9. That was my very first thought when I heard it was the Sheraton...

Both Dave and Paul are in Baghdad, but I don't know where they're staying. CNN saying the Sheraton is where many westerners stay...

God, don't let anything happen to Dave and Paul... :scared:

[mandyky]

13. Dave and Paul??? DUers or CNN folks?

So much for capturing Saddam...

[Cooley Hurd]

14. Dave Letterman & Paul Shaffer are in Baghdad for USO...

[mandyky]

20. Oh, Jeez, not a fan

but I hope they are okay!

[Voltaire99]

25. I'm a little more concerned about the people under vicious occupation

...than I am about the right wing clown Letterman.

Sure, I hope he's all right, but really: yanqui go home, you know? If he'd stick to kissing corporate and celebrity ass in America, rather than using an illegally occupied people's nation as his stage, he'd have less to worry about.

[tbeatty]

26. He's there to entertain the troops....

just like Robin Williams.

[Myra]

29. Yow, don't worry me like that

Any idea how long Letterman is staying?

What a great guy he is.

[spinbaby]

6. A Link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3347243.stm

[KoKo]

8. Sheraton was scene of "Operation Donkey Defiance" last month.

Hard to believe it isn't even more heavily fortified now considering..

[peterh]

10. From Dow Jones….

DJ Explosion/Baghdad -2: Followed By Firefight


BAGHDAD (AP)--A huge explosion rocked central Baghdad on Wednesday night,
quickly followed by a firefight.
The blast appeared to come from the area around the Sheraton Hotel, on Abu
Nawas Street near the east bank of the Tigris River.
The explosion was also reported by television news networks.
U.S. military officials couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-24-03 1239ET(AP-DJ-12-24-03 1739GMT)

[tbeatty]

11. It was single RPG on roof of Sheraton

no report on casualties

[Jacobin]

12. CNN reporting four bomb/RPG attacks around Iraq today

All is well.
Just sing Merry Christmas and shop some more

[Champion Jack]

15. Use this little chant, direct from the RNC

Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must Consume We Must

There, doesn't that feel better?

[spinbaby]

16. And the military never comments

It's always no comment. Like if they didn't mention it, it didn't happen.

[Barrett808]

17. GI: U.S. Grenade Nearly Hit Baghdad Hotel

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A huge explosion rocked central Baghdad on Wednesday night, and a U.S. soldier said it was a rocket-propelled grenade that narrowly missed the Sheraton Ishtar Hotel.

At the same time, a U.S. army spokesman claimed responsibility for the blast. "That was us," Capt. Jason Beck of the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division, the unit that controls Baghdad, told the AP. Guests at the Sheraton, called by satellite telephone, said they were fine.

A firefight followed the blast, which appeared to come from some distance behind the heavily barricaded hotel, a haven for Westerners on Abu Nawas Street, on the east bank of the Tigris River.

The 1st Armored Division unleashed a barrage further from central Baghdad before dawn Wednesday, which it said was aimed at anti-American insurgents.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031224/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_explosion&cid=540&ncid=1480

[spinbaby]

18. Urban warfare

Our worst nightmares coming to life.

[htuttle]

19. Is it just me?

Or does that article not make any sense.

It was an RPG. But it was fired by the 1st Armored Division. "That was us,", Capt. Jason Beck says.

But then the 1st Armored Divison seems to indicate it is operating outside Baghdad, "unleashed a barrage further from central Baghdad."

:shrug:

By the way, this is the first time I've heard an RPG grenade explosion described as HUGE. Loud, if you're right near them, sure. But HUGE? This is a first...You'd think that given the amount of explosions in Baghdad in recent weeks, that the reporters would be able to tell an RPG explosion from a HUGE one...

[tbeatty]

22. "Huge" to a reporter means "Close"

They all stay at the hotel. They felt the air rush of the explosion and that makes it "huge." In reality, damage is obviously minor since they are all alive to report it.

[leftchick]

23. "damage is obviously minor"

and you know this how?

[tbeatty]

27. Because people reporting the bombing were in the hotel

and they are still alive

[psychopomp]

24. I agree, the report is confusing

as well as the claim that an RPG caused a HUGE explosion. More of the "fog of war." As the situation in Iraq becomes better understood in its complexity--the numerous interconnecting tribal groups and families and their loosely-organized resistance groups--we will be less sure of what is really going on.

[CaptainClark23]

21. lazy lazy lazy

at least make the legends consistent! Who trains these bozos to write?

"A huge explosion rocked central Baghdad on Wednesday night, and a U.S. soldier said it was a rocket-propelled grenade that narrowly missed the Sheraton Ishtar Hotel."

So we have a "HUGE EXPLOSION"

from a RPG?!

an RPG that MISSED?!?!

what did all the damn exploding?