Attacks at Baghdad Police Stations Kill 20

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041203/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_police_attacked

<snip>


The attacks occurred in the western Amil district and in the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Azamiyah, where police said a car bomb exploded during a clash between Iraqi government security forces and armed rebels around the police station.


Fourteen people were killed and 19 others injured in the Azamiyah blast, according to the Numan hospital. Azamiyah was a major center of support for Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).


Earlier, gunmen stormed a police station in Amil near the road to Baghdad International Airport, killing six police officers, looting weapons and torching two cars, officials said.

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Police Capt. Mohammed al-Jumeili said the insurgents shelled the station with mortars, and then about 15 of them stormed its main courtyard and clashed with police inside. Several officers were wounded, he said

From AFP....

At least 26 dead in Baghdad attacks as US admits it underestimated rebels

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041203/wl_mideast_afp/iraq&cid=1514&ncid=1480

BAGHDAD (AFP) - At least 26 people, including 12 policemen, were killed in double attacks in Baghdad as US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld admitted that he had underestimated the Iraq (news - web sites) insurgency.

At least 12 Iraqi policemen were killed in an attack on a police station in Baghdad's western Al-Amel district, while at least 14 people were killed in a suicide car bombing in the capital's northern Al-Adhamiya district.


The attacks marked an end to a lull in insurgent attacks in the capital and came as Rumsfeld said in a television interview that intelligence had failed to predict the strength of the insurgency in Iraq


"If you're asking, 'Was there any kind of understanding or agreement that there would likely be a long insurgency afterwards?', I don't believe ... if you dropped a thumbline through all that intelligence, that anyone would say that," Rumsfeld told Fox TV.

[NYC]

1. Two major attacks.

...Insurgents launched two major attacks Friday against police stations in different areas of Baghdad, killing 20 people, including six police officers. One of the attacks was a car bomb, police said...

[ogradda]

2. what exactly is rumsfelds job anyway?

to stand around with his mouth hanging open when something happens?

[lebkuchen]

4. to invent double speak phrases

like "knowable unknowables."

[ElectroPrincess]

5. Rumsfeld and his crones have changed the culture of

the pentagon. Hell, he covertly forced the retirement of a number of senior officers, especially within the Army ranks because they were marginalized.

I remember numerous times over the past year when the press asked, "Don't you need more troops? Some representatives say many soldiers are asking for an increased troop strength to relieve the stress." Remember the above? Also recall that each and every time Rummy retorted, "Why, I am surrounded by Generals, and all they have to do is ASK." They did not DARE ask. The ones who maybe have integrity KNOW that any military science advice, especially from the Army, will fall on deaf ears.

Some folks in uniform secretly call Iraq, "Rummy's war." That term has much truth in it since they completely dressed down and chastised the senior officers who said that it would take AT LEAST 200-300 thousand boots on the ground to secure the country and it's borders.

We are paying for Rummy's (and Wolfowitz's) war with needless casualties that could have been prevented IF the civilians respected the original group of senior officers within the Pentagon.

This "reset" button, "Oh oppps, I guess I made a mistake" is disgusting and Rumsfeld should be fired immediately. Unfortunately we live in a Bush Co. world and no body but enlisted and junior officers will be charged or take any blame what so ever.

Damn! :(

[maddezmom]

8. Rummy admits they underestimated the insurgency...duh!! : link

The attacks marked an end to a lull in insurgent attacks in the capital and came as Rumsfeld said in a television interview that intelligence had failed to predict the strength of the insurgency in Iraq


"If you're asking, 'Was there any kind of understanding or agreement that there would likely be a long insurgency afterwards?', I don't believe ... if you dropped a thumbline through all that intelligence, that anyone would say that," Rumsfeld told Fox TV.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=1&u=/afp/20041203/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_041203101618

NOTICE...intelligence fails again. :eyes:

[leftchick]

3. Yikes! They freed Prisoners from Jail!

I would say these attacks become more sophisticated by the day!


Reuters: Violence in Baghdad Kills at Least 25 Iraqis

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber rammed into a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad during dawn prayers Friday, killing 14 people and stoking fears that sectarian divisions over when to hold elections could unleash further bloodshed.

Witnesses said there were two blasts -- an initial explosion during prayers and a second blast as rescuers tried to drag out the dead and wounded at the mosque in Aadhamiya, a mainly Sunni neighborhood and guerrilla stronghold in northern Baghdad.

In another dawn attack in the southwest of the capital, gunmen fired mortars at a police station in the Seydiya district before bursting into the compound and hunting down policemen inside, survivors of the attack said. Eleven policemen were killed and six were wounded.

The insurgents also freed around 50 prisoners from the jail in the police station and set two police pickup trucks ablaze. Clouds of thick, dark smoke poured into the air.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6987113

[leftchick]

6. Update: "a commando-style raid''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=alFIjuQ8srzg&refer=top_world_news


Baghdad Attacks Leave 24 Dead, 30 Hurt

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At about 6:30 a.m. local time, gunmen stormed a police station in the southwestern al-Amel district, killing at least 10 police officers and wounding 10 people, the official, who declined to be identified, said in a telephone interview from Baghdad. The attackers shot dead everyone in the station before freeing prisoners and fleeing, he said.

It was ``a commando-style raid'' in which 60 gunmen arrived in cars, taxis, and minibuses, circling the building and opening fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, Agence France-Presse said, citing unidentified police officials. AFP reported the attack happened at 5:00 a.m. and at least 12 people were killed, including one of the 50 prisoners.

A suicide car bomb exploded outside a mosque in Baghdad's northern al-Adhamiya district at about 7 a.m., killing 14 civilians and wounding 19 others, the ministry official said. The Hamid al-Alwan mosque caught fire and there were two explosions, AFP said citing eyewitness Mahmud Fuad.

Insurgents who want to derail national elections set for Jan. 30 are targeting Baghdad to show that even Iraq's capital can't be safeguarded, the official said. Followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose group is linked to al-Qaeda, said they carried out the attacks, AFP reported, citing a statement on an Islamist Web site. The authenticity of the statement couldn't be verified.

[maddezmom]

7. Pair of Major Attacks in Baghdad Kill 30

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents launched two major attacks Friday against a Shiite mosque and a police station in Baghdad, killing 30 people, including at least 16 police officers, the deadliest insurgent attacks in weeks.

~snip~

Meanwhile, two city councilmen from Khalis were ambushed and killed by gunmen Friday, officials said.


The two were driving from Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad, to Baqouba, the capital of Diala province, to attend the regional meeting on the country's Jan. 30 elections, said deputy governor Ghassan al-Khadran. He said a third councilman was injured in the attack

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=1&u=/ap/20041203/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq