BAGHDAD, April 18 -- Four car bombs killed 131 people and wounded 164 others across Baghdad Wednesday, the U.S. military said, as bloodshed spiked two months into a U.S.-led crackdown meant to placate the Iraqi capital.
Some news accounts suggested the death toll may be higher. The Reuters news agency, quoting local officials, said as many as 170 people had been killed, and the Associated Press said at least 183 had been killed.
Cue the talking points:
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, on a tour of the Mideast, called the bombings "horrifying" and accused al-Qaeda of being behind the attacks, the AP reported. He said the attackers were trying to demonstrate that the U.S. security plan for Baghdad was failing.
I think they've successfully demonstrated that fact.
The deadliest attack Wednesday occurred when a car bomb ripped through the Sadriyah market in a predominantly Shiite area of central Baghdad, killing 115 Iraqis and wounding 137 others, the U.S. military said in a statement. The blast also damaged 40 vehicles. The same market was the site of a Feb. 3 bombing that killed more than 125 people, the gravest single bombing since the war in Iraq began.
And what was it Rep Pence said about Baghdad markets? Oh yes:
And so it went, up and down the street, in between tents and tables, squeezing past pedestrians to inspect the offerings in one booth after another, we milled around this marketplace in downtown Baghdad for more than an hour. I told reporters afterward that it was just like any open-air market in Indiana in the summertime. I didn’t mean that Baghdad was as safe as the Bargersville Flea Market; I just meant that that was what it looked and felt like…lots of people, lots of booths and a friendly relaxed atmosphere.
And bombs and dead people, unlike Indiana's.
Reuters has photos of the aftermath of today's carnage and is now reporting that "nearly 200" people were killed.
"The street was transformed into a swimming pool of blood," said Ahmed Hameed, a shopkeeper near the carnage in Sadriya.
As for whether Bush will attend those memorial services, the answer if obviously "NO". Just as well because if he did and quoted from the Bible as he did on Tuesday at the Va Tech convocation, his absolute hypocrisy would be met with the scorn it so obviously deserves.
Bush: As the Scriptures tell us, "Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
I'd sure like to know what his definition of "good" is when it comes to waging a pre-emptive war against a country that was not a direct threat to the United States.
Just how "good" is it to end up being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and the displacement of millions more while children - and every Iraqi - will suffer from this endless trauma for their entire lifetimes due to the ignorant arrogance of a small group of PNAC neocons whose only concern was oil profiteering?
P.S.: You will not see wall-to-wall coverage of these bombings on any of the cable news networks. This is just another day in Baghdad, after all.
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