Mortar bombs strike Green Zone in Baghdad

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD, June 21 (Reuters) - A barrage of mortar bombs hit Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone on Thursday and several plumes of smoke could be seen rising near buildings housing the Iraqi parliament and government offices, Reuters reporters said.

On the other side of the river Tigris, a thick plume of black smoke could be seen near the area where a suicide truck bomb partly demolished a Shi'ite mosque and killed 87 people on Tuesday. The origin of the smoke was not immediately known.

At least seven mortar rounds could be heard slamming into the Green Zone, which houses many Iraqi government ministries as well as the U.S., British and other Western embassies.

It was unclear if there were any casualties.

Read more: http://wap.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L21678378.htm

---

Iraq blasts belie U.S. optimism
The Iraq security plan is succeeding, U.S. officials said, even as three more mosques were bombed.
BY MIKE DRUMMOND AND LAITH HAMMOUDI
McClatchy News Service

BAGHDAD -- Inside a fortified conference room and through the prism of U.S. and Iraqi military officials, a security plan to pacify the country was working on Wednesday. Outside, extremists blew up mosques, lobbed mortars into Baghdad's heavily protected Green Zone and generated a steady drumbeat of violence.

Just hours before a top U.S. military spokesman said that troop buildups, added checkpoints and other measures launched in February were showing signs of success, suspected Shiite militiamen bombed two Sunni mosques south of Baghdad. An explosion damaged a third Sunni mosque south of the capital hours later.

No deaths were reported in the morning bombings of the Usama Bin Zaid and Abdallah Al Jobori mosques in Iskandariyah and in the afternoon one at the Sfoog mosque in Jbala. But coming the day after a truck bombing outside a Shiite mosque in the capital killed at least 78 people, the attacks stoked fears that retaliatory bombings of Muslim religious sites would escalate.

more:http://www.miamiherald.com/509/story/146396.html

[Mind_your_head]

1. Again??? Jeezus key-rist!!!!

I thought 'we' had that area all sewn-up - secured by now, NO????

sheet!

[okoboji]

6. maybe .... president bunnypants is

working with Halliburton on a plan to build a mortar resistant dome to go over the green zone. But that might take another 4 years and at least $6 trillion.

[Eugene]

2. Suicide truck bomber kills 13 in N.Iraq attack

Source: Reuters

Suicide truck bomber kills 13 in N.Iraq attack
21 Jun 2007 07:52:27 GMT
Source: Reuters

(Updates with wounded)

BAGHDAD, June 21 (Reuters) - A suicide truck bomber killed at
least 13 people when he rammed his vehicle into the municipal
headquarters of a northern Iraqi town on Thursday, collapsing
part of the building and demolishing nearby houses, police said.

Police said the blast took place in Sulaiman Bek, a town 90 km
(55 miles) south of Kirkuk. They said the dead included women
and children and that at least 35 people had been wounded.
Many houses had been caught in the blast.

Captain Farhad Shwani, a policeman based in Kirkuk, said police
were pulling bodies from the rubble and that dozens had been
killed or wounded in the blast.

Link: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/COL127702.htm

---

Earlier reports:
Suicide truck bomber blows up municipal HQ in Iraq - Reuters
SUICIDE BOMBER RAMS TRUCK INTO GOVERNMENT BUILDING IN N.IRAQ KILLING 13 - POLICE - Reuters

[maddezmom]

4. Truck bomb kills 16 in north Iraq, wounding 75; Mortars land in Green Zone

Truck bomb kills 16 in north Iraq; Mortars land in Green Zone
BAGHDAD (CNN) -- A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden oil tanker into a municipal building in the northern Iraq city of Sulieman Bek, 50 miles (80 km) south of Kirkuk, killing at least 16 people and wounding 75 late Thursday morning, Salaheddin police sources said.

The building housed the police headquarters, mayor's office and city council, police said. Several nearby homes were also damaged.

Earlier, at least four mortar rounds landed inside Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone which houses the U.S. embassy, an Iraqi interior Ministry official said.

more:http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/06/21/thursday/index.html

[TwilightGardener]

3. Imagine never truly having a safe haven. What a miserable existence

even the "protected" class has over there.

[Nihil]

8. Good.

Welcome to the new Iraq ... the nightmare that they created for Iraqis.

The bombing ops after Gulf War I killed, maimed and poisoned Iraqis.
The illegal invasion completed the destruction of the Iraqi infrastructure.
The creation of the "Green Zone" stole the homes of Iraqis.
The maintenance of the "Green Zone" steals the water, power and security
of Iraqis.
Still people seem surprised that some of them are pissed off?

