CNN NOW: Huge Explosions in Bagdad & Karbala

[Melinda]

Nothing on CNN's website yet. From Australian press:

Explosions kill five in Iraq
From correspondents in Karbala, Iraq
March 02, 2004

SEVERAL explosions were heard in Karbala, where hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslim pilgrims are marking the mourning festival of Ashoura. At least five people were killed.

An Associated Press reporter said the streets were an absolute chaos with people running to seek shelter as a series of at least five explosions went off nearly simulataneously after 10 a.m. local time in and around the city, 80 kilometers (55 miles) south of Baghdad.

It wasn't known what the target of the explosions were.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8848906%255E1702,00.html

[Khephra]

1. And Karbala.

I saw this coming. It was bound to happen with them doing this ritual for the first time in years.

[Melinda]

4. Keph, I'm ignorant. What rituals?

[I AM SPARTACUS]

6. link

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-iraq-kerbala.html

Shi'ites Shed Blood in Powerful Iraq Ceremony
By REUTERS

Published: March 2, 2004


Filed at 1:40 a.m. ET

KERBALA, Iraq (Reuters) - In scenes of religious fervor, thousands of Shi'ite Muslims gashed the tops of their heads with swords Tuesday as they honored the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

Chanting ``Haider,'' the battle name of Hussein's father, old men, young men and boys marched in groups under banners through the streets of the holy city of Kerbala before dawn, beating their heads and chests to show their grief.

[Melinda]

10. Thanks Spartacus

I appreciate your help.

[0007]

91. Holy Moly!!

The shit is about to hit the fucking fan -

[Khephra]

9. The Festival of Ashura

Iraqi Shia festival nears climax

Karbala will see the climax of the Shia Muslim festival of Ashura on Tuesday, with pilgrims marking it freely for the first time in 30 years.

Hundreds of thousands are in the Iraqi holy city for events to mourn the death there of Imam Hussain, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, in the year 680.

His death is being marked by rhythmic chanting and ritual self-flagellation from devotees clad in black.

Ashura was severely restricted under former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

more..............

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3521871.stm

[Melinda]

11. Thanks keph, I knew you'd know.

I appreciate your help.

[Khephra]

14. I'm happy to have helped!

Man, look at all those people! I'll be amazed if they don't start rioting after this one.

[Melinda]

15. But they're free now... aren't they?

:cry:

[Aidoneus]

62. more from Islamic sources

http://www.ashura.com
http://www.al-islam.org/short/Karbala.htm
http://www.geocities.com/ahlulbayt14/ashura.html

[Dookus]

8. It's a Shia ritual

commemorating the 14th century murder of an Imam. Evidently the celebrants flog themselves while they descend on a certain mosque.

on edit: i was mistaken. It occurred 14 centuries ago. I misheard the original report on CNN.

[Melinda]

12. Thanks Dookus, I appreciate your help too.

[Columbia]

63. Slight correction

They did this last year too, although belated.

[Melinda]

2. Appear to be in Mosques

:cry:

[Melinda]

3. Rueters reporting several "casualties"; CNN reporter says dozens

[I AM SPARTACUS]

5. BBC link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/3524589.stm

Explosions hit Iraq Shia festival


At least six explosions have rocked the holy Iraqi city of Karbala, where tens of thousands of Shia Muslims are marking the festival of Ashura.
Reuters news agency is reporting that at least 25 people have been killed.

[Sugarbleus]

7. I'm watching it now...thanks looks aweful

Those poor people can't have any peace. The whole thing is
MADNESS!!

[Sugarbleus]

13. The scenes and sounds on TV are horrendous...

As an American, I AM EMBARRASSED about what we've caused in Iraq.

I'm friggin pissed also..... :grr:

[Melinda]

17. CNN's reporter, Jane Arraf, is crying while saying she doesn't dare try to

describe the horror she is seeing. :cry:

[Sugarbleus]

26. Yeah, I caught that...she started to talk about a baby shoe or

something like that but broke off. Now theres an Imam talking off women and children having been blown to friggin bits! He sounds pretty upset.

This is just making ME violent because nothing we say can make our country/government come to it's senses.

Bush and his ilk should ROT IN HELL

[Razoor]

16. this is pure madness

watching on CNN. getting tired of all the blood shed in Iraq.
hope bush knows what kind of mess we got ourselves into.
making the world safe says bush. What a fricking moron!!!
:mad:

[OutlawCorporatePolls]

18. baghdad and karbala

25+ dead karbala, nine explosions
dozen dead baghdad too.

