"Carried Out With American Blessing" - Nasser al-Sa'edi

I'll deal with the early morning slaughter by American troops of day labourers in Sadr city first. They shot and killed 4 they wounded eight. That was in al-Fallah street. As usual the Americans aren't saying anything except that the minibus should have stopped. As usual they're covering up the fact that they opened fire on unarmed civilians. My colleague Ali's posting immediately below covers this incident. Add that to the recent air strike by Americans against unarmed civilians that killed three adults and a baby and wounded 17 other civilians sufficiently badly to require hospitable and you get a very clear idea of exactly how murderous the Americans are in Iraq. Nor do they confine their murderousness to Baghdad. I recently wondered whether they stupid and evil or evil and stupid. I now know the answer. Their behaviour is stupidly evil. Spare me the misty-eyed stuff about how they're brave boys and doing the best they can. Spare me the misty-eyed stuff about how mostly they're honourable. The "honourable" ones make the war crimes possible. They're just as culpable as the ones actually doing the slaughter. The bombing attack on Sadr city This was a very well coordinated and sophisticated series of attacks. A massive amount of explosives were needed. In the region of ½ metric tonne per bombing. The toll from these coordinated bombing attacks on Sadr city is still rising. It's fairly clear how the attacks were carried out. There were four consecutive car bombs plus two others and the bombings were coordinated with a mortar barrage: A car bomb at al-Modhaffar square - that's one of them main entrances to Sadr City. A car bombing of al-Habiba. A car bombing of Jameela. A car bombing of al-Jodar. Coordinated mortar fire - coordinated with the bombings. A fifth bomb that nobody seems to know much about. The sixth bomber was intercepted while en route. The markets that were attacked would have been Al-Sadrayn Square, Al-Hay market, and (I think) the "55." I can't work out why that last one would have been so busy today. Maliki's "government" imposed a curfew to start at 20:00 hours local time - so it's been going for around and hour as I type this. "Carried Out With American Blessing" Nasser al-Sa'edi who is a member of the parliament for the area has openly accused American troops of clearing the way for armed groups to enter the district to attack civilians. Given their recent record you'll find very few Iraqis who'll disagree with. Come to that, given their record I don't disagree with him either. Other Baghdad Attacks Suicide bomber - palestine street - 2 police 3 civilians. Nahda (central) roadside bomb -6 civilians. al-Bayia’ (southwest Baghdad) - 4 iraqi soldiers. I'll try to update this as more comes in. Oh while I think of it because I get asked this so often. The three hospitals that would have borne the brunt today are: Imam Ali hospital. al-Hakim hospital. al-Sadra al-Kindi hospital in central Baghdad would have taken the "overflow" Go with the health ministry figure in any reports you read. They match the statements coming from the hospitals. The casualties are going to rise further. Because:. People are still literally picking up fragments of human being off the streets. Many of the wounded are in very serious condition. There is a critical short of blood and plasma products. — Particularly in Sadr city. markfromireland Update The casualty toll for the Sadr City is now confirmed as more than 200 dead and more than 250 wounded. many of the wounded are not expected to live. That toll is confirmed by several sources but originated with Mohammed al-Askari. It has also now been confirmed that immediately after the bombings Iraqi troops loyal to the green zone government blocked access to Sadr city and prevented ambulances from coming in and leaving. Those troops were supported by US helicopters. mfi 00:47 24/11/2006