Times of London: "Baghdad is now verging on total collapse"

[bigtree]

July 13, 2006

Baghdad starts to collapse as its people flee a life of death

By James Hider, of The Times, from Baghdad

{snip}

Hundreds — Sunni and Shia — are abandoning their homes. My driver said all his neighbours had now fled, their abandoned houses bullet-pocked and locked up. On a nearby mosque, competing Sunni and Shiite graffiti had been scrawled on the walls.

A senior nurse at Yarmouk hospital on the fringes of west Baghdad’s war zone said that he was close to being overwhelmed. “On Tuesday we received 35 bodies in one day, 16 from Al-Furat district alone. All of them were killed execution-style,” he said. “I thought it was the end of the city. I packed my bags at once and got ready to leave because they could storm the hospital at any moment.”

In just 24 hours before noon yesterday, as parliament convened for another emergency session, 87 bodies were brought to Baghdad city morgue, 63 of them unidentified. Since Sunday’s massacre in Jihad, more than 160 people have been killed, making a total of at least 1,600 since Iraq’s Government of national unity came to power six weeks ago. Another 2,500 have been wounded.

In early June, Nouri al-Maliki, the new Prime Minister, flooded Baghdad’s streets with tens of thousands of soldiers and police in an effort to restore order to the capital.

More recently, he announced a national reconciliation plan, which promised an amnesty to Sunni insurgents and the disbandment of Shia militias. Both initiatives are now in tatters.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2268585_1,00.html

[wordpix2]

1. another great * success, along with Afghanistan where Taliban is making a

comeback. :sarcasm:

I guess the librul reporters aren't reporting the good news, as usual.

[leftchick]

2. just like the bbc report this morning

of course we won't see or read it in the US media.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1655834

[uppityperson]

3. If/when the GreenZone collapses, and USAnians killed in Lebanon

will idiots rally around Mr.bush & his "war on terror" again? Sure hope it goes the other way.

[On the Road]

7. That is What I've Been Anticipating

I know the Green Zone is big, but so far it seems to have fairly quiet and well protected compared with the rest of the city.

[Tempest]

14. 22 U.S. soldiers killed in the Green Zone

In one suicide attack.

Don't think it won't happen again.

[bluestateguy]

4. "Verging"?

Just say it already! Enough of this "on the verge" shit! No more prefacing of the facts! Iraq has been "on the verge" of a civil war for three years. That would be like saying the US is on the verge of a civil war after Sherman's march to the sea in 1864.

[originalpckelly]

5. HOLY CRAP!!! NOT GOOD AT ALL!

This in combination with the Arab league (mostly Sunni) criticizing Hezbollah (a Shi'a group) even when Hezbollah is attacking Israel; shows me that there is a good chance of a regional war between Sunni's and Shi'a with Israel at the periphery. Not good, a surprise offensive could cost the lives of thousands of American soldiers and a modern day Holocaust for both groups.

[Nay]

6. When it finally collapses, THEN can our troops come home??

No use leaving them there to be killed one by one, is there??

[SlavesandBulldozers]

13. now, it'll just change the rationale of why they need to stay. . .again.

since they can never say "because of the oil".

[Master Mahon]

8. And now Bush can really do

the 'Mission Accomplished' swagger!
2 countries in total Anarchy, and 2 more soon to follow.

[MissWaverly]

9. Of course, he will swagger

Oil will be at $100 a barrel, isn't that his game plan.

[Hekate]

10. I have a feeling General Wes Clark wouldn't have run the war this way

I feel sick.

Hekate

[glarius]

12. As I remember it, Clark was AGAINST going to war against Iraq!...nt

[glarius]

11. Hmmm...isn't this the democracy Bush was recommending to Putin the other

day? Bush is so delusional, he thinks the rest of the world buys his pathetic lie that Iraq is now free and democratic. I loved it when Putin made the remark that he didn't really think that Russia would want a democracy like Iraq!...LOL

[Leopolds Ghost]

18. !!! Did Bush really say that????????? Link please n/t

[glarius]

20. Yes he did....Here is a link

Here's the quote:
<snip>
"I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world like Iraq where there's a free press and free religion, and I told him that a lot of people in our country would hope that Russia would do the same thing," Bush said.

Putin replied: "We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I can tell you quite honestly."




http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/bush

[Oreo]

15. The corporate media can't hide the chaos forever

From the article:
A local journalist told me bitterly this week that Iraqis find it ironic that Saddam Hussein is on trial for killing 148 people 24 years ago, while militias loyal to political parties now in government kill that many people every few days. But it is not an irony that anyone here has time to laugh about. They are too busy packing their bags and wondering how they can get out alive.

[bigtree]

16. Gunmen kill 50 in raid near Baghdad

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Gunmen killed over 50 people in an attack around a crowded market in a violent town near Baghdad on Monday, one of the bloodiest incidents in Iraq this year.

Officials and residents in Mahmoudiyah, as well as the US military whose troops were later on the scene, said gunmen, apparently numbering in dozens, stormed the market in the religiously mixed town after a barrage of mortars and grenades.

It was a rare form of attack against civilians. Car bombings are more common. The defence ministry said two car bombs went off first. Accounts from the scene stressed the main attack was from gunmen on foot, tossing grenades and firing on people.

The local hospital said it took in 58 dead and over 70 wounded. Shops and cars were left ablaze. State television put the death toll at 70 and showed footage of the burned out remains of vehicles and market stalls along a deserted street.

http://www.jordantimes.com/tue/news/news6.htm

Armed gang seal market and murder 60 shoppers
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2274333,00.html

[Leopolds Ghost]

17. Would you prefer your kids to have a life of death when they grow up?

Just thought that headline was strange.

"What we know about the enemy is, he has an aversion to death"

[VOX]

19. What happened to "Democracy is spreading throughout the Middle East?"

Where's that right-wing illusion spun so semi-convincingly by the lapdog media?

Where are the Republican congress-people with their phony "Middle East voter solidarity" purple fingers now????????

:grr: