60 Killed, 120 Wounded in Iraq Car Blasts

[ckramer]

NAJAF, Iraq - Car bombs tore through a Najaf funeral procession and Karbala's main bus station Sunday, killing at least 60 people and wounding more than 120 in the two Shiite holy cities. In Baghdad, gunmen launched a bold ambush, executing three election officials, in their campaign to disrupt next month's parliamentary ballot.

The deadly strikes highlighted the apparent ability of the insurgents to launch attacks almost at will, despite confident assessments by U.S. military commanders that they had regained the initiative after last month's campaign against militants in Fallujah.

AP story

[Dem2theMax]

1. All the words that come to mind,

are not enough to describe all that I am feeling.

An eternity in hell is on my Xmas wish list for * and 'his' evildoers.

[darkism]

2. But I thought we made Iraq safer

when we "liberated" it!

:shrug:

What a shame. The real terrorists are the ones perpetrating this illegal war. Without their warmongering, we wouldn't have attacks like this.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

4. Both Bushco and the car bombers are terrorists

but, yes, it was Bushco who illegally invaded a sovereign nation so he is the most culpable.

[MGKrebs]

3. If the Fallujah offensive didn't inhibit their ability,

then what is next? What is the path throught this horrible mess, Donald? Do we keep killing and HOPE that someday we will reach a critical mass moment when they will give up? Will the new 'government' be able to handle things better than we are? At what point do we entertain a different approach?

[pokercat999]

22. As in Vietnam we will reach the end only when

we realize there are more of them willing to die than we are willing to kill.

This time however the freedom fighters may not realize that Bushco doesn't consider them people so the number is going to be quite high.

[Algorem]

5. They're just celebrating Bush's Time mag thing.

[gristy]

6. How long until the car bombs start going off in the U.S.?

Not to minimize the terror experienced by the Iraqis, but it's only a matter of time, isn't it?
And when it does start, we can kiss our democracy a fond farewell, as I fear it will not return in our lifetime.

[ckramer]

7. The suicide bombing culture spreads from Palestine to Iraq

See there's nothing that can stop someone who is not afraid of his own death...

[Benhurst]

9. The Republic is already gone, the Constitution shredded.

Most just don't want to admit it.

[DemoTex]

8. There is something Biblical about this ...

It's about forty days and forty nights until the elections in Iraq. In fact, Baghdad time, it is exactly forty days and forty nights until the January 30 elections. From Genesis, in the Old Testament (For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. -- Genesis 7:4 KJV) through Moses in Exodus (Moses will convene with God on Sinai for "forty days and forty nights" Exodus 24: 18), and Christ's forty days and forty nights in the wilderness in the New Testament (Mark 1: 13; see also Matthew 4 and Luke 4), we are exposed with the symbolism of 40/40.

Look-it. We are in the wilderness now, and it only gets worse. Actually, although not specifically addressed in any known interpretation of what is collectively called the Bible, we are also in forty days and forty nights of weirdness.

[AKing]

10. "They're not attacking everyone,all of the time"......Andrew Card on "This

week with Geo Stephanopolous. I sure feel better now.

[SKKY]

16. He's absolutely right. They're not attacking everyone all the time...

...they're getting smarter and attacking in a more "effective" manner. Seems to me though they've narrowed their scope a bit and are now hitting anyone and everyone associated with the election.

[AKing]

11. "They're not attacking everyone,all of the time"......Andrew Card on "This

week with Geo Stephanopolous. I sure feel better now.

[lovuian]

12. How the Hell are they going to have elections???

No Way!!!

[spotbird]

13. Imagine the outrage if the 60 dead, 120 wounded in a car blast

were American. There will be a price to be paid for the arrogance that values foreign life as less then American.

[MisterCompletly]

17. Is this not expected?

France values French citizens as much as America values American citizens and so on...

