since the beginning of the Iraq war, suspected Sunni-Arab militants used three suicide car bombs and two mortar rounds on the capital’s Shiite Sadr City slum to kill at least 145 people and wound 238 on Thursday,” the AP reports. “The Shiites responded almost immediately, firing 10 mortar rounds at the Abu Hanifa Sunni mosque as Azamiya, killing one person and wounding seven people in their attack on the holiest Sunni shrine in Baghdad.”
Yeah…no civil war here. To have a neocons sense of delusion would bring oneself a sense of “peace.”
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:14 amIranian requests for IAEA technical assistance on seven other nuclear energy projects were approved in a compromise reached ahead of the IAEA board meeting.
The projects were judged not to pose a risk of being diverted towards the manufacture of nuclear arms.
The IAEA denied Tehran assistance with the heavy water nuclear reactor over concerns that it could be used to enrich plutonium for use in nuclear bombs.
Iran’s heavy water Arak reactor is due for completion in 2009.
If Its OK with the IAEA its Ok with me too … Dont trust Bush or Isreal
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:15 amNO Thanksgiving for Iraqis today thanks to the vile Bush Regime!
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:21 amGod, this is so horrible. I feel so guilty for not being able to stop this war before it started.
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:23 amGW Bush and family will go down as the worst of the worst in all of human history.
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:26 amJesus Christ…WTF????
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:28 amYou know the Bush’s aren’t “wasting their beautiful minds” on this horrible, deadly story today.
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:34 amGod, this is so horrible. I feel so guilty for not being able to stop this war before it started.
Comment by AJB
Yes.
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:39 amOT,
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:42 amZooey, check your email for a funny Idaho story I sent.
:)
I am NOT thankful to anyone about this mess…
More like disgusted that people CHOOSE to behave in this manner.
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:47 amNow we can truly understand why GDumbya isn’t meeting in Iraq with Maliki.
Just the thought of him being “in the neighborhood” is enough to inflame this civil war that he started with his dirty little war.
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:48 amZooey, check your email for a funny Idaho story I sent.
:)
Comment by trueblue
Dual Zamboni abuse in Boise….how incredibly rude.
I’m so glad I’m up north…where we’d never think of such good clean fun. Heh.
Thanks, true. Happy Turkey Day!
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:54 am#9, OT, Zooey, check your email for a funny Idaho story I sent. :)
#12, Zooey: Zooey, check your email for a funny Idaho story I sent. :) Comment by trueblue Dual Zamboni abuse in Boise….how incredibly rude. I’m so glad I’m up north…where we’d never think of such good clean fun. Heh. Thanks, true. Happy Turkey Day!
HINT: This was the deadliest attack since the beginning of the Iraq war.
So please, do not hijack, pollute, and destroy this important thread with your personal chit chats like the above.
You have each others email: Please use that instead of making people scroll through what you can send thru email.
Like so many others, I am interested in reading others’ views in re to deadliest attack since the beginning of the Iraq war as opposed to reading about you two.
November 23rd, 2006 at 12:11 pmI agree entirely with #13; way too many threads on this site are full of people’s personal animosities and other irrelevancies.
One concern is that you might now be looking at a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia in Iraq, something that Israel would likely encourage. This is why pulling US troops out would be a good idea. It would reduce the violence in a war-torn region. Who doesn’t want to see this happen? Al-Queda and their ilk depend on constant warfare in the Middle East; that’s why they’re pro-Bush. I’d guess that some Al-Queda associated groups are responsible for this latest atrocity; it sure fits into their previous behavior. (Oh, and Al Queda is funded by the Saudis). If US troops left, then the Iraqi people would turn against the Islamic militants from Iran and Saudi Arabia.
November 23rd, 2006 at 12:36 pm#14, thoughtcriminal
Iraq’s fate hanging on a new axis
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi
While the US is actively exploring alternative options to salvage its intervention in Iraq, regional realities are dictating their own dynamic, not necessarily in tune with the United States’ objectives. Slowly but surely, a new realignment is shaping up that is making Washington nervous – a Tehran-Baghdad-Damascus
SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD HAASS
“Iraq Is Not Winnable”
Haass: Visions of a new Middle East that is peaceful, prosperous and democratic will not be realized. Much more likely is the emergence of a new Middle East that will cause great harm to itself and the world. Iran will be a powerful state in the region, a classical imperial power. No viable peace process between Israel and the Palestinians is likely for the foreseeable future. Militias will emerge throughout the region, terrorism will grow in sophistication, tensions between Sunni and Shia will increase, causing problems in countries with divided societies, such as Bahrain, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Islam will fill the political and intellectual vacuum. Iraq at best will remain messy for years to come, with a weak central government, a divided society and sectarian violence. At worst, it will become a failed state racked by all-out civil war that will draw in its neighbors.
