Shek

Every once in a while I'll check out Al Jazeera to see what their English site is reporting. Out of curiosity, if there are any Arabic speakers out there, I'd be interested to see if their Arabic version is different.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exer...BE405150F8.htm

Children killed in Baghdad car blast
Wednesday 13 July 2005, 12:49 Makka Time, 9:49 GMT

Up to 27 people, including seven children, have been killed and at least 18 wounded by a car bomb in Baghdad.

The attack on Wednesday occurred near a patrol of US forces, police sources said.

US troops said one US soldier and many Iraqi civilians were killed by the blast, including at least seven Iraqi children. Three US soldiers were among the wounded.

"The vehicle, laden with explosives, drove up to a Humvee before detonating. Many Iraqi civilians, mostly children, were around the Humvee at the time of the blast," US
military spokesman Sergeant David Abrams said.

Iraqi journalist Walid Khalid said a bomber wanted to detonate an explosive-laden car targeting US forces. However, the bomb detonated before it reached the US forces, he said.

Witness statements

One witness, Muhammad Ali Hamza, 25, said US forces turned up in al-Jedidah district to warn residents to stay indoors because of reports of a car bomb in the area.

"Children gathered round the Americans who were handing out sweets. Suddenly a suicide car bomber drove round from a side street and blew himself up," he added.

"I was at home. I heard the explosion. I rushed outside to find my son. I only found his bicycle," said Abu Hamed, whose 12-year-old son Muhammad was killed in the attack.

He was speaking at Kindi hospital where hundreds of distraught parents in blood-soaked hallways were shouting and screaming. He said he had found his son in the hospital mortuary.

"I recognised him from his head. The rest of the body was completely burnt," he said.

Hassan Muhammad, whose 13-year-old son Alaa also died, said: "Why do they attack our children? They just destroyed one US Humvee, but they killed dozens of our children.

"What sort of a resistance is this? It's a crime."

The last major attack involving children was a triple car bomb on 30 September against US troops inaugurating a water treatment plant in western Baghdad which killed 43 people, including 37 children who had gathered to take sweets from US soldiers.

Homes damaged

A cameraman at the scene shortly after the bombing said the vehicle blew up in between houses, reducing parts of three houses to rubble.

Women in the street screamed in anger and sorrow near pools of blood in the street.

At the nearby Ibn Nafees hospital, several wounded were being treated, including at least one baby.

Interior Ministry sources said most of the dead and wounded were taken to another hospital.

Aljazeera reported Iraqi police sources as saying US forces have taken control of the highway in al-Rustumiya.

Stone Cold

So why don't the population rise up and do something about this insurgency if they want US help? They sit and do nothing. I just feel they can be doing more than what they are to help us route these bastards out instead of standing around waiting for a handout.

They know too that any people around or near US forces will be considerd targets as well. Irresponsibilty on their part. Yeah you can't have 24 hr watch on your youngins most of the time but you sure can teach them otherwise. Use this incident as a training aide. Hate seeing this.

Are we wasting our time with these people? That remains to be seen. IMO at the moment....yes. And contrary to what the media is filling everybody back home....so do alot of other soldiers/airmen.

Myself and my troops had little or no contact with the locals. We made that standard policy. Trust no one. Or put them at risk knowing we were the prime targets.

Shek

Unfortunately, given the brutality of the Baathist regime, it's not an easy decision to reach out to the coalition and Iraqi forces. In reality, the majority of Iraqis don't any experience violence personally, and so the negative impact of the insurgency isn't hitting them hard enough to overcome the fear of the Baathists. I used to get occasional walk ups with good intel that resulted in bad guy detentions and weapons and explosives coming off the street, but as you point out, it isn't the level needed to make this a rout.

I think that after the December elections, the insurgency will no longer be viable, as many Sunnis will feel a part of the government and the turnout of voters will be such that it sends a powerful signal that they are not afraid of the insurgents. Also, the insugents and terrorists will continue to burn their bridges, and their cries of Zionist crusaders and occupiers won't be able to shadow out the death and destruction they bring.

leib10

Does anybody know a rough estimate of the Iraqi civilian dead? It's gotta be way more than ours.

__________________
"The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world. So wake up, Mr. Freeman. Wake up and smell the ashes." G-Man

Confed999

The only site I give any credit to: http://www.iraqbodycount.net/

__________________
No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry

leib10

Jesus. That's more than I thought.

Bluesman

And a whole lot less than Saddam would've killed in the same time period, and, unlike his horrible sons' once-imminent and inevitable mis-rule, the trend will decline over time.

__________________
"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it, and if one finds the prospect of a long war intolerable, it is natural to disbelieve in the possibility of victory."
- George Orwell

leib10

Hopefully. This is turning into a slaughter. There's no reason for these people to die.

Confed999

Sad, but true...

Confed999

There was no reason for them to die under Saddam either. Also, these numbers are exceptionally low for a conflict of this scale.

leib10

Compared to earlier conflicts, yes. But it's still a lot of people.

Confed999

Compared to current conflicts even. Check out the other wars, civil and otherwise, going on in the world...
It is alot, but it would be much worse if they had been left, for God knows how many decades more, under Baath rule.

leib10

Who knows who else would've been a VX victim. At least we're not doing the killing.

Confed999

"to permit murder when one could have prevented it is morally wrong. To allow a rape when one could have hindered it is an evil. To watch an act of cruelty to children without trying to intervene is morally inexcusable. In brief, not resisting evil is an evil of omission, and an evil of omission can be just as evil as an evil of commission." J. P. Moreland and Norman Geisler

leib10

I agree.