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Subscribe to RSSA gang of gunmen disguised in military-style uniforms and carrying forged arrest warrants killed 25 police Monday, then hoisted the battle flag of al-Qaida in a carefully planned early morning shooting spree in western Iraq, officials said.
The killings in Haditha highlight al-Qaida's success in regaining a foothold in an area they once dominated through police executions and murdering city officials.
"We consider this attack as a serious security breach and we believe that al-Qaida or groups linked to it are behind this," said Mohammed Fathi, spokesman for the governor of Iraq's western Anbar province where Haditha is located.
By going after police, the militants demonstrate to the residents of Haditha, a desert city closer to the Syrian border than to Baghdad, how isolated they are from the central government's protection and intimidate those who want to join the security forces.
The city's proximity to the border, just 65 miles away, means it is vital territory to al-Qaida if they want to ramp up operations in Syria to help overthrow the government of President Bashar Assad. Already, Sunni militants who revile Assad because he's a member of an offshoot religion of Shiism are crossing from Iraq into Syria.
The attackers also kidnapped two senior officers from their homes.
A curfew was imposed on the town after the pre-dawn attack.
News channel Al Jazeera quoted a source as saying the attacks had exclusively targeted police personnel across several checkpoints. The death toll included two police colonels.
Police at the scene said three of the attackers were killed but the rest escaped. Fathi said only one insurgent's body has been identified. Such confusion is common in the immediate aftermath of an attack in Iraq.
Haditha is a former Sunni insurgent stronghold of about 85,000 people in a valley where the Euphrates River runs through the desert. It is halfway between Baghdad and the border town of al-Qaim, which for years was a station for insurgents coming into Iraq from Syria. Within a year of the 2003 U.S. invasion, Haditha was the headquarters for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the slain leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
For many Iraqis, the city is a symbol of some of the worst atrocities during the war.
Reuters, The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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this is why we shouldnt have left Iraq!!
We shouldn't have been in Iraq in the first place. We cannot occupy and protect the entire world...
they were doing it when we were there. And will do it till the world ends. The difference in this headline ad if we were still there is that it would have said 27 Iraqi and xx Americans slain. If they want to kill each other, and it was Iraqi government officials that had said to get out of there sovereign nation or face charges from now on. Then they can deal with it on their own. Us not being there. No Americans died
Actually this was caused by us being there and not letting the country sort itself out years ago.
I see Obamas sudden withdrawal is working out just as I expected. He wanted votes, he got them. And deserted a country we were in the middle of aiding in establishing a democracy.
Just like his plan here. Get the USA so far in debt we will never be able to pay our way out. The freeloaders are more than willing to go to the polls. WAKE UP AMERICA !
Oldfart you talk democracy. Lets talk democracy, the majority of Iraqis don't want us there. The majority of people in the U.S. don't want troops in Iraq. Bring them home, problem solved. If that isn't democracy, then I have no idea what democracy is. Don't worry, our Embassy is the size of a fort, with guys with guns inside. Its like the size of our base in Japan.
To twisted : Your thinking is flawed. I see all these news stories about how many Americans died here and there in this and that. Hundreds can die in the same event, but all we seem to care about is the 6 or 17 Americans. This is why we are so hated. Because so many of us place ourselves above others in importance. I am as red-blooded and patriotic as any American, but our media and our self-centered attitudes are putting us in a position we would be better off if it were not so. Granted, that is just one of our many problems, but it is very real, and easily perceived by all. And jfyi I have never voted Dem.
Ron K
"Actually this was caused by us being there and not letting the country sort itself out years ago."
How long has Iraq/middle east been around.. Trust me, they're are never going to figure it out. They've been fighting with each other for centuries.. and it shouldnt be our problem any longer. Thats their culture, and we have ours.. Let them do what they want and we should worry about ourselves.
Phenominal112, it is obvious you don't have a clue. I work with men who have been in Iraq. And, I know several others. The ppl there are very thankful for what the Americans did there. We liberated them from Saddam. Then we aided them in rebuilding their schools, electrical grids, helped them establish womens rights, and countless other efforts. I have seen much evidence of Iraqi men, women and children being friendly to and expressing their love and appreciation for troops from the USA, Canada, and other countries who aided in this worthwhile cause. Why don't you just go to Starbucks and throw away another $20 bill, while the rest of us care.
Sometimes a dictator who rules by fear is better then a defunct democracy and a country that is destabilized...at least the dictator kept the country in line.
It is not our job to be the world's police nor our job to try to install democracy.
We have a moral responsibility to help those in need and yet we are letting billions suffer across the globe, especially in Syria and Africa right now.
I fully realize it is not our place to be either the policeman or the Santa Claus of the world. I only wish our leaders could figure that out. But, obviously, greed and power are the motivation behind their reasoning. The reasons we pulled out of Iraq so suddenly are twofold. Firstly, since the economy here was getting a bit thin, it made perfect economic sense to go after the natural resources in Afghanistan. Secondly, Obama will profit from votes on the executive order to withdraw all troops by the end of last year. It's that simple.
Maybe instead of talking to American soldiers that were there.You should have talked to actual Iraqis that live there.No foreign soldier is going to be able judge what the people they occupy really think about them.
No, this is why we should have left Iraq If this happened while we were there, we would be blamed and castigated for fomenting this kind of action by our presence, now they can look at themselves
go after the natural resources in Afghanistan? Is that some kind of joke?
tom me:
oldfart-3775365 is right! We are clearly there to exploit the resources of Afghanistan. We invaded Afghanistan to capture the only abundant resource, their Korans! Their Korans are FULL of top secret miraculous science revealed by Allah that pre-empted the age of reason in the West. America is there to take the korans and read them, crack the obtuse codes of medeival arabic, and learn the "miracles of science" that have fully alluded the West. That way we can learn the revealed knowledge that has made Afghanistan the most advanced culture in the world!
Of course we are not there because of 911 or to take down the terrorist Talibani. In fact, our government planned the distruction of our own monumental architecture with civilians inside, so we could make an excuse for war with the Taliban and Al Qaida to facilitate the capture and control those amazing Korans of Afghanistan!
Ya, because the fifty more years or so of our troops babysitting this cat litter box would have really made a difference, right???? We'd have been popping the cork on all that oil if we had just given it more time - for sure.
*Rolls eyes*
OldFart - you should probably give up on voting altogether...
Btw - $1 Trillion in rare earth metals projected to be present in Afghanistan.
@ Oldfart
I am not saying the Iraqs didn't thank the soilders who fixed their power box. But, I am sure there are more people who were pissed off because they had no roof over their heads because of random airstikes were being called. Children died in because of these situations. Then again what can you expect it is war right. All that good stuff came after the death of Saddam when the bombs were already dropped and lives already lost. If you really want to help people join the red cross, or any other NGO because guys with guns comming to your door, the word help is not the first thing come to my mind unless your in need of that word to get the guys with the guns out. There are ways to help people without guns. Now ask yourself why were we in Iraq in the first place as I am sure many of the Iraqis themselves ask?
@ Charles the Hammerhead
Don't sell Afghanistan short, they do have huge deposits of lithium, which we use for our laptops and ipads as batterys. Other than that we were there for Bin Laden, and now that he has been taken out, this too is another war we could do without.
@ oldfart...
You seem to think you have this vast knowledge of world affairs, and as to why Obama pulled the troops out of Iraq when he did...unfortunately you're full of @!$%#...The troops were pulled from Iraq because W set the departure date into law prior to his departure from office...It was the law stupid...Secondly, the Iraqi government told us to leave...Our President merely followed the rule of law...but then, that's not something you bull headed repubs would never understand, "the Rule Of Law"...
what ever corporate wants...poor iraq... they need bush to lead them for a while...
@oldfart
One more thing...maybe you'd better think back about just who put us in this debt in the first place idiot...how about 2 wars, not funded or paid for...a tax break for the rich...also not funded or paid for...and so as not to forget...how about the prescription drug bill which was also not funded and paid for...and by the way, It was Mr Bush who bailed out Wall Street with absolutely no accountability as to how the mney would be used...Obama inherited an economy that was just about at rock bottom, and you have the audacity to blame him...are you that void of the facts? or is it simply the idea that if you tell enough people something that's not true, that eventually it justify's itself as the truth...
This did NOT happen in Iraq before we invaded. We did not go into Iraq to help the people of Iraq. We did not go into Iraq to help the people of America. Iraq was invaded to make money for the Military Industrial Complex, the OIL people and to destroy an enemy of Israel, not any threat to America.
Are you a patriot? watch this interview, from 1993 and its about 100 times worse now.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-341031042963487862&q=kay+griggs#
This is one of many reasons why we should not have gone into Iraq, including almost 4500 american soldiers dead, and over 32,000 wounded. This does not include 100,000's or Iraqi dead, and still dying. You would just be putting more Americans in harm's way for a country whose people now hate Americans more than ever.