The New Middle East
Richard N. Haass
From Foreign Affairs, November/December 2006
Summary: The age of U.S. dominance in the Middle East has ended and a new era in the modern history of the region has begun. It will be shaped by new actors and new forces competing for influence, and to master it, Washington will have to rely more on diplomacy than on military might.
November 23rd, 2006 at 12:42 pmHmmm, I can almost smell victory coming closer.
November 23rd, 2006 at 12:45 pm#13 – goodscarrier,
STOP FOLLOWING ME AROUND, DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?
You are using far more “bandwidth” criticizing me than I use going off topic.
If you keep doing this, I will start re-posting every single comment of mine that is on topic, and then you’ll see some bandwidth being wasted.
You may think you’re making me look bad, but you’re only exposing yourself as a pathetic whiny snot-nosed prick who knows how to use cut and paste.
November 23rd, 2006 at 12:53 pmZooey, why is it that these assclowns like cut&paste goodies don’t get it that there is a sense of community on this site.
I appreciate your insightful comments, as well as JRisser, true, un and lots of other folks I regularly exchange pleasantries with on the site.
Goodies, if you want to limit our exchanges with each other, don’t freakin readem, or go to HuffPo and blow it out your ass over there.
November 23rd, 2006 at 1:17 pmU.S. Retreat from Iraq? The Secret Story
According to credible Iraqi sources in London and Amman, a secret story of America’s diplomatic exit strategy from Iraq is rapidly unfolding. The key events include:
First, James Baker told one of Saddam Hussein’s lawyers that Tariq Aziz, former deputy prime minister, would be released from detention by the end of this year, in hope that he will negotiate with the US on behalf of the Baath Party leadership. The discussion recently took place in Amman, according to the Iraqi paper al-Quds al-Arabi.
Yet Americans who voted in the November election because of a deep belief that a change of government in Washington might end the war have a right to know that their votes counted. The US has not abandoned its entire strategy in Iraq, but is offering significant concessions without its own citizens knowing
READ THIS ARTICLE GUYS ITS VERY INTERESTING
November 23rd, 2006 at 1:35 pmYep , damn American Sunis-Arabs are at it again.
November 23rd, 2006 at 2:28 pmI wonder what is the Bush family Thanksgiving prayer for today.
November 23rd, 2006 at 2:39 pmDo they pray for the ability to sleep at night?
Or, I wonder, if they suffer for what they have wrought in the world.
No, I think the shallow, self-absorbed Bush family are just pigging out at their Thanksgiving feas. Those without conscience don’t have insomnia, nor do they suffer from lack of appetite.
#22 TT
November 23rd, 2006 at 2:45 pmThis is a very busy week for me and I haven’t had time to read my usual list of sources, so I really apprecite your “heads up” on the best of them.
(Also, your brief summary on the history of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.)
Are you in the USA?
From the NYT article:
In the raid on Sadr City at about 4:30 a.m., coalition forces searched houses and opened fire on a minivan carrying Iraqi workers in the al-Fallah Street area, killing four of them and wounding eight, said police Capt. Mohammed Ismail.
These are (or were) poor Iraqis trying to make a living as day laborers. Now their families will have an even tougher times making ends meet, having lost a family member and probably the main breadwinner in the household.
Events like this go to show the US military is part of the problem. I cannot fathom why people keep saying that Iraq will be worst should the US withdraw. How much worse can it get?
Also, the Sunni-Shiite struggle is really one for power, with both sides trying to fill the vacuum left by the invasion. As long as there is the perception that one side is cozzying up to (and favored by) the occupiers, tensions will persist. American withdrawal will eliminate a source of animosity that is stkoing the flames in Iraq.
November 23rd, 2006 at 3:03 pmWhen this war in iraq started, I didn’t want to object to it too much, even though I had a bad feeling about it. I thought maybe Bush and Rumsfeld knew what they were doing, and we would be greated with flowers as liberators…and objecting would only give support to the enemy. We’ve been lead by fools, and I’m so sorry!