:shrug:

[Javaman]

13. Imagine being an Iraqi living in the shadow of that monument to imperialism?

-They have power 24/7, you have power maybe 4 hours a day.

-They have fresh drinking water, you have sewer tainted, mystery water.

-They have A/C in the 130 degree heat, you have 130 degree heat.

-They have gas, you have to wait in line all day for a few gallons.

-They have fresh food flown in daily, you have to pray there is food at the market.

-They have a pool to swim in, you can maybe swim in the polluted Tigris while bodies float by.

-They can cry on satellite phones or video internet connections to their families over seas, you have to cry at the morgue over a member of your families body.


And so it goes.

[IndianaGreen]

5. According to the Pentagon's Balanced Scorecard we are winning the war

We got them on the run! :eyes:

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

10. Yeah,...and the Iraqis have 'freedom',...

,...to die every damn day!

:mad:

[saigon68]

15. YES ---- "FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH"

As the bloated corpses float down the river

[maddezmom]

14. today's quote: Gen.: Force big enough to keep enemy on run

Gen.: Force big enough to keep enemy on run

By Jim Michaels - USA Today
Posted : Thursday Jun 21, 2007 9:51:49 EDT

MUQDADIYAH, Iraq — U.S. and Iraqi forces continued to press simultaneous offensives throughout Iraq on Wednesday in an effort to rout al-Qaida militants from their strongholds and prevent them from fleeing to sanctuaries elsewhere.

The operations killed at least 30 al-Qaida militants and uncovered weapons caches.

The increase of 28,500 troops sent to Iraq as part of President Bush's security plan enabled commanders to chase down al-Qaida militants and keep them from regrouping, a U.S. general said.

“The difference is for the first time, we have the forces,” Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2-ranking U.S. officer in Iraq, said at a dusty base in this agricultural community. “We don't want to be able to move around.”

more:http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/06/gns_odierno_070621/

Guess this was before the 14 troop deaths were announced. :(

[Eugene]

7. 41 insurgents killed as US presses assault on Al-Qaeda

Source: Agence France-Presse

41 insurgents killed as US presses assault on Al-Qaeda

2 hours, 3 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) - At least 41 insurgents have been killed in
the past two days by US-led troops in an assault on Al-Qaeda
networks in the restive province of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad,
the military said Thursday.

Around 10,000 US and Iraqi troops backed by attack helicopters
launched Operation Arrowhead Ripper in the province on Tuesday
to root out Al-Qaeda militants in the region in the largest single
assault since 2004.

"Our combined forces have begun destroying Al-Qaeda operatives
and their resources in and around Diyala province," US commander
Brigadier General Mick Bednarek said in a statement released by
the military early Thursday.

The forces destroyed three "enemy safe houses" and a number
of roadside bombs, the statement said.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070621/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestusdiyala_070621074037

[Nihil]

9. Wonder how many kids were in the "enemy safe houses" this time? (n/t)

:cry:

[Massachusetts]

11. Getting hotter....

[Javaman]

12. Pretty much a daily thing now.

I guess once you get used to something, it really isn't that bad after a while...hence the mentality of the morons* in the upper esh in the military trying to paint a golding picture on a pile of shit.

[0007]

16. ........just yesterday and the day before, CNN had General after General

tell the tv audiences how the U.S. had things under control & had the terrorist on the run.

[Eugene]

17. 20 bodies found in Baghdad Thurs. - Reuters Factbox

Source: Reuters

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, June 21
21 Jun 2007 17:27:14 GMT
Source: Reuters

June 21 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq
at 1730 GMT on Thursday:

* denotes new or updated item.

* BAGHDAD - Twenty bodies were found shot and tortured
around Baghdad in the past 24 hours, police said. Most of
them were found in the western, predominantly Sunni Arab
side of the capital.

* MADAEN - A suicide truck bomber blew up near a building
housing police commandos in Madaen, 45 km (25 miles) south of
Baghdad, killing two policemen and wounding 12, police said.

-snip-

BAGHDAD - Iraqi special forces detained a key insurgent leader
in a raid on the Mehdi Army stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad
on Wednesday, the U.S. military said. He is accused of
co-ordinating and taking part in kidnappings, death squad
killings and roadside bomb attacks.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM132347.htm

---

The Factbox reports 42 killed or found dead Thursday,
not counting combat related to the "surge."