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Mohammed Ameen / Reuters
Iraqis examine damage inflicted on their house by a car-bomb attack in the Al-Mashtal district of Baghdad Tuesday. Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility and warned of more attacks to come.
BAGHDAD - Al Qaeda in Iraq has claimed responsibility for a wave of bombings and suicide attacks on Tuesday that killed around 60 people on the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion.
Islamic State of Iraq, the country's al Qaeda wing, is regaining strength, invigorated by the Sunni Muslim rebellion in next door Syria and has carried out dozens of high-profile attacks since the start of the year.
"What has reached you on Tuesday is just the first drop of rain, and a first phase, for by God's will after this we will have our revenge," the al Qaeda statement posted on a jihadist website said.
Car bombs and suicide blasts hit mainly Shiite districts in Baghdad and other cities on Tuesday.
Suicide attackers have struck nearly two times a week since January, a rate Iraq has not seen for several years.
Sunni Islamists see Iraq's Shiite-led government as oppressors of the country's Sunni minority and target Shiites to try to provoke a sectarian confrontation like the inter-communal slaughter that killed thousands in 2006-7.
A decade after U.S. and Western troops swept into Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein, the oil-producing country still struggles with sectarian tensions and political instability that test the fragile unity among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish ethnic groups.
Ten years after the US launched a "shock and awe" campaign toppling Saddam Hussein, the cost of the Iraq War is now estimated to be about $2 trillion -- but the region is far from stable. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Related:
Iraq, 10 years on: Did invasion bring 'hope and progress' to millions as Bush vowed?
'People turned on Christians': Persecuted Iraqi minority reflects on life after Saddam
Then and now: Revisiting Iraqi sites a decade later
Leave a Comment:
It took 10 years but we did a great job saving these people from them selfs. Now it's time to go home and get ready for the next useless war.
@bob----- If you mean Iran, I agree. I agree on saveing the people in Iraq also.
Mary, Iraq is worse off thanks to us. It's time to let these people save them selfs but I doubt that will ever happen
@bob--- I know that. You just took it wrong. I know what you ment.
""What has reached you on Tuesday is just the first drop of rain, and a first phase, for by God's will after this we will have our revenge," the al Qaeda statement posted on a jihadist"
From Saddam to this sectarian killings, while losing thousands of soldiers and trillions, is a good progress.
Saving democracy started in 1991 and to complete the half job done, it was again 2003!
Only Bush, Cheney and co cheap oil company agents can do them!
@bob - I am not entirely convinced Iraq is worse off because of the U.S. Saddam Hussein killed as many of his own people as the United States did during the war. The sectarian issue has to be resolved by the Iraqi people. It was resolved under Hussein as a dictator and he quashed anyone who stood in his way and he made stupid threats against his neighbors. What the United States has given Iraq is a chance to settle the sectarian issues politically and to allow the country to defend itself. The real question is will the Sunni leaders in Iraq, condemn alQaeda in Iraq and support the Iraqi military with the task of removing them. If not, then you are correct, the situation will get ugly fast.
People who follow Islam can't even get along with each other so they surely won't get along with the rest of the world. The entire Middle-East is a waste.
"Suicide attackers have struck nearly two times a week since January, a rate Iraq has not seen for several years."
Still many give spins that Islam is a religion of love and peace!
If we don't go near the Muslims in ME, then followers of Islamic cult will soon make ME waste desert land!
Just watch Islam's progress in Syria!
Alkayduh needs to become familiar with one of our most terrifying weapons: the flame thrower.
The standing order: burn it first, figure out what it was later.
When Saddam was in charge there was no AQ in Iraq.
Mission Accomplished!
They were not only there, they were trained and protected by Saddam.
Not sure where you got your info gojo, but you're wrong.
Iraq, Yemen, and Syria were all safe havens for all terrorists, especially Al Quaida....that was reported on CNN before the war began. As a soldier on the ground in the beginning I can tell you first hand that they were embedded there when we got there.
