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Gold9472
08-15-2007, 04:16 PM
General calls Iraq massacre 'trademark al Qaeda'

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/15/iraq.main/

(Gold9472: I was waiting for this revelation.)

8/13/2007

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Truck bombings that killed and wounded hundreds in northern Iraq were a "trademark al Qaeda event" designed to sway U.S. public opinion against the war, a U.S. general said Wednesday.

The Tuesday attacks, which targeted Kurdish villages of the Yazidi religious minority, were attempts to "break the will" of the American people and show that the U.S. troop escalation -- the "surge" -- is failing, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon said.

Officials said at least 260 people were killed and 320 wounded Tuesday when suicide truck bombers attacked the villages of Qahtaniya, al-Jazeera and Tal Uzair, in northern Iraq near the border with Syria.

The bombings highlight the kind of sectarian tensions the troop surge was designed to stop.

Al Qaeda in Iraq is predominantly Sunni, and Mixon said members of the Yazidi religious minority have received threatening letters, called "night letters," telling them "to leave because they are infidels."

"This is an act of ethnic cleansing, if you will -- almost genocide when you consider the fact the target they attacked and the fact that these Yazidis, out in a very remote part of Nineveh province, where there is very little security and really no security required to this point," Mixon said. Watch general explain why al Qaeda targets Yazidis »

Sunni militants, including members of al Qaeda in Iraq, have targeted Yazidis in the area before.

Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said there were three suicide trucks carrying two tons of explosives. At least 30 houses and buildings were destroyed.

Khalaf said the carnage looks like the aftermath of a "mini-nuclear explosion." More bodies are expected to be found. See a timeline of deadliest attacks in Iraq »

The U.S. military said there were five bombings -- four at a crowded bus station in Qahtaniya and a fifth in al-Jazeera.

The massacre comes ahead of next month's report to Congress by Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker on progress in Iraq.

"We still have a great deal of work to do against al Qaeda in Iraq, and we have great deal of work to do against al Qaeda networks in northern Iraq," Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a Multi-National Force-Iraq spokesman, said Wednesday.

The office of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed Sunni extremists for the "monstrous crime." He said a committee has been formed to investigate.

Ashraf Qazi, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative for Iraq, called the attack an "abominable crime aimed at widening the sectarian and ethnic divide in Iraq."

Qazi urged Iraqi authorities to bolster their efforts to protect minorities.

The Yazidi sect is a mainly Kurdish minority, an ancient group that worships seven angels, in the form of peacocks, who are subordinate to the supreme god who created the universe. Find out more about the sect »

A couple of related incidents in the spring highlighted the tensions between Sunnis and Yazidis.

In April, a Kurdish Yazidi teenage girl was brutally beaten, kicked and stoned to death in northern Iraq by other Yazidis in what authorities said was an "honor killing" after she was seen with a Sunni Muslim man. Although she had not married him or converted, her attackers believed she had.

The Yazidis condemn mixing with people of another faith.

That killing is said to have spurred the killings of about two dozen Yazidi men by Sunni Muslims in the Mosul area two weeks later.

Attackers affiliated with al Qaeda pulled 24 Yazidi men out of a bus and slaughtered them, according to a provincial official.

simuvac
08-15-2007, 04:48 PM
Ah, yes, "al Qaeda". They're like ketchup, the universal dressing. Al Qaeda goes with everything! Covers everything in that yummy propagandist goodness. Mmm, mmm!

Gold9472
08-15-2007, 04:51 PM
All "big" attacks are blamed on "Al-Qaeda", 7/7, 3/11, etc... initially, however, after some investigating, it's found that "Al-Qaeda" had nothing to do with it.

Gold9472
08-18-2007, 01:14 AM
Attack that killed over 400 might 'unite Iraqis,' general says

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Attack_that_killed_400_might_unite_0817.html

Agence France-Presse
Published: Friday August 17, 2007

Security in Iraq is improving despite a wave of car bombings that include the worst single attack since the US-led invasion in 2003, General Raymond Odierno, the number two leader of US forces in Iraq said Friday.

