Suspected Sunni insurgents penetrated the Baghdad security net Wednesday, hitting Shiite targets with four bomb attacks that killed 183 people — the bloodiest day since the U.S. troop surge began nine weeks ago.
Late Wednesday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the arrest of the Iraqi army colonel who was in charge of security in the area around the Sadriyah market where at least 127 people died and 148 were wounded in one of the bombings. With streets and bodies blown apart and death all around, it's impossible to imagine that the bomb site was once the crowded Sadriyah market, reports CBS News reporter Martin Seemungal. It was one of 5 deadly bombings in Baghdad in less than 8 hours, most in Shiite areas.
Nationwide, the number of people killed or found dead on Wednesday was 233, which equaled the highest death toll since The Associated Press began recording daily nationwide deaths in May 2005. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates called the bombings "horrifying" and accused al Qaeda of being behind them. The market is situated on a side street lined with shops and vendors selling produce, meat and other staples. It is also about 500 yards from a Sunni shrine. About an hour earlier, a suicide car bomber crashed into an Iraqi police checkpoint at an entrance to Sadr City, the capital's biggest Shiite Muslim neighborhood and a stronghold for the militia led by radical anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The explosion killed at least 41 people, including five Iraqi security officers, and wounded 76, police and hospital officials said. Black smoke billowed from a jumble of at least eight incinerated vehicles that were in a jam of cars stopped at the checkpoint. Bystanders scrambled over twisted metal to drag victims from the smoldering wreckage as Iraqi guards staggered around stunned. Earlier, a parked car exploded near a private hospital in the central neighborhood of Karradah, killing 11 people and wounding 13, police said. The blast damaged the Abdul-Majid hospital and other nearby buildings. The fourth explosion was from a bomb left on a minibus in the central Rusafi area, area, killing four people and wounding six others, police said.
I'm irate for two reasons. First, this happens almost daily over in Irag. We chose to go over there. We weren't forced to. We are not forced to stay there any longer either. If they wanted to, they could pull up a whole fleet of jets and aircraft carriers and be on their way home by the time you eat your dinner tonight. How about this... 30 Americans have died in Iraq this week. Are they not as important as the Virginia Tech victims? They're the same age. Second, I'm pissed that there will be nothing but finger pointing over this whole ordeal. Nobody will take the blame. Let's put this on the video game industry. Let's blame it on desensitization from movies and television. Let's blame violent music lyrics. How about we blame the frigging media for sensationalizing events like this? We are in an age where we can have all available information within minutes. The problem with that, is that it is not all true, substantiated, or verifiable information. If there is one person to blame, then that someone should step up and take the heat for this.
At least Anna Nicole can finally be left alone. Hopefully Britney shows some more vag so we can report on the important stuff again.
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