Obama is really screwing up the Middle East. He pulled out of Iraq too early as evidenced by this article. The situation there is going to continue to degrade. Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria are in complete chaos. Iran is speeding up their quest for nuclear weapons, not slowing them down. Now Obama is losing the war in Afghanistan. Quite the record of failures. The Taliban and Al Qaeda will have no problem reconstituting their forces now. More terrorism will be coming our way....maybe nuclear this time around thanks to Obama's incompetence and inaction.
This was both funny and predictable. When the troops were pulled from Iraq, Dems were all "good job Obama" and "way to go Obama" and they denied Bush had anything to do with it, even with Republicans pointing out it was Bush's timetable. Now that it's not all peaches and cream, the record has been flipped to the B side and it's all Bush's "fault" again. Priceless.
@ David
We cannot stop every crisis that happens in Iraq, do you think this inncedent wouldn't have happened if we were there?
@ Arguesforsport
Yeah it was the Bush time table to get out, but it was also his time table to get in. So YAY bush!!!
Well, oldfart [nice name], what about the invasion in 2003. Did that brilliant plan work out as you expected?
We stepped in this mess all of 9 years ago, and there was certainly a moral obligation to try and establish a new, stable power structure before leaving. But our commitment to oversee the security of this country cannot last for all time.
It's been 9 years, and that is enough.
Also, the U.S. did express a willingness to extend the presence of our military, if Iraq would agree to certain legal and security concessions. Their government refused. So we left. It is their country now, and if you don't like the way we ended our presence there, look back in time at how we started. Poorly begun is poorly ended.
Iraq borders Iran. Afghanistan borders Iran. Moving on.
Can we at least kill them then?
Kill who? All I saw in the article were "gunmen and attackers"
Why? So they can just kill us instead? We never should have been there in the first place.
It takes a ruthless dictator like Sadam Hussein to keep all these ragheads inline.....thanks to the US government Iraq is now de-stablized.....the US can fu_k up a wet dream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hate to say it bongleblue...but I agree...seems the only way to keep them in line is to lead with a heavy fist.
looks like we are the next to be handled with a heavy fist while the politicians...talk crap and sell the honest people out...
That how we do it, destabilizing one nation at a time.
Let this be a lesson, all the money and time put into Iraq was a waste. Especially the loss of our military personnel which is priceless
Nice move Obama. The Iraqis were clearly ready to govern themselves. Dumba$$!!!
Yep notapoliticalhack, you are the dumba$$!!! Tell us why we were there in the first place.
Wait till we pull out of Afghanistan....At least in Iraq there are ethnic zones where people can run to....Afghanistan is already showing secondary stages of pathological muslumitis.....No hope. The patient must die and be resurrected...Not possible in Islam...
never a plague when you want one.
Our boys would be dying in Iraq if they were still there. Obama is a hero for bringing our troops home after Bush's war.
Bummer Obama had nothing to do with 'bringing our troops home'. It was a peace treaty signed between Bush and the Iraqi leaders to have all military personal removed by the end of 2011. All Obama could have done is try to negotiate another treaty to extend the time. Of course, the Iraqi leaders wanted us out as promised under the Bush treaty.
Iraq wanted the US to stay, but wanted the right to prosecute American troops in Iraqi courts for crimes against their laws. Obama said NO, he will not let Iraq prosecute American troops and we will be out by the agreement.
Anybody who thinks Saddam Hussein should have been left in power because he ruled with an 'ironfist' should know that he tried to use that same tactic to other nations around him. He went to war with Iran, invaded, and ransacked Kuwait, fired scud missiles into Israel. He used WMDs against Iran (of course Iran did too) and the scud missiles he launched against Israel was just Saddam's way of showing the other Arab nations that he wanted to destroy Israel. If Saddam had ever gotten hold of nuclear warheads, he would have used them. The current carnage in Iraq I believe is being caused by Iranian militants using terrorist cells within Iraq. The goal eventually would be to topple the government so that Iran can take it over from the inside without conventional warfare. Same as Iran is doing in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria presently.