[Khephra]

19. NINE explosions???

Yeah, Iraq is really under control. I don't know what I was thinking. :crazy:

[Khephra]

20. They're just taking people away in carts

All the chanting in the background is making this really weird. I don't know if I've ever seen anything like this.

I know one thing: I wouldn't want to be a Western reporter there right now. The crowd is as likely to tear them apart as go after each other right now.

[Dookus]

21. I know...

I'm actually afraid for Jane Arraf. She's standing in the central courtyard of the mosque, and people keep coming up to her to tell her it's the Americans' fault, including the Imam of the mosque.

I'd get out quickly if I were her.

[Khephra]

22. An Iman that Jane Arrak is talking to is blaming the US

"No Muslim could have done this."

Other people on the scene are blaming the US.

This is going to get REAL ugly for the US after this, not to downplay the effect it has had on the Iraqis.

[Khephra]

23. Now she's reporting that the crowd is trying to stone

Iraqi police and US soldiers.

Why am I getting this "Blackhawk Down" feeling?

[Sugarbleus]

29. Their passion, exhaustion, and grief are totally

understandable. Thats why I mentioned how angry to violent this mess is making ME.

Holy Cow DC, Wake the F* up!

[0007]

92. Out of control and totally helplessness is the feeling

Didn't Ahmed Chalabi tell us about this chapter?

[Melinda]

24. Imam blames America from pool of blood.

In Baghdad, Jane Arraf is reporting this live as he speaks while standing in this pool of blood. They are furious at America. Women and children are dead, numbers unknown. :cry:


I FUCKING HATE YOU BUSH*!!! They are innocents!!!!!!!

[KurtNilsen]

30. I AM SORRY, BUT, WHAT ABOUT THE ACTUAL BOMBERS

The people who did this are absolute scum... No matter what Bush did!!!!!

[Sugarbleus]

32. Well, EXCUSE ME but

IF GWB hadn't gone in there..........NONE OF THIS WOULD BE HAPPENING.

We've got terroist activity in there that DIDN'T exist before.

Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez, duh :spank:

[Khephra]

33. I don't think you're seeing any support for the people who did

this. People here are just expressing their grief about this situation--a situation we shouldn't be involved with in the first place.

Anyone who kills innocent women and children (be it gov'ts or terrorists) are scum in my book.

[KurtNilsen]

35. Agree. I feel all torn up inside witnessing this.

Seems to be no end to human depravity :(

[0007]

93. KurtNilsen how do you know who the actual bombers were?

Perhaps it was the U.S.? Nice neat package to take attention away from Haiti, 'eh?

[OutlawCorporatePolls]

25. Karbala links

Karbala links

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/karbala.htm

Karbala is a holy city for Iraqi Shia because it holds the shrine of the martyred Imam Husayn ibn Ali, whose death here in 680 and the subsequent conflict over succession of the caliphate distinguished the Shia from the Sunni sects of Islam.


http://www.rafed.net/towns/english/karbala.html

The History of this sacred city returns to Babylonian time, when the area was a Christian graveyard before the Islamic conquer. It is reported by the researchers that, the word Karbala means ( nearness of God), and the word is an old Babylonian origin.



http://www.cpa-iraq.org/pressreleases/20040227_ashura.html

Ashura, which falls on the tenth day of the Muslim month of Muharram, commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a seminal moment in the history of Shi'a Islam.

[OutlawCorporatePolls]

40. Karbala incident in sept 2003

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0922/p01s03-woiq.htm

As the American MPs neared the mosque, which was thronged with evening worshipers, some Iraqis began shouting at them to leave. Rumors spread that the soldiers would violate the holy shrine. A hostile crowd of hundreds began pelting the Americans with rocks and bricks, denting the Humvees and smashing their windshields. Meanwhile, the 70 Iraqi police fled the scene on foot.

Surrounded in their vehicles, the MPs attempted to back down the street. They were still inching backwards, the soldiers say, when two Iraqis from the crowd opened fire and hit one MP, Staff Sgt. Carlos Lopez, in his right middle finger. Sergeant Lopez managed to shoot back with his pistol, killing the gunman. Firing into the air with a machine gun to keep the crowd at bay, the soldiers finally turned the Humvees and withdrew. At least one other Iraqi was wounded in the fray.

"It could have been a real bloodbath," says Capt. Leo Merck of the Army National Guard's 870th Military Police Company, which responded to the call in late July. Days of violent anti-US protests followed. Men slashing themselves with swords and wearing black suicide bomber vests marched through Karbala, long considered one of the most peaceful cities in postwar Iraq.

The Karbala incident is one of many that demonstrate the fragility of the US-led occupation in Iraq. Five months after the fall of Baghdad, American and other foreign troops, along with the fledgling Iraqi security forces and local leadership they installed, are struggling to restore order in the swirling power void left by Saddam Hussein's collapsed dictatorship.

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

27. The U.S. is responsible for security in Iraq

This has the makings for the ignition of civil war.

[Khephra]

28. Whoever is behind this

has their shit together. So many explosions in two areas...this is severely organized resistance/terrorism.

Well, Bush, you said to "Bring it on!" It looks like they did.

[imax2268]

31. Jr is such an idiot...

n/t

[Khephra]

34. I don't see how they're not rioting

Listening to the crowd and chanting, contrasted with the sight of what happened, is almost making me want to riot.

[thebigidea]

37. its incredibly strange

very surreal television, the prayer/siren combo is almost unearthly.

[JCMach1]

39. Suffering and atonement is part of the Shia religion

Trust me when I say this is bad... very bad.

[Khephra]

42. I'm not as well versed as many on Iraq

But there's no way this is going to end with this event. We're in for a series of retalition strikes on probably all sides. We'll be hit and so will just about every other Iraqi faction.

This is going to be a bloody month.

[JCMach1]

44. You are right about that...

:(

[JCMach1]

36. One of my Iraqi students here in the UAE talked to me about

how his family is still without power and running water since the end of the war.

Normal daily life is like this for Iraqis right now...

Add to that the violence and the situation is unbearable... irregardless of individual politics.

[Dover]

38. Who's doing this?

Is it at all possible that our own intelligence people are creating the instability/chaos in order to fuel civil unrest and dependence upon the U.S.? It seems to be so well organized. I haven't thought through all the potential reasons why, but I'm wondering if Bushco would rather have an excuse to maintain a strong American presense, rather than allow a semi-independent gov. to take hold.

The U.S. situation in Haiti and Venezuela right now leaves me wondering....
News people were saying that the way Buchco went into Haiti almost guarantees the necessity of an enduring presence there.

[JCMach1]

41. Iraq is already at Civil War

Sunni, Shia and Kurds are already at each other's throats.

[RummyTheDummy]

47. And if they're not now they will certainly be.....

When the US supposedly releases its military teather this summer. Probably be a full scale civil war not long after.

[Zhade]

59. Troops aren't going anywhere.

God DAMN it, I want the troops back NOW.

[Sugarbleus]

84. I agree Zhade...........n/t

[Mari333]

88. I woke up to this? god, bring Michael home now.

bring the troops home now. Please.

[Columbia]

54. Anti-american interests

This is being done to drive a wedge between the Iraqis and the coaltion. The ultimate goal is to cause enough casualties and strife for the coalition to pull out so they can take over.

There is no reason for our intelligence to cause civil unrest as it would be counterproductive to our aims of peaceful and successful governance.

[hang a left]

89. Yeah sure........alrighty then.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

90. "our aims of peaceful and successful governance."

That's news to me. Also to refer to US and England as a coalition might be stretching it a bit. How about duet or tag team?

[Khephra]

43. I wonder how long before we'll get a White House comment

Good thing they don't have to wake up Bush to make any choices.

[thebigidea]

45. Scottie the blubbering babyface will babble about "condemning this attack"

they'll tie it to the stupid "constitution" cranked out by their puppets, and claim that "some elements" clearly do not want democracy to flourish in Iraq.

Gag.

[Khephra]

46. It's so easy to write their dialog

when all this Administration ever does is keep repeating the same lines.

[thebigidea]

49. Bush will express "regret" then bluster about "makin' good progress"

Meanwhile, I'll continue to be a bit rattled. Operation Iraqi Freedom is really starting to wear out its welcome.

[Sugarbleus]

55. LOL...you are so right. Don't you just want

to see a bucket of pig blood drop down over his head while he's talking? That guy is sooooooooooooooooo plastic! I cannot stand to watch him.

:puke:

[Khephra]

48. The difference between the night CNN crew and the day crew

always amazes me. Can we get these people to take over from the normal daytime crew?

[RummyTheDummy]

50. I believe it's the international crew

That goes on the air at some point during the overnight period. I agree, better coverage though. The CNN daytime crew would be talking about gay marriage if the same thing happened during the day.

[Khephra]

52. I think you're right...and that's the only CNN channel I DON'T get

Sigh...now the male reporter on the scene is confirming what you knew had to be next--it's now not safe for Westerners on the street as the mood is starting to change towards feelings of blame.

There's going to be several dead reporters before this week is over.

