Suicide Blast at Iraq Restaurant Kills 23 - The Orange Mane

Bronx33 · 06-19-2005, 03:08 PM

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber walked calmly into a popular Baghdad kebab restaurant at lunchtime Sunday and killed at least 23 people eating plates of lamb and rice - the deadliest attack in the capital in just over six weeks.

The explosion was the bloodiest attack on a day in which a total of at least 46 people died in relentless insurgent violence across the country despite twin U.S- Iraqi offensives against militant smuggling routes and training centers west and north of Baghdad.

The American military announced the death of the first U.S. Marine since the operations, code-named Spear and Dagger, began Friday and Saturday respectively in Anbar province. About 1,000 U.S. forces and Iraqi soldiers are taking part in each offensive.

Also, U.S. Marines also reported killing 15 insurgents in battles near Fallujah, the Anbar province town 40 miles west of Baghdad and a perennial insurgent stronghold.

And the tribunal that will hear the case against Saddam Hussein and key members of his ousted regime released videotape of the deposed leader's cousin - the man known as "Chemical Ali" because of his role in the 1988 poison gas attack that killed at least 5,000 people in the Kurdish town of Halabja.

Ali Hassan al-Majid was one of eight former regime officials shown testifying before an investigative magistrate. The video recording by the Iraqi Special Tribunal had no sound, but showed al-Majid signing a document dated June 16

The tribunal has set no trial dates for any former regime official including Saddam, who was shown on a video released by the panel earlier this month.

The Baghdad bomber detonated his explosives-laden vest at the Ibn Zanbour restaurant, 400 yards from the main gate of the heavily fortified Green Zone - U.S. and Iraqi government headquarters. The cafe was popular with Iraqi police and soldiers.

The dead included seven police officers. The bodyguards of Iraqi Finance minister Ali Abdel-Amir Allawi and 16 other police were injured, police and hospital officials said. The minister was not in the restaurant.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice predicted no quick end to the fighting.

"They're going to continue to suffer, I'm afraid, for some time from these insurgents and terrorists who wish to just kill innocent Iraqis because they have no other alternative. But that does not mean that they are going to win the battle for Iraq," she said Sunday on Fox television.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility and said the attacker was from Qaim, near the westernmost of the two joint U.S.-Iraqi offensives. The statement appeared on an Islamic Web site, and its authenticity couldn't be verified.

The suicide attack was the deadliest in Baghdad since May 7, when two suicide car bombers plowed into an American security company convoy in Baghdad - killing at least 22 people.

Suicide car bombers in northern Baghdad and Saddam's hometown of Tikrit also killed three and four people respectively.

Most of the suicide attackers are thought to belong to extremist groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq, which has justified killing other Muslims, including women and children, in their quest to destabilize the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

The rate of insurgent attacks has risen dramatically since al-Jaafari announced the makeup of his Cabinet on April 28, At least 1,142 people have been killed since that date.

Some extremists have also started threatening fellow Sunni Arabs, who make up the core of the insurgency, because some leaders of the minority Muslim sect have expressed a readiness to join the political process. Most Sunnis boycotted January's historic election.

On Monday, Sunni Arabs were expected to name their representatives to a committee that has until mid-August to draft Iraq's new constitution. The number of Sunni members took weeks to negotiate with the Shiite majority which now controls the government.

Despite the bloodshed, Rice expressed optimism that the political process was moving Iraq toward peace.

"Insurgencies are defeated not just militarily, they're defeated politically. And the Iraqi people are engaged in a political process in which more and more Iraqis see their future as a political future in a united and democratic Iraq," she said.

In three separate incidents in Fallujah, insurgents trying to place a roadside bomb opened fire with small arms and rocket propelled grenades on a group of Marines. Other insurgents attacked Marines in the same area with machine gun fire. A suicide car bomber failed in an attempted assault. No Marines were injured and 15 gunmen were captured, said Marine Capt. Jeffrey Pool.

The operations are aimed at destroying militant networks near the Syrian border and north of Baghdad, the military said.

Troops participating in Spear used a remote controlled Predator drone to fire Hellfire missiles at insurgents firing a mortar at Marines.

Dozens of buildings in Karabilah, 200 miles west of Baghdad near the border city of Qaim, were destroyed after airstrikes and tank shelling, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

Videotape from a freelance cameraman working for Associated Press Television News in western Iraq Saturday showed what appeared to be the fuselage of an American-made CH-53 military helicopter sitting in a field with its rotor blades missing. Other damage was difficult to asses in the tape, made at a considerable distance. An unidentified group of people could be seen around the fuselage. The U.S. military had no comment.