Actually, Demetrious, Hussein fired scuds into Israel to try to provoke Israel into joining the first Gulf War and as such draw other Persian Gulf nations into siding with him in his fight against the United States and its allies. Luckily the Israelis had balls the size of watermelons and resisted the urge. Why do you think we had the Patriot batteries in Israel? It was to help the Israeli Government to tell its people to be patient and remain calm. By the way, if you want my credentials, I was in Desert Storm and Desert Shield among other ops.
I agree Bigfoot. That is what I said. 'draw other Persian Gulf nations into siding with him'. I said ' showing the other Arab nations that he wanted to destroy Israel'. My point was that Saddam should never have been left in power, as others have been posting on this article, and other articles about Iraq. We allowed him to keep control the first time. Which I believe was a huge mistake. To the terrorist cells and Iran, it was just a way of saying the USA didn't have the guts to remove him. It encouraged the terrorists to continue, and expand their 'Jihad'. 9/11 was a result. .... I thank you for your service, and very proud of our military service personal all across this Blue Earth! .... I am having trouble with what is currently happening in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria. A US Marine general John Allen commander of NATO forces in Afghan gives out a public apology for the accidental burning of books? Our commander-an-chief takes the time to write a letter of apology to Afghan leaders following that? Both of them put thousands of people, both in the military and civilians in a more life-threatening situation then they were already in. ... Which leads to the question, just what is our mission in Afghan?
@ Demetrious, Yeah everything you said is true and well articulated. But, why did we wait this long to do all of this then? Why did we not step in when the Kurdish people were being slaughtered publicly much like the Jews before the holocaust? Why did we not topple him when he shot those skud missles, started his conquest of Kuit etc. We got there when the damage has already been done and our plan to stablize it only cost thousands of lives without any real resolution.
Another day, another atrocity perpetrated by radical Islamic terrorists. They are waging wars of aggression on many fronts. The goal of Islamic extremists is world domination. Their strategy is to kill as many men, women and children as they can get their hands on in order to frighten the rest of the population into submission. They drool for the oil wealth of Iraq so they can fund terrorism in other places around the globe.
If that is the case, let them keep killing each other, be less for our military to fight later.
Very good Doug. Great post! This is pretty much what I have been writing on articles like this for quite sometime now. Only I wrote the goal (strategy) is to create chaos, confusion, death, and destruction. Not sure about the part about your goal of 'world domination'. Like the 19 terrorists that committed 9/11, who did not hesitate to kill themselves, an entire nation of people with similar beliefs can be led to to do the samething. Iran comes to mind currently. In past history so does Nazi Germany, Japan, and the former Soviet Union. I didn't mention North Korea did I. If any North Koreans are even allowed to go on the internet or watch TV they would have only one thing to say about Iran. 'Dam those people are crazier den us!' But I suppose they don't have computers, or televisions in North Korea and are waiting for food from the USA to be delivered.
Oldfart; you find any weapons of mass destruction yet? I hate being lied to, how about you?
Mike49+... The Iraq government under Saddam Hussien used a chemical gas on Kurdish people March 6 1988, It is known as the Halabja massacre or Bloody Friday. It is the largest known attack using a chemical agent in our history in terms of people killed in a single chemical attack. Mike49+ we didn't have to find any, we knew Saddam had them. He used them, the whole freaking world knew. All you have to do is pay attention!
Very good Salgal! I was beginning to believe I was the only one left who knew those facts. I don't usually mention the Kurdish massacre. I tell them how Saddam used them in the Iran-Iraq war, and fired scud missiles into Israel just to say 'what if' I had nukes.
Thank you!
Mike49 gets a free clue from Salgal.
Feel free to crawl from under that rock, Mike. There's some reality that you've missed.
Same @!$%# different day; Iraq will always be a dangerous place.
We sure have left that place a peaceful democracy, haven't we?
Why were we there again?
Who are the gunmen in Iraq I keep reading about? Is it just a rogue band of disgruntled Iraqis with too many parking tickets?
might be the innocent victims of pass neglect...that lost family in errant attacks...might be just killing to get their jobs...i hope they give george w.bush...all the credit he deserves...erect a statue of a man holding a water board...
Yeah because some poorly trained group of wild Iraqi gunpeople are going to just drive around Baghdad mowing down 27 U.S. trained Iraqi police. That doesn't strike you as just a little odd plain bob?
They are barbarians., always have been and always will be. The shame of it is that we wasted thousands of American lives, trillions of dollars, and more than 10 years over there trying to create a democracy, something that will never happen. We should bring every American home from the Mideast and let them destroy each other, they are not worth it.
Sure does make me grateful for all the freedoms and safety here in the USA.