"A decade after U.S. and Western troops swept into Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein, the oil-producing country still struggles with sectarian tensions and political instability that test the fragile unity among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish ethnic groups."
This is where it stands after mission accomplished, working on "hope and progress", "reconstruction" (Chenny's contractors), training of soldiers and so on!
Gojo-They were not only there, they were trained and protected by Saddam.
That's totally false. There is not a serious scholar of that period that accepts that argument. That was a talking point used by neo-cons to get us prepped for war. Common sense alone should be enough to reject that. Saddam was a secular leader who was paranoid of ultra-religious groups overthrowing him. Al Qaeda had condemned Saddam's government many times for being secular and not religious enough. I don't doubt that Al Qaeda had some small cells in Iraq before Saddam fell.They had some here as well,but that doesn't mean our government supported them.
The Iraqi people were given a chance to change things and what they do with that chance is up to them. These people choose to let Al Quaida gain a strong hold and deserve whatever they get. We went there looking for terrorists that were being harbored there and killed most of them....it would not have taken so long and we would not have had so many casualties if they had not tried to fight a humane war against an enemy that hides behind women and children.
It would appear that, uhm, the behavioral modification goals (re: Sunnis and Shia) of the invasion have not quite taken root. Allow me this bit of reaction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srw3RdiIlrQ
It will only get worse, the ruling class now were the ones who where victimized under Saddam. Pay back time. Iran and Iraq are now BFF , seems our little plan backfired on us.
Why is Al Qaeda upset???
According to the Libs, Al Qaeda were not in Iraq prior to 2003... Ha! Ha!
Maybe they are upset because Saddam stopped sending the checks to their terrorist bombers...
Opps - According to the Libs, Saddam was not doing this either... Ha! Ha!
AC - the political party points prove nothing but ignorance, as both sides can shout their beliefs back and forth without us, as a country, being able to move past it.
You do realize that liberals can say - wasn't it the conservative leadership that said "mission accomplished" how many years ago? Wasn't it the conservative leadership that state at the beginning of this invasion - 6 days, 6 weeks, no more than 6 months? Wasn't it the conservative leadership that led us to this invasion with doctored intelligence?
It goes both ways bro, and until we get past bs such as that and are able to realize that we, the people, are divided by our leadership and therefore, this country cannot progress, we will continue down this same worthless path.
sleepinsadie,
After YOU have been placed in harms way by your great leaders...
Then you can support them, or not...
Some of us were there and know the TRUTH...
The seeds that Carter, Clinton and now Obama 'with his drones' have sown, will be KILLING Americans for DECADES...
The 'mission accomplished' banner was for the Carrier Group that was returning from their deployment. NOT the Iraq conflict, but if you have never served you would not know the difference.
How about the Afghanistan ESCALATION by Obama??? George Bush & the UK turned the 'Nation Building' over to the UN & 52+other countries, Dec 2001...
Another thing that the Libs are VERY Quiet about... 72% of the 2,053 causalities have been due to Obama's escalation...
Same thing will start happening once (if ever) our troops leave Afghanistan and Pakistan. The terrorists will roll back in immediately and take everything over. All the lives and monies expended will have been for nothing-just like Iraq. Meanwhile, we'll be involved in another useless skirmish somewhere wasting our resources just the same.
There does seem to be an endless supply of young people that will blow themselves up for the sake of the cause. As in all third world countries, the dictator keeps his boot on the throats of his people. Once the dictator is deposed or killed the country is torn apart by civil war. This has been the history of this region.
Al Qaida seems to have a problem with this 'revenge' thing, since they always take revenge for something THEY DID in the first place. It only proves that Al Qaida only wants to murder people. It IS their religion to kill, maim, destroy and terrorize people, because they are using Islam as an excuse to do it. Hell ain't half full.
These societies do not forget those that commit perceived acts against them...
They will be fighting the USA and those that are associated, for GENERATIONS...