Troops on the ground said they found numerous foreign passports and one round trip air ticket from Tripoli, in Libya, to Damascus, Syria. They found two passports from Sudan, two from Saudi Arabia, two from Libya, two from Algeria and one from Tunisia.

"The foreign fighters are the ones that get the suicide missions. They will fight a delaying action and their key leaders will escape," said Capt. Christopher Toland, from Austin, Texas, of the 2nd Marine Division's 3-25 Battalion.

Intelligence officials believe Anbar province is a portal for extremist groups, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group, to smuggle in foreign fighters. Syria is under intense pressure from Washington and Baghdad to tighten control of its porous 380-mile border with Iraq.

In other violence Sunday,

- Gunmen killed a bodyguard for the deputy governor of Diyala province and injured a second, the governor's office said.

- Two people were killed in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, when insurgents fired a rocket at the house of a local Shiite politician. Also in Baqouba, gunmen opened fire on a police patrol but missed, killing two bystanders.

Blowing up Innocent people eating

Insurgents are nothing more than religious savages these half wits want saddam in charge?

Crushaholic · 06-19-2005, 11:28 PM

It goes to show that our job in Iraq is NOT done. If we withdraw now, the people who lost their lives will have their deaths be in vain.

Mr. Trout · 06-19-2005, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crushaholic

It goes to show that our job in Iraq is NOT done. If we withdraw now, the people who lost their lives will have their deaths be in vain.

Is it ever going to end?? How long ago were we supposed to be out of there??

Crushaholic · 06-19-2005, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Trout

Is it ever going to end?? How long ago were we supposed to be out of there??

Until we properly train the Iraqi soldiers to handle their business, we can't leave. Eliminating Saddam from power was just the FIRST step. The second step was to allow the Iraqi people to vote for their own representatives. The third step of providing for proper security (which we're on) is probably the hardest, but we need to finish the job.

sledgehammer · 06-20-2005, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Trout

Is it ever going to end?? How long ago were we supposed to be out of there??

We never should've gone there to begin with.

Atlas · 06-20-2005, 12:30 AM

This stuff isn't even news anymore is it. If something happens everyday it ceases to be newsworthy and that's sad. Remember when we were shocked by American Deaths in Iraq? Now it's hardly front page news.

Mr. Trout · 06-20-2005, 01:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sledgehammer

We never should've gone there to begin with.

I agree with you on that one. I know I sure as hell don't want to be over there.

Mr. Trout · 06-20-2005, 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atlas

This stuff isn't even news anymore is it. If something happens everyday it ceases to be newsworthy and that's sad. Remember when we were shocked by American Deaths in Iraq? Now it's hardly front page news.

Yep, horrible situation. I use to like Bush..not anymore.

gunns · 06-20-2005, 05:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crushaholic

It goes to show that our job in Iraq is NOT done. If we withdraw now, the people who lost their lives will have their deaths be in vain.

Their deaths will never be in vain. THEY went with a purpose in mind, to do their duties and THEY did it honorably. But from the beginning this was another Vietnam, an unwinnable situation. We were lead on by a gung ho President that had a single purpose in mind and did not know his enemy, did not have an adequate post war plan. Now our men and women pay the price for that decision. How many more? My son is to be deployed in January with his first baby due in February. I am so proud of him and his honorable service to his country, but I feel if something happens to him it will be because of Bush's lies and desperation to appear right. I was astonished when it was reported this weekend that suicide car bombings had been cut in half. Clearly more lies. I work with an Iraqi who is now an American who went to be a translator. A year ago he was saying we cannot pull out. Now he says we need to leave. It isn't so much that they want Saddam back in power, they want us gone.

Bronco_Beerslug · 06-20-2005, 05:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gunns

Their deaths will never be in vain. THEY went with a purpose in mind, to do their duties and THEY did it honorably. But from the beginning this was another Vietnam, an unwinnable situation. We were lead on by a gung ho President that had a single purpose in mind and did not know his enemy, did not have an adequate post war plan. Now our men and women pay the price for that decision. How many more? My son is to be deployed in January with his first baby due in February. I am so proud of him and his honorable service to his country, but I feel if something happens to him it will be because of Bush's lies and desperation to appear right. I was astonished when it was reported this weekend that suicide car bombings had been cut in half. Clearly more lies. I work with an Iraqi who is now an American who went to be a translator. A year ago he was saying we cannot pull out. Now he says we need to leave. It isn't so much that they want Saddam back in power, they want us gone.

Get ready for the Bush propaganda machine (we will win at any cost) to kick in this week. Americans are finally realizing this administration lied to take us to war and are lying about the situation over there. This was nothing more than a personal grudge match for Bush with an opportunity for his corporate friends and big oil to make billions. The Bush Iraq invasion and occupation, along with Gitmo and camps that hold people indefinitely (with no rights) are creating thousands of terrorists who want to destroy us. Republican lawmakers are finally starting to face the truth!

US 'losing in Iraq' - Republican Senator Hagel
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Republican Senator Chuck Hagel slammed the George W. Bush administration's
Iraq policy as "disconnected from reality" in some of the harshest comments to date about the war from a member of the president's own party.

Hagel, a top Senate Republican said to have presidential aspirations, said in an interview in US News and World Report, set to hit newsstands Monday, that US troops are "losing" the Iraq war, and that "things aren't getting better, they're getting worse."

"The White House is completely disconnected from reality," said Hagel. "It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq," said Hagel, who added that increasingly, fellow Republicans are coming to share his view.

"More and more of my colleagues up here are concerned," he said.

He made his comments as insurgent attacks in Iraq are at an all-time high and as a growing number of lawmakers have begun calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops there.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...l_050619194125

McCain disputes Cheney on Iraq
Senator calls on White House to stop predicting successes
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain disagreed Sunday with Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that the insurgency in Iraq is in its "last throes," and called on the Bush administration to stop telling Americans victory is around the corner.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/06/...ain/index.html

Spider · 06-20-2005, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gunns

Their deaths will never be in vain. THEY went with a purpose in mind, to do their duties and THEY did it honorably. But from the beginning this was another Vietnam, an unwinnable situation. We were lead on by a gung ho President that had a single purpose in mind and did not know his enemy, did not have an adequate post war plan. Now our men and women pay the price for that decision. How many more? My son is to be deployed in January with his first baby due in February. I am so proud of him and his honorable service to his country, but I feel if something happens to him it will be because of Bush's lies and desperation to appear right. I was astonished when it was reported this weekend that suicide car bombings had been cut in half. Clearly more lies. I work with an Iraqi who is now an American who went to be a translator. A year ago he was saying we cannot pull out. Now he says we need to leave. It isn't so much that they want Saddam back in power, they want us gone.

Rep!!!!!!!! good luck to your son .....Just so you know , alot of us on the left dont hate the military , we are damn proud of them , we hate the fact that our best was put in this situation , and the sooner we get them home the better .......

Al Wilson · 06-20-2005, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bronx33

Blowing up Innocent people eating

****ing sick minded insurgent

Atlas · 06-20-2005, 12:10 PM

I think McCain is great. HE is a Republican with common sense. I wish he would have become Kerry's VP. Hell, I wish he would have become President.

I would follow a man like him into battle. He knows the cost of war something Bush never learned in the Texas Air National Guard.