[Farmgirl]

14. Have we learned NOTHING from the Vietnam War?

About a week ago, I finally watched "The Fog of War", with Robert McNamara, Sec. of Defense under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. If you haven't yet seen this -- I highly, highly recommend it. He had so many reflective, contemplative and very wise things to share about the Vietnam war (as well as the Cuban missile crisis). The one thing that he talked about, regarding the Vietnam war, that really stuck out was that when we went to Vietnam many, many years after the Vietnam war had ended, he mentioned that one of the leaders told him that for the Vietnamese, this was totally a civil war (like we didn't already know that) and that the North Vietnamese would have continued to fight for their freedom and internal struggles. Why in the f*ck can't our administration see that what's going on in Iraq is really no different? We are the enemy, not the "liberators". The more we push these faux elections, the stronger the resistance. Who in the f*ck are the insurgents anymore? I suppose there are "fringe" members, or "terrorists", or folks who will do anything to avenge Americans (can we blame them?)...but don't you think that a whole heck of a lot of Iraqi citizens are so f*cking mad at what we are doing to their country? I sure as heck know I would be if the roles were reversed.

[Carl Brennan]

19. Nothing, but then again

during the Vietnam War we had something approaching a democracy in this country. We now have a fascist dictatorship supported by both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court and a Press brow beaten to bang the war drums.

It looks like even as the disaster in Iraq is more evident that there will be nothing learned from this. The Iraq War will just continue indefinitely, like the Vietnam War would have done had not the public stood up and protested. All the while the Bushies are raking in the profits and the Press is too. The US is going to go down the tubes as the inertia of fear takes over. Noone can oppose the fascists politically; if they win there will just be a well financed recall like in California. The voting system is thoroughly corrupted. There are just to many distractions: 100 plus channels of TV, endless sports of all kinds. Who wants to listen to bad news? This country no longer knows what is going on and they don't seem to care.

But they are going to pay and the price is going to be very high.

[NYC Liberal]

15. "--But a Short Time to Live."

Our little hour, -- how swift it flies
When poppies flare and lilies smile;
How soon the fleeting minute dies,
Leaving us but a little while
To dream our dream, to sing our song,
To pick the fruit, to pluck the flower,
The Gods -- They do not give us long, --
One little hour.

Our little hour, -- how short it is
When Love with dew-eyed loveliness
Raises her lips for ours to kiss
And dies within our first caress.
Youth flickers out like wind-blown flame,
Sweets of to-day to-morrow sour,
For Time and Death, relentless, claim
Our little hour.

Our little hour, -- how short a time
To wage our wars, to fan our hates,
To take our fill of armoured crime,
To troop our banners, storm the gates.
Blood on the sword, our eyes blood-red,
Blind in our puny reign of power,
Do we forget how soon is sped
Our little hour?

Our little hour, -- how soon it dies:
How short a time to tell our beads,
To chant our feeble Litanies,
To think sweet thoughts, to do good deeds.
The altar lights grow pale and dim,
The bells hang silent in the tower --
So passes with the dying hymn
Our little hour.

--Leslie Coulson

[Imagevision]

18. January 30Elections will be bloodbath - Iraq car-bomb city!

How many prople in their right frame of mind will forego machine gun fire - bombs going off - insurgents in streets shooting randomly anything walking to vote just because the maniac in the White House says he sees no reason the elections shouldn't be held?

[ausiedownunderground]

20. These elections have to go ahead or the Shiites will rise in open revolt

Iraqi shiite friends i know keep telling me that if these elections don't go ahead then there is a near 100% chance that the Shiites will rise in open rebellion to support the Iraqi Sunni Guerillas. Shiite fighters are already helping the Sunni Guerillas in Fallujah in return for urban combat training tactics and access to Sunni Guerilla weapon dumps. This myth that there will be a civil war if Western troops pull out is just a myth obviously perpetrated by people who have other adgenda's which require a military presence in Iraq. According to my friends the British in Basra will be complete toast. Likely survival chance - 0%. There have been Sunni Iraqi special ops troops in Basra for months training the Shiites in tactics and weapons use. What the Shiites don't like is the Sunni's use of indiscriminate car bombings! However they have no qualms at all in relation to killing US and coalition forces and Allaw's collaborators who are mainly peshmerga militia men.

Just sidetracking off this subject a bit has anyone on this forum been reading about the German Intel report thats out on the net about the likely detonation of a nuclear weapon in Houston on December 27th!!! Its been all over a lot of Intel forums and other forums. Inmtrestingly a lot of these forums have been going down unexpectantly since the German report and discussion about its authenticity started raging.?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

21. Gosh... such a big story, I figured this would be front page of LBN

not buried on page 4! But, Rumsfeld is doing such a swell job, Bush is man of the year, and other more important stories to spin....