Bomb at Italian Base in Iraq Kills at Least 22

[papau]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=GGPFQVR4JFBVACRBAEKSFFA?type=topNews&storyID=3804570

Bomb at Italian Base in Iraq Kills at Least 22
Wed November 12, 2003 08:01 AM ET

By Khudair Majeed
NASSIRIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - A car bomb ripped through an Italian military police base in the Iraqi town of Nassiriya on Wednesday, killing at least 14 Italians and eight Iraqis in what appeared to be a fresh suicide attack. <snip>

Carabinieri military police officials in Rome said the Italian deaths were believed to be 11 military police and three army soldiers. Hospital officials in Nassiriya said eight Iraqis were killed.

"A truck crashed into the entrance of the military police unit, closely followed by a car which detonated," said a spokeswoman for the British-led multinational force in southern Iraq.

The bomb threw up a huge plume of dust and smoke and shattered windows hundreds of meters (yards) away. Several houses around the base were badly damaged and dozens of wounded Iraqis were admitted to hospital. "A car bomber crashed through the compound where the Italians live," said Aysha Abdul Wahab who lives near the base and spoke to Reuters by telephone. "The explosions damaged a number of houses. My two daughters are injured."

Around 2,300 Italian troops are in southern Iraq, many based in Nassiriya on the banks of the Euphrates river which had been relatively calm since the war. Italian and Romanian forces in the city, part of the British-led force, have been generally well received by locals. <snip>

[dArKeR]

1. Deadly Blast In Southern Iraq - CBS

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/24/iraq/main541815.shtml

[papau]

4. I checked for the story - and did not see the above

Thanks for posting here -

The early post did not have the 22 dead information.

[NewGuy]

2. A l Qiada seems to have lost its mind.

Up until a week or two ago this was a war between the US and Al Qaida that Al Qaida was successfully selling as a war agains Muslims. Now it is a war between Al Qaida and both western and Muslim states. All because Al Qaida has attacked the forces (or civilians) of Saudi Arabia, Italy, and Poland. This is not a winning strategy for them.

[Minstrel Boy]

8. What makes you think this was Al Qaeda?

Seems more like Iraqis striking a high-value, soft-target of occupation. Think Italians have the stomach to take heavy casualties for Bush's war?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

10. You're missing some vital pieces of information...

1) Despite the information provided by the Bushies, Al Qaeda is not THE major participant against the "coalition". Al Qaeda is probably bringing their unconventional combat expertise to the conflict, but not much more than that. The major participants are the Iraqis and Afghans who want the invaders removed from their countries' soil;

2) This has ALWAYS been a war against any country willing to occupy any part of the Middle East...the U.S., the U.K., Poland, Italy, etc.;

3) It has also been a war against ANY country seen as a supporter of the occupying powers...Saudi Arabia, etc.;

4) Al Qaeda has ALWAYS been in conflict with countries that fall into categories #1 and #2 as stated above;

5) Al Qaeda has also been in conflict with the secular governments of the Middle East and has always advocated their overthrow and replacement with fundamentalist Islamic governments.

IMHO, this is a major winning strategy for the anti-coalition forces to include Al Qaeda because:

1) There is a growing lack of support for the secular governments of the Middle East who either appear to be doing nothing to drive the foreigners from the Middle East, or actively supporting the foreigners. This is creating a growing pool of recruits willing to actively participate in combat against the invaders;

2) As the occupiers resort to ever more deadly strategies to maintain their control over Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as any other Middle Eastern country the U.S. may invade over the next couple of years, they are creating still more enemies of the invaders;

3) The supply line for the "coalition" is quite lengthy and very costly to maintain. Conversely, the supply line for Al Qaeda and those allied with Al Qaeda are very short and very easy to maintain;

4) As the body count grows in the U.S., U.K., and the other "coalition" forces, the pressure will grow in those countries to end the conflict and bring the troops home. Adding to that presure is the fact that the reasons for going to war have been exposed as outright lies.

[NewGuy]

21. My point had to do with perceptions...

and controlling the number of enemies you have at one time. Al Qaida, and others who are part of the resistance, had seemed to understand that two things are needed to win a fight. These are the ability to inflict enough harm to change the enemies mind and the support of a major portion of the populace in the places you are fighting.

When They were attacking Americans who were seen by some as being occupieers of Iraq, they were seen as freedom fighters. Additionally, they had the strength to potentially change the political environment here in the US and get the troops called home. Now that they are attacking more and more groups of people simultaneously they are being seen more as a threat. They no longer have the strength to defeat all of their enemies and they may lose the support of the populace as they go after other Muslem countries and groups.

[Terran]

22. No matter who is responsible

the strategy would appear to be to drive out all the ancillary participants and isolate the US, making it next to impossible for the US to control things in Iraq. And it appears to be working, too--the Turks aren't sending their troops, the UN is pulling out, the Italians will go next. In six months the US will be trying to go it alone in Iraq and it will be a 100 times worse than it is now.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

3. The last line in your post shows just how delusional the "coalition"...

...leaders are about Iraq:

"Italian and Romanian forces in the city, part of the British-led force, have been generally well received by locals."

Somebody appears to have woefully understimated the feelings of the Iraqis toward foreigners...any foreigners.

