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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (2528)	2/14/2004 7:50:20 PM
From: geode00	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

"Iraq chaos after worst week yet" lazarus, you still worried about lefties invading your house? You should be worried, they're gaining on you. Here are your instructions: go home to Mama MKTBUZZ and grow a spine and some morality. Thank you for playing. sundayherald.com 22 die in gun battle after series of attacks From Mariam Fam in Falluja Guerrillas shouting “God is great” stormed Iraqi security posts in Falluja, west of Baghdad yesterday, triggering a gun battle which killed at least 22 people. The fierce daylight raid by up to 50 masked gunmen was the third major attack on Iraq defence forces in one of the bloodiest weeks since US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein. Earlier in the week two suicide bombs killed at least 100 Iraqis queuing to join the new Iraqi police and army. At least 35 people were wounded in yesterday’s attack on a police station, the mayor’s office and an Iraqi Civil Defence Corps (ICDC) compound in Falluja, where the US forces Middle East commander General John Abizaid escaped a grenade attack during a visit just three days ago. Around 25 attackers, surrounded the police station and stormed the building, going from room to room and throwing hand grenades, survivors said. The few police present at the time had only small weapons. “I only had a pistol with me,” said Kamel Allawi, a police lieutenant. “Right away I fell on the ground and blood was gushing out of my left leg.” Another group of attackers opened fire with rocket- propelled grenades and heavy machine guns on the heavily protected compound of the ICDC. Iraqi security forces, firing from the concrete and sand barricades in front of the compound, battled the attackers for a 30 minutes in the streets. Fourteen police officers and three gunmen were reported among the dead. Fallujah police Lt Col Jalal Sabri said two of the dead attackers carried Lebanese passports. The remaining attackers escaped after freeing 75 prisoners. A defence corps officer, Daeed Hamed, said he believed the attackers wanted to free three suspected insurgents – two Kuwaitis and a Lebanese – captured by the corps this week and handed over to the police. He said the three were in the jail at the time of the attack. Hamed said the attack was well-organised, and that some gunmen pinned down the defence corps forces while others stormed the nearby police station where the prisoners were freed. The raid raised questions about the preparedness of some Iraqi police and defence units to take on security duties as the US administration wants. Guerrillas have killed more than 600 Iraqi security and police personnel since April in an attempt to undermine US efforts to prepare Iraqis to take over security of the country. After the Thursday attack, Abizaid said of the Iraqi civil defence unit in Fallujah: “Obviously they are not fully trained. They’re not ready.” The US command has said American troops could be quickly dispatched to trouble spots to help Iraqi forces as America hands over security to the Iraqis. “If the situation continues this way, I might leave the police force. We joined the police to provide security, but no-one wants security; they (insurgents and criminals) want chaos to continue,” said one policeman, Ahmad Saad, who was comforting wounded colleagues at the hospital. Last week, pamphlets signed by insurgent groups were posted in Fallujah warning Iraqis not to cooperate with US forces and threatening harsh consequences. Among the groups that signed the leaflets was Muhammad’s Army, which US officials say appears to be an umbrella group for former Iraqi intelligence agents, army and security officials and Ba’ath Party members. The survival of Iraqi security and police forces is key to the US plan to hand back power by June 30, a date to which President Bush, facing a presidential election in November, is committed. The US plans to hand over sovereignty to a transitional Iraqi administration and helped convince a UN envoy to assess demands for early elections to pick a transitional government. The call for elections has been spearheaded by Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential religious authority for Shiites, who has demanded an elected traditional government but signalled he may respect the UN opinion. UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said on Friday that the credibility of elections was more important than timing, while an aide ruled out a vote before June 30, raising questions over the timing of elections and how to pick a transitional body. Sunni Arabs, Saddam’s sect, fear elections would hand power to Shiites who organised politically in exile, and whom some believe would opt for a theocratic form of government similar to that of Shiite Iran. Calls for an early vote are also opposed by Iraqi Kurds, who have themselves alarmed other Iraqis with their call for a federal government that would cement autonomy in and beyond the northern zone they have effectively run since 1991. Thousands of demonstrators in Sulaimaniya, capital of one half of Iraqi Kurdistan, marched yesterday in support of a proposal for federalism advanced by Kurds on Iraq’s US-appointed Governing Council. 15 February 2004