Religion has little to do with it...
at least obozo has kept out of it. we need to stop letting muslims in this country.
What a waste of lives, resources, money and time. What amazes me is that anyone could actually believe that we could just hand them democracy, say "here you go, this is better" and expect them to say thank you and accept it. Nobody, ever, no matter who, what, where or when, appreciates anything that is just handed to them. Those people will never have democracy, or a republic, or anything better than what they have now until they decide they want it enough to fight for it and make it happen. No one else can make it happen for them, and anyone who thinks differently needs to spend a little time studying history
I've said it before we are not ready or willing to fight this war. You need to fight terror with terror you need to make them more afraid to die in terror than then are to live in peace. To do that you need to let them know if they so much as kill one American we will totally wipe out a living village, each and every time that happens, until they stop. There are no innocent people over there.
Well kind of hard to do that when our govt. lets the media in their biz. Our military is being hindered in their job by those who somehow think talking solves problems. One can't talk to the illiterate and ignorant, they only respond to force. What country sends a small percentage to fight a war?? Thank the GOP for that!!
youwish-3578139,
You are forgetting who GUTTED the US Military prior to George Bush assuming office???
1/3 of the Active & Reserves were cut during POTUS Clinton's rein. This reduction is why the civilian companies are NOW preforming the non-combat related jobs...
The USA Military did not have the manpower to deploy a 500+k force like Bush Sr had during Iraq I...
Another thing the Libs conveniently forget...
Revenge this revenge that, blah blah blah! They've been barking the same line for over a decade, after a while no one gives a flying sh!t! Their leader is at the bottom of the sea or in chains in some dark hole (for the conspiracy idiots), I think their time is up. Foreign troops are still running amuck all over muslim lands, all that prayer for their destruction hasn't made a dent. Blah blah blah, STFU already.
The Sunni hate the Shia who hate the Sunni who hate the Alawite who hate everyone. Islam will never advance until they get off their merry-go-round of hate. You never hear from any of the 2.6 million Muslims living here in the US. Why are they quiet and what are they waiting for.
I'd say it's because they moved here, at least in part, to get away from this kind of sectarian violence. Feel free to hide under your bed like a sniveling child, waiting for something to happen though.
Why are we there again? If you take an equal number of bricks and write the word "democracy" and send one to each and every person in that country they would look at it and say "What do I do with this?" All those people want to do is listen to the few terrorists who want to keep those middle eastern countries in turmoil.
If there were peace the terrorists wouldn't have anything to do so they have to continue the turmoil. Imagine if the people ever banned together and did what they wanted to do instead of the terrorists. What a thought!
"We shall have our vengeance upon the evil Americans!!"
*kills hundreds of Iraqis
"Ha! Take that America!"
I'm sitting here wondering what our "Clown in Chief" will do when the next large scale terrorist attack is made on the US either in country or some where around the world? The Libs keep blah blah blah'ing about the Bush years but it will get very interesting when the "Obozo Years" begin being discussed........oh wait....they are already being discussed!!
Terrorists like al Qaeda are cowards who act like bully children and then run and hide behind their mother's skirts. They bomb innocent civilians, women and children, rather than fight like men. They leave messages gleefully about the problems they cause rather like bathroom graffiti: worthless and of no importance. They only glorify themselves and are nothing more than gangs of thugs, not warriors, not seeking to better their country, not serving any God.
When I was sitting in the USA waiting to be deployed...
The Democrats/Libs were yelling, "It's all about controlling the OIL!!!" The Bush Administration had announced that the Conflict was going to be paid for with oil sales. Which was shot dowm by Pelosi, Reid, etc...
I stated that control of oil was OK, because history has proven that if it turned into 'Christians against Muslims', the conflict will not end...
History has repeated itself and the MEDIA & Libs should be proud of what they have accomplished...
Some useful reminders about some of the truths of the Iraq War by Naval War College professor of national security affairs Stephen Knott, that seem to have been forgotten by a majority of the people posting here : wsj.com/article/...