[SoCalDem]

51. You are seeing the international/world crew

These are the CNN people that the rest of the world see.. We are treated to Fun With Dunce Goodhair and Giggling Gertie for hours and hours..

When we were in Tahiti last fall, I really enjoyed having CNN-I on tv.. Ther have DISCUSSION programs..where people actually speak for more than 10 seconds at a time, and no one screams and interrupts them..

Any European who comes here and watches what passes for "news" here must think we are CRAZY.. It does explain how dumb most 'Murkins are :(

[SoCalDem]

53. Iraq is the "new" Israel.. thanks to *

:(

[Khephra]

56. What's sad is that I (among many here),

a highschool drop-out, said that would be exactly what would happen in the months leading up to the IWR vote. That's what pisses so many of us off. If WE could see it coming, why in the hell couldn't the people who were supposedly in "the know"?

Sigh...

[AnnitaR]

57. What sucks the most is that we're stuck with

a nominee who voted for the IWR!

I'll vote for him in Nov... but I will never forgive him or any of those that voted for it!

Hell even Bush Sr. knew Iraq would fall into civil war if he took out Saddam.

[RummyTheDummy]

58. Arrogance.

They figured military might would keep the masses in order. Obviously that's not going to be the case. This situation will continue to go down hill over the coming months. And aren't we supposed to turn over security to the Iraqis this summer?

[thebigidea]

60. "Our children will sing great songs about us years from now." - Perle

"My take on it is that we'll be welcomed as liberators." - Cheney on the eve of war, or something like that.

[RummyTheDummy]

65. Obviously Cheney was wrong...

But this is much more serious than "insurgent" attacks on US troops. This is muslim faction vs. muslim faction here. Brother against brother. I think what we're seeing are the tectonic rumblings of a civil war that is on the horizon and closing fast.

[Go Eagles]

95. This was warned

back in the summer of 2002. Bush I's former National Security adviser Brent Scowcroft warned that this would be happening and that we would be in Iraq for years trying to hold all the different tribal, ethnic and religious factions down. The Brits experienced exactly what we are seeing post-WWI and actually resorted to using poison gas to put down insurgencies.

[Sugarbleus]

85. I wonder if Cheney is capable of Embarrassment???? n/t

[0007]

94. Ahned Chalabi is in the know, 'eh?

[Aidoneus]

64. Do not compare them

It is more akin to Palestine.

[SoCalDem]

77. I should have clarified my message

I was referring to the fact that there are many suicide bombs in Israel.. I was not referring to the cause.. just the effect..

People all over Iraq, noe fear going anywhere because of the possibility of a bomb going off..

When I go to the store, I never in a million years would expect a bomb blast.. but people in Israel do, and nor people in Iraq do..Damn sad :(

[Khephra]

61. Now the commentator is mentioning the new troops coming in

Which makes this article more important than ever to read:

'Bullet magnets' prepare for Iraqi frontline
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1159141,00.html

The largest troop rotation in US history starts this month - but the reservists have little training or appetite for battle

Suzanne Goldenberg in Fort Bliss, Texas
Monday March 1, 2004
The Guardian

The lead vehicle in the convoy has disappeared over the hill. The road ahead is flanked by two suspicious-looking car wrecks. In the back of the pick-up truck, the troops are getting twitchy.


All six soldiers jump out of the truck and sprawl in the dirt, triggers at the ready. Minutes later, they clamber back in. Nobody thinks to look behind until a smoke grenade explodes three yards away. The buzzer sounds. "A grenade. We're dead, dude," says Private Tyler Franzen.

They were wiped out within the first five minutes of their drill on convoy movement, and the implications register quickly. Days from now, Pte Franzen and the 319th Signals Battallion could be in Iraq. "This makes me more scared," he says. "I am preparing for the worst."

Their trainer calls troops like these "bullet magnets" - army reservists or National Guard soldiers, weekend warriors with minimal combat training pressed into service.

more

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x393260

[Khephra]

66. Reuters hospital sources reporting 33 dead

The male reporter on the scene reporting that the police are reporting scores dead.

[thebigidea]

68. this was extremely well orchestrated for maximum rage...

but by who?

Funny that there's not a single goddamn Retired General to interrupt all this actual news with his unwanted opinion on who's behind it...

CNN/I is really quite a bit different!

My inner Fox Reporter would immedeately invent an Al-Qaeda backstory, my inner conspiracy creep cries CHALABI...