06-19-2005, 03:08 PM	#1
Bronx33 lets go partner Rumpson Rocks Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Lakewood,Colo Posts: 41,221 Adopt-a-Bronco: Woodyard	Suicide Blast at Iraq Restaurant Kills 23 BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber walked calmly into a popular Baghdad kebab restaurant at lunchtime Sunday and killed at least 23 people eating plates of lamb and rice - the deadliest attack in the capital in just over six weeks. The explosion was the bloodiest attack on a day in which a total of at least 46 people died in relentless insurgent violence across the country despite twin U.S- Iraqi offensives against militant smuggling routes and training centers west and north of Baghdad. The American military announced the death of the first U.S. Marine since the operations, code-named Spear and Dagger, began Friday and Saturday respectively in Anbar province. About 1,000 U.S. forces and Iraqi soldiers are taking part in each offensive. Also, U.S. Marines also reported killing 15 insurgents in battles near Fallujah, the Anbar province town 40 miles west of Baghdad and a perennial insurgent stronghold. And the tribunal that will hear the case against Saddam Hussein and key members of his ousted regime released videotape of the deposed leader's cousin - the man known as "Chemical Ali" because of his role in the 1988 poison gas attack that killed at least 5,000 people in the Kurdish town of Halabja. Ali Hassan al-Majid was one of eight former regime officials shown testifying before an investigative magistrate. The video recording by the Iraqi Special Tribunal had no sound, but showed al-Majid signing a document dated June 16 The tribunal has set no trial dates for any former regime official including Saddam, who was shown on a video released by the panel earlier this month. The Baghdad bomber detonated his explosives-laden vest at the Ibn Zanbour restaurant, 400 yards from the main gate of the heavily fortified Green Zone - U.S. and Iraqi government headquarters. The cafe was popular with Iraqi police and soldiers. The dead included seven police officers. The bodyguards of Iraqi Finance minister Ali Abdel-Amir Allawi and 16 other police were injured, police and hospital officials said. The minister was not in the restaurant. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice predicted no quick end to the fighting. "They're going to continue to suffer, I'm afraid, for some time from these insurgents and terrorists who wish to just kill innocent Iraqis because they have no other alternative. But that does not mean that they are going to win the battle for Iraq," she said Sunday on Fox television. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility and said the attacker was from Qaim, near the westernmost of the two joint U.S.-Iraqi offensives. The statement appeared on an Islamic Web site, and its authenticity couldn't be verified. The suicide attack was the deadliest in Baghdad since May 7, when two suicide car bombers plowed into an American security company convoy in Baghdad - killing at least 22 people. Suicide car bombers in northern Baghdad and Saddam's hometown of Tikrit also killed three and four people respectively. Most of the suicide attackers are thought to belong to extremist groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq, which has justified killing other Muslims, including women and children, in their quest to destabilize the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. The rate of insurgent attacks has risen dramatically since al-Jaafari announced the makeup of his Cabinet on April 28, At least 1,142 people have been killed since that date. Some extremists have also started threatening fellow Sunni Arabs, who make up the core of the insurgency, because some leaders of the minority Muslim sect have expressed a readiness to join the political process. Most Sunnis boycotted January's historic election. On Monday, Sunni Arabs were expected to name their representatives to a committee that has until mid-August to draft Iraq's new constitution. The number of Sunni members took weeks to negotiate with the Shiite majority which now controls the government. Despite the bloodshed, Rice expressed optimism that the political process was moving Iraq toward peace. "Insurgencies are defeated not just militarily, they're defeated politically. And the Iraqi people are engaged in a political process in which more and more Iraqis see their future as a political future in a united and democratic Iraq," she said. In three separate incidents in Fallujah, insurgents trying to place a roadside bomb opened fire with small arms and rocket propelled grenades on a group of Marines. Other insurgents attacked Marines in the same area with machine gun fire. A suicide car bomber failed in an attempted assault. No Marines were injured and 15 gunmen were captured, said Marine Capt. Jeffrey Pool. The operations are aimed at destroying militant networks near the Syrian border and north of Baghdad, the military said. Troops participating in Spear used a remote controlled Predator drone to fire Hellfire missiles at insurgents firing a mortar at Marines. Dozens of buildings in Karabilah, 200 miles west of Baghdad near the border city of Qaim, were destroyed after airstrikes and tank shelling, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. Videotape from a freelance cameraman working for Associated Press Television News in western Iraq Saturday showed what appeared to be the fuselage of an American-made CH-53 military helicopter sitting in a field with its rotor blades missing. Other damage was difficult to asses in the tape, made at a considerable distance. An unidentified group of people could be seen around the fuselage. The U.S. military had no comment. Troops on the ground said they found numerous foreign passports and one round trip air ticket from Tripoli, in Libya, to Damascus, Syria. They found two passports from Sudan, two from Saudi Arabia, two from Libya, two from Algeria and one from Tunisia. "The foreign fighters are the ones that get the suicide missions. They will fight a delaying action and their key leaders will escape," said Capt. Christopher Toland, from Austin, Texas, of the 2nd Marine Division's 3-25 Battalion. Intelligence officials believe Anbar province is a portal for extremist groups, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group, to smuggle in foreign fighters. Syria is under intense pressure from Washington and Baghdad to tighten control of its porous 380-mile border with Iraq. In other violence Sunday, - Gunmen killed a bodyguard for the deputy governor of Diyala province and injured a second, the governor's office said. - Two people were killed in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, when insurgents fired a rocket at the house of a local Shiite politician. Also in Baqouba, gunmen opened fire on a police patrol but missed, killing two bystanders. Blowing up Innocent people eating Insurgents are nothing more than religious savages these half wits want saddam in charge?

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06-19-2005, 11:28 PM	#2
Crushaholic Armchair Poster Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Topeka, KS Posts: 22,043	It goes to show that our job in Iraq is NOT done. If we withdraw now, the people who lost their lives will have their deaths be in vain.

06-20-2005, 12:30 AM	#6
Atlas Draft Defense Early&Often Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 18,526	This stuff isn't even news anymore is it. If something happens everyday it ceases to be newsworthy and that's sad. Remember when we were shocked by American Deaths in Iraq? Now it's hardly front page news.

06-20-2005, 12:10 PM	#13
Atlas Draft Defense Early&Often Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 18,526	I think McCain is great. HE is a Republican with common sense. I wish he would have become Kerry's VP. Hell, I wish he would have become President. I would follow a man like him into battle. He knows the cost of war something Bush never learned in the Texas Air National Guard.