CNN Breaking-2/28 At least 25 Iraqis killed in Hilla

[Charlie Brown]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/02/28/iraq.main/index.html

A suicide car bomber Monday morning drove into a crowd of people lined up outside a government office in Hilla, killing at least 20 people and wounding 33 others -- many seriously -- Iraqi government and health officials said.

[merwin]

1. And it will most likely be spun as the insurgents being desperate. n/t

[leftchick]

3. it means the US is successful

and the insurgents are desperate... :puke:

[sunnystarr]

34. How right you are ... Limbaugh already spun it that way. (nt)

[Fed Up]

2. Nothing we can do about it.

We let Al Gore get robbed, and willingly allowed Bush to grab the 2000 election. With incumbency, 2004 was an even easier field goal for him to kick.

Now the world has to live with the fallout.

Remember what the right says, Bush is the savior of the whole world.

[leftchick]

4. Twin Car Bombs Kill 31 South of Baghdad : AP

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050228/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomber detonated explosives amid a crowd of people applying for work at a government office south of Baghdad on Monday, killing 30 and wounding 71, officials and witnesses said. The blast came a day after Iraq (news - web sites) announced the capture of a key insurgent leader in neighboring Syria.


A second car bomb exploded Monday at a police checkpoint in Musayyib, about 20 miles north of Hillah, killing at least one policeman and wounding several others, police said on condition of anonymity.


In the deadlier attack, the suicide attacker drove into the crowd of jobseekers at the government office in Hilla, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, and detonated the explosives, witnesses said.


Dozens of bodies could be seen laying on the ground after the blast, and half a dozen ambulances ferried casualties to a nearby hospital, witnesses said. The huge blast damaged nearby shops and parked cars, and sent panicked people fleeing.


A police colonel in Hilla, Col. Ali Iskandir, put the toll at 30 dead and 50 wounded. A senior Interior Ministry official, speaking earlier on condition of anonymity, said the blast killed 25 people and wounded 71 others. But he added the death toll was likely to rise.

[spinbaby]

5. BBC says at least 106 dead

Over 130 wounded, death toll could rise.

[allemand]

6. BBC: Huge car bomb, more than 100 people killed

Iraq car bombing causes carnage

At least 105 people have been killed in a massive car bomb south of Baghdad, local medical officials say.

At least 130 others have been wounded in the blast in Hilla, 100km (60 miles) south of the capital.

The car, reportedly driven by a suicide bomber, exploded near of queue of people applying for government jobs.

More:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4303629.stm

[ClintonTyree]

7. These are merely a handful of extremists................

who hate our freedoms and don't want American style Democracy in Iraq. Will we root them out? Yes. Will we let Iraqis choose their own form of government? You betcha. Will we allow this handful of outside agitators to stop progress. No, we won't. Freedom is on the march my friends. End of press conference. Thank you Mr. Rumsfeld.

[llmart]

8. Love the sarcasm.....

I was going to say the same thing.

Yet stupid people in this country eat this propaganda up and can't see that we have destroyed the country of Iraq (on purpose of course). It was definitely better under Saddam.

[shadowknows69]

16. not that I wish harm on our troops obviously but

why are there seemingly no troops around any of these large scale attacks on civilians. I thought our whole purpose for being there now was to keep things secure for the people of Iraq while we're training there army and police. We clearly aren't doing a very good job of protecting the populace or the precious pipeline. I still suspect that we have thrown a couple remote control car bombs into the mix to insure the need for our continued presence there.<tin foil hat off now>

[Az_lefty]

29. We've never had enough troops on the ground for security.

that's why this thing has never been under control.

[shadowknows69]

31. if it's a true insurgency born of angry Iraqis

and not shrub's phantom army of foreign fighters then it wouldn't matter if we had a million troops on the ground. I still think we may be playing both sides.

[TomClash]

9. Bombing in Hilla, Iraq kills at least 110, wounds 200

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/02/28/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide car bomber Monday morning drove into a crowd of people outside a government medical office in Hilla, killing at least 110 and wounding 200 others, Iraqi government and health officials said.

Iraqi police recruits were lining up outside the building to be given physicals, officials said.

Hilla is located about 55 miles south of Baghdad.

A second car bomb exploded about 15 miles to the north in Musayyib. Iraq's Interior Ministry said it had reports of wounded but no other details.

The Hilla and Musayyib attacks come a day after eight people were killed and at least two injured when a bomb exploded inside a municipal building in northern Iraq, multinational forces officials said.

[spinbaby]

10. Duplicate

Here's the earlier thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1270762

Up to 110, eh? So much for things getting better after the election.

[TomClash]

11. I only posted it becaue the number of casualties increased so much

[LynnTheDem]

12. More of bush's

"PROGRESS"

[warrior1]

13. Now at 125

Nothing to see here folks, didn't you know that MJ's trial starts today.

[cthrumatrix]

14. Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 106 in Iraq (AP)

Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 106 in Iraq

1 hour, 2 minutes ago Middle East - AP


By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomber attacked a crowd of police and Iraqi National Guard recruits south of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 106 and wounding 133, police said. It was one of the deadliest insurgent attacks since President Bush (news - web sites) declared the end of major fighting in May 2003.


Associated Press Television News footage showed large pools of blood outside the medical clinic, located on a dusty street in Hilla, 60 miles south of Baghdad. Scorch marks covered the clinic walls and dozens of people gathered to help put body parts into blankets. Soles of shoes and tattered clothes were piled up in a corner.


