Barrage of Iraqi attacks kills 19, including **8** U.S. troops

[babylonsister]

Barrage of Iraqi attacks kills 19, including 8 U.S. troops
By Nancy A. Youssef and Hannah Allam | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Monday, March 10, 2008


BAGHDAD — Eight U.S. service members were killed in two attacks today in Iraq, making it the deadliest day against the military this year, a senior American military official in Baghdad said. At least 11 Iraqis also were killed Monday in a surge of attacks throughout the country.

Five of the Americans died when a suicide bomber walked up to a foot patrol in Baghdad and self-detonated. The others died while on a patrol in Diyala province, the official said. He asked not to be identified as he isn't an official spokesman.

The rash of attacks against a spectrum of targets raised new questions about whether the U.S. can draw down its presence from the current buildup to levels of about a year ago.

None of the seven blasts was as powerful as the twin bombings that killed 68 people last Thursday in a Baghdad shopping district. It was unclear was whether Monday's bombers acted in coordination. But Iraqi officials interpreted the wave of attacks as Sunni Muslim insurgents reasserting their presence at a time when violence had dipped to record lows and families were tentatively venturing out of their walled-off neighborhoods.

U.S. military leaders in Washington and Baghdad have been anxious about plans to reduce troops this summer. Many have said that it would be devastating if American troops departed secure areas, lost control to insurgents, then had to retake them.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/29933.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. RIP...

[movonne]

2. Maybe this should be on Latest Breaking...

[babylonsister]

4. It's already there, but the numbers have increased : (

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3218676&mesg_id=3218676

[Disturbed]

5. The Surge is starting to fall apart. It was a fraud from the start.

The Busholini Regime managed yet another fraud on Amerika that is
starting to reveal itself.

[rodeodance]

3. peace to their families.

[kirby]

6. Bush Spin: We are bringing troops home, 8 at a time!

How sad.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

7. RIP

:cry: :grr:

[Turn CO Blue]

8. Total count was 3980, plus 8 more,

This is horrible. I don't want to reduce the count to just numbers, but we're nearing 4000.

[Bozita]

9. Now I know why the news networks are wall-to-wall Spitzer-and-the-hookers.

So sad in so many ways.

[democrank]

10. So sad.

~PEACE~

[malaise]

11. But but but

only Spitzer is on M$M. This didn't happen unless I see it on M$M.

I thought I saw a Pentagon spokesman today saying how swimmingly things were going in Baghdad. :puke:

I weep for the families of the dead.

[Selatius]

12. You think that's bad? Wait until Al-Sadr tells his Mahdi Army to end the unilateral cease-fire.

Then the Mahdi Army will re-emerge into the open, and Shi'ites and Sunni militias will go at it again.

[leftchick]

13. "But, you know, the good news story is.......

<snip>

In a briefing to Pentagon reporters, Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the commander of Multinational Force West, which includes Anbar province, said that al Qaida in Iraq was "down but not out."

"But, you know, the good news story is — and it is very key in an insurgency — they don't last very long in anything approaching a built-up area, even a village, without us being notified by the locals," he said.

:puke:

[malaise]

14. BBC International just had extensive coverage of this

still waiting for M$M.

[babylonsister]

16. ABC mentioned it here, then immediately went into

the story of how successful the surge is. :eyes:

[me b zola]

15. What is anger mixed with sadness?

I need to name this horrible mix of emotions that I have been feeling for several years.


Peace to all who have been so horribly affected by this war/occupation/FUBAR.





:argh: