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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scoobah who wrote (8369)	12/19/2004 2:41:44 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32591

You are probably right. Compared to the criminal murderer, Abbu Mazen is preferable. Sharron has to getting tired. I suspect he believes he has a mission to complete before he steps aside.

To: Scoobah who wrote (8369)	12/19/2004 2:43:32 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32591

Dec. 19, 2004 18:01 \| Updated Dec. 19, 2004 18:45 Car bombs in Shi'ite cities of Karbala, Najaf kill 60 By ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD, Iraq Car bombs rocked Iraq's two holiest Shi'ite cities Sunday, killing at least 60 people and wounding more than 120, while in downtown Baghdad dozens of gunmen carried out a brazen ambush that killed three Iraqi employees of the organization running next month's elections. The bombings came just over an hour apart. First, a suicide blast ripped through minibuses at the entrance of the main bus station in the city of Karbala. Then a car bomb went off in a central square of Najaf crowded with people watching a funeral proccession, also attended by the city police chief and provincial governor. The violence was the latest in an insurgent campaign to disrupt the crucial January 30 elections, the first national polls since the fall of Saddam Hussein. While many have feared that voting in the Sunni areas of northern and central Iraq will be hampered - if not impossible - because of the spiraling violence, Sunday's attacks highlighted that even the strongholds of Iraq's Shi'ite majority in the south are vulnerable. Shi'ites have been strong supporters of the elections, which they are likely to dominate. Residents of Najaf were pulling bodies of the dead from damaged shops at the square, which is about 400 meters from the Imam Ali Shrine, the holiest Shi'ite site in Iraq. The bombing in Karbala, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) northwest of Najaf, destroyed about 10 passenger minibuses and set fire to five cars outside the crowded bus station. Hospital officials said 13 people were killed in the attack and 30 wounded. It was the second bombing in Karbala in a week. On Wednesday, a bomb went off at the city's gold-domed Imam Hussein Shrine, killing eight people and wounding 40 in an apparent attempt to kill a top aide to Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Election officials attacked in Baghdad; more Iraqis abducted Insurgents on Sunday also carried out a new attack on election officials, with a daylight assault on Baghdad's central Haifa Street, the scene of repeated clashes between security forces and insurgents. About 30 militants hurling hand grenades and firing machine guns attacked a car carrying five people employed by the commission's Baghdad office and tried "to drag them out," said Adel al-Lami, a member of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq. Three employees, including a security guard, were killed, while two escaped unhurt, he said. Witnesses said the attackers later set fire to the vehicle and wandered the street brandishing their weapons Also, insurgents claiming to represent three Iraqi militant groups issued a videotape showing what they said were 10 abducted Iraqis who had been working for an American security and reconstruction company. Masked insurgents in the video said they represent the Mujahedeen Army, the Black Banner Brigade and the Mutassim Bellah Brigade, all previously unknown groups. Nine blindfolded hostages could be seen lined up against a stone wall and a 10th was lying in a bed, apparently wounded. The militants said they would kill the hostages if the company, Sandi Group, does not leave the country. They also threatened more attacks on its Iraqi operations. The company, based in Washington, employs 7,000 in Iraq. jpost.com