[DannyRed]

76. NYT, LATimes

Have about 45 and 55 dead, respectively, as of last reading

[Sugarbleus]

86. Bullet Magnets..............................HOW SAD

What an outrage all of this is for everyone!! :cry:

[Melinda]

67. Explosions in 2 Iraqi Cities Kill 52 People (at least)

KARBALA, Iraq — Multiple explosions killed at least 52 people, injured dozens and sent worshipers scrambling for cover this morning here and in Baghdad in an apparently coordinated attack during the Shiite Muslim feast of Ashura.

About 10 a.m., seven or eight blasts went off in Karbala near twin gold-domed mosques. Al Arabiya television said mortars appeared to have been used. At the same time, at least three explosions hit near a mosque in Baghdad's Shiite neighborhood of Kadhimiya, causing dozens of casualties including at least 37 deaths. Another explosion was reported in the neighborhood of Saidiya.

Jawad Khalisi, imam of the mosque in Kadhimiya, said one explosion appeared to be inside the mosque and the others outside the building.

Fears about security were already strong Monday as hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslim pilgrims — including throngs of Iranians — gathered in a fervent demonstration of faith that highlighted the surge in religious zeal in Iraq since the ouster of Saddam Hussein's secular regime.

Officials of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority had voiced concerns about a potentially devastating attack at a time when a terror network led by Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian affiliated with Al Qaeda, is said to be targeting Shiites in an apparent bid to spark a civil war.


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-shiites2mar02,1,1956119.story?coll=la-home-headlines
----------------------------

It's official; fresh from the Ministry of Propaganda, Al Qaeda strikes again.

:eyes:

[thebigidea]

69. muauahhaha! I suspected as much in the post above.

Nice to have my Right Wing Simulator working.

[Khephra]

70. I check out the other channels

and CNN goes off coverage? :wtf: Fox and MSNBC aren't showing a bit of coverage either.

[RummyTheDummy]

71. FAUX was on about 30 minutes ago....

With an "everythings under control..nothing to see here" update.

[Khephra]

72. What the hell good are 24 hour news channels?

If they go to repeats when an important event is happening?

This has happened before, but it always feels like a slap in the face to me.

"Go back to sleep. Everything is ok."

Fuck them. Give me back the CNNI feed!

[Khephra]

You wouldn't know a thing was wrong if you were watching

Headline News either. This is so "They Live" that it's silly.

[KurtNilsen]

74. CNN International and BBC world covering it still...

[Khephra]

75. Headline news is just showing repeats too

I thought Headline news was supposed to be up-to-date? This is just sad.

When in the hell did Headline news go to repeats during the night? What's the point of a channel called Headline news if it's not even current?

[Aidoneus]

78. money from the commercials?

:shrug:

[KurtNilsen]

81. There doesn't seem to be too many updates coming anymore.

They are doing interviews with members of the Governing Council and such... And there seems to have been an attack against a Shia religious procession in Pakistan as well.. Perhaps related, perhaps not.

[Sugarbleus]

87. Yeah, they are doing mostly re run snippets..........but I did hear

that after venting their rage on everyone after the bombings: Iraqi police, journalists, non-iraqis, soliders.......there was a grenade (or whatever) tossed into one of our military vehicles...the soldiers died. ****(shaking head)****

[Aidoneus]

73. the headline was particularly bothering for an hour..

I know people who are a part of the millions in Karbala for this festival.. a short time ago, I was told they were not near the site of the blasts.
This is awful..

[Columbia]

79. Wash Post article up

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21478-2004Mar2.html

Explosions Rock Shrines in Iraqi Cities

By TAREK AL-ISSAWI
The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 2, 2004; 4:30 AM

KARBALA, Iraq - A series of coordinated blasts struck major Shiite Muslim shrines here and in Baghdad on Tuesday as thousands of pilgrims converged for the final day of a major religious festival. Scores were killed and wounded, witnesses said.

Arab television stations reported 25 dead in Karbala. Around 20 people may have been killed in the Baghdad blasts, witnesses said. Stunned witnesses believed the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers.

U.S. intelligence officials have long been concerned about the possibility of militant attack on the Ashoura festival, and coalition and Iraqi forces bolstered security around Karbala and other Shiite-majority towns in the south during the pilgrimage.

Last month, U.S. officials released what they said was a letter by a Jordanian militant outlining a strategy of spectacular attacks on Shiites, aimed at sparking a Sunni-Shiite civil war.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

80. Blasts at Baghdad Shi'ite Mosque Kill at Least 33 - Reuters

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-iraq-kerbala.html

...hospital officials said...33 bodies had already been brought in to the morgue at the hospital in the Khadimiya district and more bodies were believed to be on the way.

[Khephra]

82. This thread is getting pretty big...

You might want to continue this in the next thread


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x393922

[Moderator]

83. Link to thread # 2

Proceed here.


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