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Count is up to 160 now. We'll see how the Iraqi government responds to this now that they are in the driver's seat.
But it will be interesting to note any comments from the Obama administration. . .our troops are still in the country but are staying out of the major cities. . .which is as it should be.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...41.html
By Ernesto Londoño
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
BAGHDAD -- Iraqi officials on Monday began assessing the scope of the damage from two devastating bombings carried out Sunday that are expected to cripple key government agencies for months, as the death toll climbed to nearly 160.
The attacks targeted the Justice Ministry, the Baghdad Provincial Council and the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works, and appeared designed to portray the Shiite-led government as feeble and rudderless ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for January.
"These attacks are targeting the symbols of Iraqi sovereignty, and they aim to paralyze the government," said Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, whose ministry was targeted in a similar bombing in August. "These were deliberate and calculated attacks; this was not the work of amateurs. These are professional killers, people who know how the government operates."
Even as rescue workers continued to pull bodies out of the rubble Monday, an attack in Karbala, a city south of Baghdad, raised fears of a fresh outbreak of violence. Explosives in a minibus detonated at the entrance of the holy city, killing at least 12 people and wounding several, said Maj. Alaa Ghanimi, a spokesman for security forces in Karbala.
Sunday's attacks came as the government continued to reel from the Aug. 19 bombings, which targeted the Foreign and Finance ministries. Those attacks caused delays in paying government workers this summer and hindered reconstruction projects because paperwork was missing, government officials said.
Officials at the Foreign Ministry have been able to return to some parts of the compound, Zebari said. But the ministry's dilapidated facade has been an embarrassment for Iraqi officials, who are eager to prove they are capable of keeping Baghdad secure as U.S. forces pull back.
The structural damage at the Justice Ministry appeared severe Monday. The ministry oversees the country's chronically crowded prisons and is in the process of deciding which inmates in U.S. custody it wants to keep as the Americans continue to reduce their detainee population.
Sunday's attack is almost certain to exacerbate lengthy backlogs in criminal cases, which have long been a grievance among Sunni Muslims. Though they make up roughly 20 percent of the Iraqi population, Sunnis account for about 80 percent of detainees in the Iraqi justice system.
As in August, the suicide bombers who struck Sunday were able to get remarkably close to the buildings, because the government of President Nouri al-Maliki in recent months has scaled down security measures in an effort to restore a sense of normalcy to this bunkered capital. On Sunday, flatbed trucks were seen at both sites, bringing new cement barriers.
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Unlike the Aug. 19 bombers, who drove large trucks packed with fertilizer and explosives, Sunday's assailants used pickup trucks, which are ubiquitous in central Baghdad. Maliki has accused Sunni extremists with links to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party and the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq of carrying out the attacks.
Zebari said Maliki's cabinet held an emergency meeting Sunday morning at which it agreed to drastically beef up security around key government buildings that could be targeted. He said officials intend to erect rings of cement barriers that would make it impossible for vehicles to get close to prime targets. Several Iraqis who were wounded in the attacks or lost relatives said they had no confidence in the government's ability to survive.
"There is no security, no hope," said Shauki Abdul Jabar, 37, a wounded Justice Ministry employee . "All the police forces and the armed forces are for nothing."
. . .an excerpt, more at the link. .
But it will be interesting to note any comments from the Obama administration. . .our troops are still in the country but are staying out of the major cities. . .which is as it should be.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...41.html
By Ernesto Londoño
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
BAGHDAD -- Iraqi officials on Monday began assessing the scope of the damage from two devastating bombings carried out Sunday that are expected to cripple key government agencies for months, as the death toll climbed to nearly 160.
The attacks targeted the Justice Ministry, the Baghdad Provincial Council and the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works, and appeared designed to portray the Shiite-led government as feeble and rudderless ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for January.
"These attacks are targeting the symbols of Iraqi sovereignty, and they aim to paralyze the government," said Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, whose ministry was targeted in a similar bombing in August. "These were deliberate and calculated attacks; this was not the work of amateurs. These are professional killers, people who know how the government operates."
Even as rescue workers continued to pull bodies out of the rubble Monday, an attack in Karbala, a city south of Baghdad, raised fears of a fresh outbreak of violence. Explosives in a minibus detonated at the entrance of the holy city, killing at least 12 people and wounding several, said Maj. Alaa Ghanimi, a spokesman for security forces in Karbala.
Sunday's attacks came as the government continued to reel from the Aug. 19 bombings, which targeted the Foreign and Finance ministries. Those attacks caused delays in paying government workers this summer and hindered reconstruction projects because paperwork was missing, government officials said.
Officials at the Foreign Ministry have been able to return to some parts of the compound, Zebari said. But the ministry's dilapidated facade has been an embarrassment for Iraqi officials, who are eager to prove they are capable of keeping Baghdad secure as U.S. forces pull back.
The structural damage at the Justice Ministry appeared severe Monday. The ministry oversees the country's chronically crowded prisons and is in the process of deciding which inmates in U.S. custody it wants to keep as the Americans continue to reduce their detainee population.
Sunday's attack is almost certain to exacerbate lengthy backlogs in criminal cases, which have long been a grievance among Sunni Muslims. Though they make up roughly 20 percent of the Iraqi population, Sunnis account for about 80 percent of detainees in the Iraqi justice system.
As in August, the suicide bombers who struck Sunday were able to get remarkably close to the buildings, because the government of President Nouri al-Maliki in recent months has scaled down security measures in an effort to restore a sense of normalcy to this bunkered capital. On Sunday, flatbed trucks were seen at both sites, bringing new cement barriers.
ad_icon
Unlike the Aug. 19 bombers, who drove large trucks packed with fertilizer and explosives, Sunday's assailants used pickup trucks, which are ubiquitous in central Baghdad. Maliki has accused Sunni extremists with links to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party and the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq of carrying out the attacks.
Zebari said Maliki's cabinet held an emergency meeting Sunday morning at which it agreed to drastically beef up security around key government buildings that could be targeted. He said officials intend to erect rings of cement barriers that would make it impossible for vehicles to get close to prime targets. Several Iraqis who were wounded in the attacks or lost relatives said they had no confidence in the government's ability to survive.
"There is no security, no hope," said Shauki Abdul Jabar, 37, a wounded Justice Ministry employee . "All the police forces and the armed forces are for nothing."
. . .an excerpt, more at the link. .
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