Iraq Ushers in New Year with Deadly Attacks

[Be Brave]

And now, on the man-made catastrophe:


Sat Jan 1, 2005 01:51 PM ET

By Matt Spetalnick

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq ushered in the New Year on Saturday the same way it ended the last one -- with a string of assassinations and bombings by insurgents bent on wrecking a landmark Jan. 30 election.

Militants led by Jordanian Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al- Zarqawi released a video of five captured Iraqi security men being executed in the street, part of a bloody campaign of intimidation aimed at scaring voters way from the polls.

A statement posted on an Islamist Web site along with the video vowed that the group would "slaughter" other Iraqis it brands collaborators for working with American-led occupation forces and the country's U.S.-backed government.

Signaling no let-up in attacks as the new year dawned, insurgents assassinated two local government officials for Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, and an Iraqi police major outside his home in the southwest part of the capital.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7217028&src=rss/worldNews

[rodeodance]

1. YES!! ---"the man-made catastrophe":--good one!!!!