Odierno said that the US "surge" troop hike launched in January is "beginning to pay off" despite the massive attack in northern Iraq which killed more than 400.

According to Odierno, such an attack in 2006 "might have triggered a spiral of revenge killings, but, today, such horrific events actually unite Iraqis of different ethnicities and confessions in their outrage."

"Yes, we continue to face setbacks here in Iraq," Odierno acknowledged, "but overall we continue to make steady progress."

Four suicide bombers packed two tonnes of explosives into their trucks and attacked members of the ancient Yazidi religious sect in the deadliest incident since the war began.

"Despite this attack, security across Iraq is generally improving," said Odierno, speaking via teleconference from Iraq.

"Al-Qaeda is forced to undertake its spectacular events in more remote parts of the country, rather than in the capital. And we no longer see the cycle of sectarian revenge that plagued Iraq last year," he said.

Odierno's report came ahead of a much-expected and potentially pivotal review of the Iraq situation in September to be presented to Congress.

War commander General David Petraeus and US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker are to make both public and closed-testimony presentations on the effects of the surge, which added some 30,000 troops to those already in Iraq in a new effort to quell violence and defeat insurgents.

Both the administration of President George W. Bush and US opponents of the war see the September report as crucial to settling the debate over whether to begin withdrawing US troops from the country.

Odierno argued that the surge is working. "The effects of our surge operations and reconciliation efforts are beginning to pay off. Total attacks are on a month-long decline and are at the lowest level since August of 2006," he said.

"Attacks against civilians are at a six-month low. IED (improvised explosive device) attacks are at a two-month decline and have a 45 percent found-and-cleared rate. Civilian murders in Baghdad are down over 51 percent, reaching their lowest level since just before the Golden Mosque in Samarra was bombed in February of 2006."

Odierno said the constant pressure of the now 155,000 US troops in the country on "extremists" and alleged Al-Qaeda operatives and the "depletion of their leadership" through captures and killing has forced them out of population centers and left them constantly seeking new places to operate.

"We'll continue to aggressively target their shrinking areas of influence," he said.

He also said Iraqis themselves increasingly recognize coalition and Iraqi forces as crucial for security and are helping in the fight.

"Today, the Iraqis feel ...the appalling nature of this brutality -- and it galvanizes their rejection of Al-Qaeda and other extremist elements .... They are pointing out extremist leaders, identifying caches and IEDs, and asking to be a part of the legitimate Iraqi security force."

Odierno, though, emphasized the need for the Iraqi government to be able to manage security efforts -- an issue that will be a key in the September review.

"We understand that our recent tactical successes will only add up if Iraqis take advantage of them, and ultimately, the government of Iraq is a key to progress.

"It's imperative we continue to press on all fronts, diplomatic, political, economic, and governance in addition to our security efforts."

Gold9472
08-18-2007, 01:17 AM
Interesting... Could "Al-Qaeda" have been used to coerce Iraqis into changing the identity of their "enemy?" Meaning, take the focus off of Americans, and themselves, and point their aggressions towards our allegedly "common enemy?"

Chana3812
08-18-2007, 09:26 AM
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" - GOP talking point

simuvac
08-18-2007, 06:30 PM
Interesting... Could "Al-Qaeda" have been used to coerce Iraqis into changing the identity of their "enemy?" Meaning, take the focus off of Americans, and themselves, and point their aggressions towards our allegedly "common enemy?"

Interesting theory. Sounds plausible.

Gold9472
08-18-2007, 06:31 PM
Interesting theory. Sounds plausible.

A "solution" to the problem. 9/11 worked on us. Why couldn't an Iraqi 9/11 work on them? A way to "unify" all of us.

PhilosophyGenius
08-18-2007, 08:24 PM
I saw a news clip and they showed pictures of 2 dudes dressed in gurilla uniform and the host bascially said "look al-Qaeda is in Iraq".