[DivinBreuvage]

7. Hmmm, who else led his Italian and Romanian allies to disaster?

(Hint: he had a little black mustache and lost an army at a place called Stalingrad.)

Anyone know if the Hungarians and Finns are in on this too? We know the right wing Spaniard has offered moral support and a token contribution of troops.

I know that it's useless in terms of drawing a meaningful parallel between the two, but still the number of weird little "window-dressing" similarities of this sort is creepy.

Françoise

[Media_Lies_Daily]

15. Yes...the similarities between the forces of the...

...American Squatter-in-Chief and Hitler are becoming quite frightening. I also find it interesting on a number of levels that both individuals needed a major event to consolidate their power...the burning of the Reichstag for Hitler, and 9/11 for Herr Dubya.

My Dad fought in WWII in Europe as part of the U.S. Army Air Corps and participated in many bombing missions over Germany, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, etc. He has stated recently that the U.S. leadership has become what he fought against in WWII.

[DivinBreuvage]

18. It would be interesting to go through

and make a note of all the parallels. A few others I can think of:

1. a bad habit of breaking treaties

2. rejection of the authority of the League of Nations/UN (though the US hasn't withdrawn from the UN yet)

3. Dismissal or removal of professional army officers in favor of a more "politically correct" group (though I don't know how much progress Rumsfeld has made with this yet)

That's a sad story about your dad. Hopefully a year from now he will have some news to cheer him up a bit!

Françoise

[goforit]

11. Yes ..........a delusional bunch of sociopaths!!!

Just like Rummy and Chenny said they would welcome the US with open arms!

LOL!!!!

[madrchsod]

5. so today

we have 16 or more soldiers dying ,plus who knows how many iraqis and it`s only thursday....

[La_Serpiente]

6. Here is the newspaper

from Italia.

http://www.ansa.it/

[IndianaGreen]

13. A truck bomb is what the italian newspaper says

That picture of what appears to be an Italian soldier sitting behind the carabinieri tells the whole story. They are in shock!

[goforit]

9. I wonder what the Italians have to say.

Hmmmmmm..........

[LittleApple81]

12. Berlusconi controls the media... Probably nothing.... n/t

[paulk]

23. It's all over the Italian newspapers.

Opposition leaders are calling for immediate withdrawel of Italian forces. The nation is in shock.

Berlusconi says to stay the course. The Italian people oppossed this war just as much as anyone else in Europe, perhaps even more so.

This is not going down well in Italy, believe me.


*my wife grew up in Italy, she speaks and reads Italian. We have many friends and relative there.

[LittleApple81]

27. I am so delighted to hear this. So, does that mean the USA is

the only Western country where our news are totally BS, biased, and poisonous lies?

[paulk]

30. yes

:puke:

Anyone serious about the truth gets their news from foreign sources.

Sucks, doesn't it?

[0007]

14. Acording to Jackie Mason, The Italian Army has no taste..

for fighting let alone war.....but on the other hand the mafia dressed in civilan clothes are mean fighting sons of bitches.

[BlackFrancis]

17. no one cares what they think

Italian "democracy" is dead as hell. Silvio owns all the TV stations and newspapers in Italy. They probably don't even know.

[IndianaGreen]

16. Here is the picture of what's left of the truck that carried the bomb

http://www.ansa.it/index.shtml

[saigon68]

19. BRING EM ON-- "welcome Italian peacekeepers"

More of this to come.

[mhr]

20. The Sad Part Is All Of This After Conflict Resistance Was Predictable

History dictates what would happen.

One thought Condi was a historian?

Didn't she know and advise Bush appropriately?

[David__77]

24. I was expecting "devastating attacks" on non-US/UK troops.

It makes sense. If the resistance wanted to splinter international political support and material support for the occupation, there is a certain logic to focusing in on the Poles, the Italians, and, say, the Japanese if they ever come. The reaction to these deaths could be devastating to the creaky coalition in Italy.

[jayfish]

25. Shhhhh...

Didn't any of you get the memo? Things have quietly returned to normal in Northern and Southern Iraq. It looks like the insurgents received it several times and have decided to expand their operations south of the "Sunni Triangle". How long before the Kurds realize that they will eventually get F'ed by W* and join in the fun up north.

Jay

[nolabels]

26. Sounds like more progress

:-(

[Noordam]

28. Good picture of the building

[psychopomp]

29. Will this change minds in Japan?

The forward expeditionary force is to be deployed in Iraq by the end of the year. Actual troops of any significant number are to move in early next year after the groundwork has been laid.

[VolcanoJen]

31. UPDATE: At least 25 killed.

Dear God, why isn't this a bigger story? If these were American soldiers, our cable outlets would be wall-to-wall with the story.

Sickening.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20031112/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_375

[paulk]

32. Italy's single worst military loss since WW2

They suspended Parliament for a day.

[gristy]

33. Long story on NPR news this evening on this tragedy.

Following the criminal BFEE's plan, how, just how, is this situation ever going to get better?

[jab105]

34. Bump...

I check this site:

http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx

every day...the numbers for November are making my stomach churn...

I just wish the American people would stop being so apathetic...I just dont get it...

We have Vietnam, so we "learn our lesson", but not really, actually, we just want to show that we can do better...so we try to reproduce Vietnam again...does anyone else see the idiocy of this!?!?