Car Bomb Kills 75 at Mosque in Iraq - latest from Yahoo

[MoonAndSun]

MODS: I started a new thread due to the update of people killed. Delete if you think this is a dupe.


<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20030829/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq>


looks like the number of people killed has been updated to 75.

[Systematic Chaos]

1. Um... is the oil still flowing??

Okay, then! Get your priorities straight!

/extreme sarcasm off

:argh:

[saigon68]

2. THE OIL IS FLOWING

"BRING ON THE RAG HEADS, WE'LL DEAL WITH THEM" -- g. w. bush

[scsifreak]

19. There was no oil in Lebanon...

...yet this is highly reminiscent of a joint CIA British operation in Beirut in 1985. They killed 80 as worshippers came out of a mosque, even though the bomb was supposed to kill the imam, who escaped without injury.

Shades of Reaganesque dirty ops? Americans cutting deals with locals in return for doing dirty work for them?

We can go on and on with conspiracy theories. I just want people to remember this is the same method and target Western intelligence used in Beirut in 1985.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

25. That was the basis for their bombing our barracks as I recall

[Aidoneus]

28. no, the CIA's '85 terrorist attack on Fadlallah was a couple years after

US/Israeli "experts" thought Sayyid Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah was a central figure in the underground Islamic movement and its resistance to Israel's murderous occupation of Lebanon, and were lashing out at whatever they could find..

The '83 barracks bombing was the work of Hajj Imad Mughniyah and Mustapha Badredeen and was in response to blatent and open US support and involvement of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the tens of thousands of deaths that were the result.

[0007]

33. Right on!*

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

34. Thanks I knew the incident had occurred but was questioning

my recall of the timeframe. Appreciate the correction. :thumbsup:

[Aidoneus]

26. if I recall,

most of the dead were teenage girls and pregnant women, leaving Sayyid Fadlallah untouched of course.

[cspiguy]

3. It's time the Good muslims start exposing the Bad muslims...

the whole islamic world should retch up and barf out the militant element that produces carbombers like this one after this and the attacks in Saudi Arabia - this has all the smells of Al Qaeda trying to punish moderate muslims and inflame ignorant people with hatred and revenge. Real moslems need to take their blinders off when it comes to people whose only real goal is chaos and destruction before the rest of the world condemns and sentences the whole faith as a lost cause.

[Cocoa]

6. that woudl be nice

sounds like a real challenging project, and the U.S. seems determined to make it impossible to achieve.

[DoctorMyEyes]

13. Sure.....

Are you a christian? Why don't you band together with the "good christians" and 'retch up and barf out' the bad christians?

You know, the ones who drown their kids in bathtububs, beat their heads in with rocks, or sit on their chest till they smother in church?

After all, if you can't do that, the 'whole world' may condemn your faith as a 'lost cause'.

[Cocoa]

17. don't forget...

assassinating abortion doctors.

[DoctorMyEyes]

18. good point!

I forgot about those christians! Rise up I say, rise up and 'retch' them out!

[scsifreak]

20. Poverty and lack of input...

... in their societies is allowing people to capitalize on this marginalization in order to further their own interests. You always see the rise of this type of militancy in all areas of the Third World.

Can you imagine a person like Sheikh Yessin having to have a real job?

People like that are always there with overly simplistic reasoning to cajole a larger social body into action they normally wouldn't participate in.

But we all know this now don't we?

[Kbowe]

29. Don't believe Muslims did this...

1. Muslims would not have bombed other Muslims during prayers.
2. The MO of most al-qaeda and other terrorists is "suicide bombing" They like to be martyred. Only the US and or Israel do not endanger themselves to...they either bomb from a distance or plant car bombs.
3. Within a very short time, if Muslims had done this, they would have taken credit for it.

This bombing just doesn't add up to being the usual band of suspects (terrorists as we like to call them).

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

31. Muslims didn't do this--another CIA effort

all your points are valid
once again we're supposed to be just so dumb as to just write it off!!
and I guess this just goes ta show just how cold those dang merderuss A-rabs are.
Us kristchins need ta take kuntrol of the region --yeah right--
CIA all the way--
the bastards--

[fujiyama]

32. Why couldn't it be Muslims?

Muslims do kill each other -- at mosques and else where...Inter religious conflicts do take place in the Muslim world. In Pakistan for example, there are attacks against the Shiite minority -- bombings at mosques, shootouts, etc. In Iraq, there is no love lost between Shiites and Sunnis.

While it very well could be the CIA, the Mossad, or any other group for that matter, I wouldn't be so quick to rule out Bath party elements, Sunni terrorists, or some other Muslim group.

[Divernan]

4. I'd like to hear from the Pope on this - he's been strangely silent.

I thought it was great when he opposed the war BEFORE it started, but haven't seen any comments from the Vatican since then. I really rubbed the nose of a couple of neo-con staunch Catholics into their hypocrisy in supporting Bush. I asked them repeatedly, Who do you follow, Bush or your Pope? No answer, of course.