"A suicide car bomb hit a gathering of people who were applying for work in the security services. The incident led to the death of 106 people and injury of 133 citizens," Babil province police said in a statement released to reporters

snip
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=1&u=/ap/20050228/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq


Civil war can't be to far around the corner.... this is unbelievable

[spinbaby]

15. Dupe

Here's the original thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1270762

[Guckert]

17. Ahh, Freedom and Liberty spreading like a wildfire across the land.

Good Job Bush. You DUH man. We surly don't need more troops to help them get on their feet sooner. then we would have to leave without all the precious war profits.

[saigon68]

18. Dupe

[Igel]

19. It dawned on me recently that they're not targeting

collaborators. Many of those people in line wouldn't have been hired; none had been hired.

They're targetting those willing to be collaborators, which is strangely consonant with the rhetoric that they release. They're targetting apostates.

[daleo]

30. I don't see any real difference.

To become a collaborator, you first have to be willing to be a collaborator. If you want to discourage collaboration this will probably be more effective than just going after actual collaborators. To talk about apostates is to use religious language where political language would suffice, like calling U.S. troops crusaders instead of occupiers.

Note, I am not commenting on the morality of attacking collaborators, just this aspect of the tactic.

[Jack Rabbit]

20. BBC Link: 110 dead, toll expected to rise

From the BBC Online
Dated Monday February 28 13:34 GMT (5:34 am PST)

Iraq car bombing causes carnage

At least 110 people have been killed in a massive car bomb south of Baghdad, local medical officials say.

At least 130 others have been wounded in the blast in Hilla, 100km (60 miles) south of the capital.

The car, reportedly driven by a suicide bomber, exploded near a queue of people applying for government jobs.

Iraqi insurgents are waging a violent campaign against US-backed authorities, targeting anyone associated with the government.

Read more.

[Sapphire Blue]

21. Suicide Bomb Kills 115 Near Iraq Marketplace

Suicide Bomb Kills 115 Near Iraq Marketplace

Mon Feb 28, 2005 07:38 AM ET

By Haider Abbas


HILLA, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber detonated a car near a crowded marketplace south of Baghdad Monday, killing 115 people and wounding 148 in the single bloodiest attack in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The bomber rammed the car into a crowd of people queuing for government jobs outside a health center in the town of Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of the capital. Many of those killed were shopping at stalls across the road and caught in the blast.

Reuters television footage showed a pile of bloodied bodies outside the building. Smoke rose from the wreckage of burned-out market stalls as bystanders loaded mangled corpses on to wooden carts, usually used to carry fruit and vegetables.

Others, their limbs ripped to shreds, were piled into the back of pick-up trucks. Nearby buildings were pockmarked by shrapnel. People wept, clutched the heads in despair and shouted "God is greatest" as rescuers led the wounded away.

"The number of dead has reached 115. We are doing our utmost to treat the wounded (but) the death toll may rise," an official in Hilla's health directorate told Reuters.

Continued @

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=U0D05QBVQ5T3QCRBAE0CFEY?type=topNews&storyID=7757232

[Newsjock]

22. That capture of Saddam's half-brother sure turned the corner, didn't it

As I started looking at newspaper front pages this morning at http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages I started seeing paper after paper with the half-brother news emblazoned on the front page. After just a few, I started to get sick and angry.

[Coventina]

23. Somehow those "dead-enders" carry on!

Even after the arrest of Saddam & his brother.
Even after the glorious elections.

Wonder how they manage?

:shrug:

[Erika]

24. And why are we still in Iraq?

www.icasualties.org

[EVDebs]

25. Erika, Agreed. The best thing to do is simply bring our troops home

and leave a token force in desert bases far from Baghdad. The 'insurgents' will be left fighting a civil war and then they themselves will become the targets in the ensuing chaos. In time the US troops will be invited back once the situation stabilizes and need for oil revenues is fully realized.

[skeeters]

27. Troops Won't Come Home

It's not part of the Master Plan.

Bush right now is saying, yeah, more occupation. Tell Daddy he will double profits again.

And where is Hillary to say, this proves how we are winning.

[EVDebs]

33. Which is why DU et al needs to publicize the map of new bases being

built all over the MiddleEast/CaspianSea region. www.fromthewilderness.com mentions in the book "Crossing the Rubicon" a map from ChristianScienceMonitor that shows bases and troop deployments...this needs much updating, as I've heard the new Playboy apparently has a map showing secret bases even in Israel.

Can some enterprising DUer out there get the word to CSMonitor or Playboy (who usually supports the troops morale wise in many other ways !) to UPDATE those maps ? We really need to show that no one is coming home soon as long as all those bases need troops to staff them.

John McCain almost joked about this in a CNN interview mentioned in Bob Herbert's "The Republicans Bizarre Parallel Universe" article from this past fall. 'Ten or twenty years...That's not so bad". I thought I'd lose my temper but counted to ten.

[AlCzervik]

26. holy hell, it's getting no better at all

[spinbaby]

28. Duplicate

For the third time this morning:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1270762

[Rose Siding]

32. Here's the MSNBC link- At least 115 dead. What would vaporize the car?

Is it just a matter of sufficient explosives or would this be something more powerful?

snip>
Monday’s blast outside the clinic was so powerful it nearly vaporized the suicide bomber’s car, leaving only its engine partially intact. The injured were piled into pickup trucks and ambulances and taken to nearby hospitals.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7043921/