November 23rd, 2006 at 3:15 pmMabe they’ll order some painers, strokes and heart attacks.
November 23rd, 2006 at 7:08 pmTo Zooey and the clique:
the other dude (who criticized y’all) was right: OT chit chat (especially such chit chat hinting at that which the rest of us are kept in the dark) is the equivalent of whispering with company present – just plain rude. Miss manners would be appalled. The guy who criticised y’all didn’t even mention bandwidth. Why would you threaten to hijack bandwidth on this site? He’s basically asking y’all to get a room.
So what was up with Idaho? Can you tell the rest of us, or are we not cool enough to fit into your “community”?
Jesus H. Freekin’ Christ. I’m back in Junior High School.
November 23rd, 2006 at 8:50 pmSo much for freedom being on the march.
November 23rd, 2006 at 9:37 pmsmafdy,
You choose to be back in Jr High because of your own insecurities.
There are a bunch of us who have been posting here for 1-2 years.
We get to know one another – you know, like the way America used to be when you all knew the neighbors and helped and got along.
The exchange between Zooey and I lasted maybe 3 sentences. The rest is your and goods’ rants.
You want to know what the big deal was?
Midnight Zamboni Run Prompts Firings
By JOHN MILLER (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
November 22, 2006 11:35 PM EST
BOISE, Idaho – Two employees of the city’s ice skating rink have been fired for making a midnight fast-food run in a pair of Zambonis. An anonymous tipster reported seeing the two big ice-resurfacing machines chug through a Burger King drive-through and return to the rink around 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 10. The squat, rubber-tired vehicles, which have a top speed of about 5 mph, drove 1 1/2 miles in all.
The Zamboni operators, both temporary city employees whose names and ages were not released by Parks and Recreation Department, had to negotiate at least one intersection with a traffic light on their late-night creep from Idaho Ice World.
“They were fired immediately,” said Parks Department Director Jim Hall. “We’re pretty sure it was just the one time. When we interviewed them, they didn’t seem to be too concerned about it. I don’t think they understood the seriousness of it.”
Hall said neither the $75,000 Zambonis nor their $10,000 blades appeared damaged, but the city could charge the employees with operating an unlicensed motor vehicle on a public street.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
It was funny, but I didn’t want to bother TP with all the details – since it was OT!
There is no clique here.
You are nice. People are nice back. That’s the big secret.
So please stop buying into goods’ crap, since he’s been sniffing around Zooey for a while now, and he’s the one going way OT.
Everyone is welcome here. Except if you have a chip on your shoulder.
November 23rd, 2006 at 10:55 pmThen you can go to Freeper sites.
all I can say is THANK GOD our resident trolls Whitey Hermaphroditey and Roger Rabbit have a plan to deal with this sort of stuff.
Come on guys? Stay the course, right?
waiting for the trolls to spin this one…
November 24th, 2006 at 12:47 amAccording to the UN, violence in Iraq now takes an average of 120 lives each day.
In Brazil, violence takes 140 lives a day.
November 24th, 2006 at 2:01 amIn Brazil, violence takes 140 lives a day.
Comment by Jose Chung — November 24, 2006 @ 2:01 am
Brazil, population: 187,560,000
Iraq, population: 28,807,000
(Both figures are 2005 estimates)
Brazil has roughly 6.5 times the population of Iraq. That both countries have about the same death toll per day should make anyone shudder.
Your comparison is shallow, inane, and shows you have no idea how different the two countries are.
November 24th, 2006 at 3:17 amYeah # 34 it really shows how desparate these guys are to show that Iraq isnt really as bad of a place as the media makes it out to be.
Lets face it, the “god mad us from mud” brigade isnt really good with numbers.
Juan Chang would you rather travel to Brazil or Iraq?
Are you really Jesus Christ in disguise?
Anyone want to fund a collection to send the trolls on an all expenses paid vacation to sunny Iraq?
November 24th, 2006 at 6:57 amSectarian Attack Is Worst in Baghdad Since Invasion
BAGHDAD, Nov. 23 — In the deadliest sectarian attack in Baghdad since the American-led invasion, explosions from five powerful car bombs and a mortar shell tore through crowded intersections and marketplaces in the teeming Shiite district of Sadr City on Thursday afternoon, killing at least 144 people and wounding 206, the police said.
November 24th, 2006 at 8:48 am