Caavey, We are losing our freedoms everyday, the US constitution is under attack from progressives and liberals. And as for safety, look at the occupy morons, or better yet turn to Greece to see what is coming to a town NEAR YOU.
As if those pinko commies can just eradicate democracy and the U.S. Constitution. Sure, our freedoms are under attack daily by useful idiots but they won't win. If the SHTF, I will watch it from my state of the art bunker in offthegrid USA on my cool satellite tv.
For a Free ride Obama in 2012
Da A- Rabbs wit da money need to police the mid east, Can you say Saudi Arabia?
free ride...let the good times roll...are we having fun yet...
That's not what they were looking for and you know it. That was just an excuse to go to war. Did they ever find any? No, I didn't think so.
Well mark, 3500+ Kurdish people lost their lives in that one. I bet you those people would think that was a weapon of mass destruction, if you could ask them. So what do you think they were looking for, please enlighten us.
Jeez, Mark same uninformed comment as I have been reading alot of. Besides the Kurdish massacre that Salgal refers to, he also used WMD in the Iran-Iraq war (so did Iran). Saddam also fired scud missiles into Israel just to say 'what if' I had nukes.
Saddam had chemical weapons in 1988. We know because we have the receipt. He used chemical weapons delivered by means purchased from the United States on Kurds and Iranians.
Look at the pictures of a happy Rumsfeld with Saddam making the deal. Then read the weak excuses. Crop dusters, etc. Find the reports of the US soldiers assigned to help target.
Call me less than surprised, and very grateful to President Obama that these weren't American servicemen and women killed. This region will never change. Killing each other is what they do for entertainment. We have no business trying to change that. Either wipe them off the face of the earth or leave them to their own destruction. Don't waste our money and American lives on this garbage. We're now out of Iraq (a place we never belonged). Let's now get out of Afghanistan, and complete the job of undoing the debacle of the Bush years. I don't know why the media even covers stories like this. It's just the same thing / different day. Write one story and leave the number killed blank to be filled in each morning. Thank you President Obama for working so hard to undo the damage that Bush/Cheney caused to America and around the world.
Your president had nothing to do with removing the troops from Iraq. It was a peace treaty signed by Bush and the Iraqi leaders to remove all US military personal from Iraq before the end of 2011. There was nothing that Bummer Obama could do to change that treaty. Do you understand that fact? Second, your president is 'working very hard' to write letters of apologizes to our enemies, instead of to the families of our service men/women who have recently lost loved ones in Afghan because of his blunders. I suppose he'll send them all pre-printed 'form letters'. Your president is a boychild who got a masters degree in 'constitutional law', and his biggest 'working' job was becoming a community organizer in Chicago. Where instead of protecting the poor tenants he took bribes from slumlords to kick the poor out into streets, and alleys. Some community organizer. That is your great president!
@Demetrious
Do you have one iota of evidence that Obama ever took a bribe from a slumlord in Chicago, or is this just some niave feeble attempt to give your comments some sort of legitimacy...and might you also consider, that during the last presidency, the press was not allowed to show pictures of the coffins of dead soldiers returning from the war so as not to show the American people the real cost of war...and also who would let the press into Walter Reed hospital so as not to show the attrocities of war...you are obviously well qualified to be a card carrying member of the Republican Party...one who fits right in with the rest of those idiots who have absolutely no idea what they're talking about...
Keep up the good work.
Iraq is not a naturally formed nation. It was created by Western powers solely based upon its location, disregarding the violently sectarian groups that hate each other, and believe the only solution is to kill the other group who are deemed nonbelievers. Like him or not, Hussein ruled Iraq with an iron hand. They had no terrorists roaming the nation or attacking other nations., and the only killing was done by Hussein's own forces to keep the radicals in line. Bush's concocted war based upon deliberate misrepresentations and disregarded information changed all of that. Years later, nothing has changed, except instead of one large snake within his own glass cage keeping all others in line, we now have thousands of snakes in that nation, attacking each other. Great Job, Brownie!
So ATC, you find Hitler equally admirable as well, then.
Nice.
Do they arm the police in Iraq? Or do they just issue them a badge and a uniform and say good luck?
Makes you wonder don't it?
Has there EVER been peace in the Middle East? These people don't know how to live with each other. They still wipe with their bare hand.Let them kill themselves off, oh, I forgot, they're like cattle, they just keep breeding. Get out now and bring our troops home.