This level of violence against people while they are at religious services merits not just a condemnation, but an analysis of the religious wars Bush unleashed by his unnecessary and ill-thought out destruction of Iraq's infrastructure.

[JPace]

7. "I'd like to hear from the Pope"

I think the Pope should spend 24/7
working on his priest problem, until
he can get them to quit raping children
he should spare the world the hypocracy
of pretending to have any moral
authority.

[Divernan]

11. Agreed. He has no moral authority over/with me or many others.

However, he still has a lot of influence with many Bush supporting Catholic voters, and I welcome criticism of Bush from any quarter.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

5. Bush's "war on terrorism" sure seems to be working well.

That man could f*ck up a wet dream.

Everything he touches breaks or turns to crap.

[JackDragna]

8. Make note of the dead soldier mentioned in the story..

..wedged between comments about the bombing by eye witnesses. Our media loves stories like this bombing, as they can fit "other news from Iraq" in there, including stories about, say, an American soldier coming home in a pine box.

[slackmaster]

9. We should get the fuck out and let them kill each other off

We don't need their oil or anything else.

[DuctapeFatwa]

10. Those who collaborate with invaders are seldom popular

Al Hakim died a very rich man. You worked hard for his money.

[The Magistrate]

12. Indeed, Mr. Fatwa

This is much more likely to be the work of a resistance-manded shi'ite faction than of the notional "Saddam loyalists" so beloved by commentators: those are likely to be damned thin on the ground in Najaf, while the Shia division between collaborators and resistors is palpable.

[DuctapeFatwa]

14. Or it could have been the Crusaders, Majority world buzz is divided

Some people are insisting it has to be Sunnis, that only they would bomb the Ali Mosque.

Others say not even Sunnis would bomb the Ali Mosque, so it has to be Crusaders, that Hakim was playing the Crusaders' own favorite Middle East game of both ends against the middle.

Then there are those die-hards who insist it was O.J.

[The Magistrate]

24. No Particular Reason For The U.S. To Do It, Sir

He was rather supportive, as Shi'ite clerics go, after all.

Nothing need be put past true patriots, you know, Mr. Fatwa.

[Emboldened Chimp]

15. NY Times has the # up to 90 now...

Blast in Iraq Kills a Leading Shiite Cleric
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR with KIRK SEMPLE


AJAF, Iraq, Aug. 29 — A top Shiite leader and more than 90 other people were killed today in a huge car bomb explosion outside a mosque in this Shiite holy city soon after Friday prayers, officials said.

The explosion occurred moments after the Shiite leader, Ayatollah Mohammed Bakir al-Hakim, had left the site, which houses the tomb of Imam Ali and is considered the holiest shrine in Shiite Islam.

Ayatollah al-Hakim was an important Shiite ally of the American occupying force and his death will likely undermine the coalition's efforts to build stability in Iraq.

(snip)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/29/international/worldspecial/29CND-IRAQ.html?hp

[Junkdrawer]

16. "an important Shiite ally of the American occupying force"

:wtf:

Check this:

Shiite presses for Iraqi theocracy

Najaf, Iraq — Some 15,000 Iraqis cheered as a Shiite Muslim cleric who led the largest anti-Saddam Hussein movement visited one of the Shiites' holiest shrines Monday after returning from more than two decades in exile.

At the Shine of Imam Ali, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim vowed to help rebuild Iraq and rejected U.S. domination over the country.

"We will never accept humiliation," Ayatollah al-Hakim told the crowd. "All tribal, ethnic and religious groups should unite under the banner of Islam to preserve independence, avoid differences, and build a free Iraq."

…

Ayatollah Al-Hakim's group is the closest Iraqi Shiite political grouping to Iran, which has raised concerns in the Bush administration. Washington opposes any Iranian-style theocracy taking control in Iraq.

More…

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030512.whshii512/BNStory/International

[underpants]

21. DU GD thread-CNN says 124

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=248390

[DoYouEverWonder]

22. Fox News reporting that 1000's of Shites

Are heading to Najaf to mourn for Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim.

This could get ugly.

[Kbowe]

23. One thing is certain...this would never have happened under Saddam

nor did it happen under Saddam. It only happened as a result of the US invading and occupying Iraq. That fact cannot be lost on millions of Muslims.

[TeeYiYi]

27. 125 DEAD / 142 WOUNDED ........n/t

TYY

[Not a robought]

30. You can see an excellent feature piece on the CBC

tonight of al-Hakim which was done back in the Spring when he was returning to Iraq. It paints a lot of the picture. Fastforward to 37 minutes in.

Real Media:

http://media.cbc.ca:8080/ramgen/news/national/real/thenational.rm

edit: for real media link