Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
December 12, 2007
Pg. 8
By Associated Press
BAGHDAD — A suicide car bomber struck in one of the capital's most heavily guarded neighborhoods Tuesday, killing two guards at a checkpoint near the home and offices of two prominent politicians, including the first prime minister after Saddam Hussein.
Both politicians were out of the country at the time.
The explosion took place in a neighborhood bordering the U.S.-protected Green Zone in western Baghdad, less than a quarter-mile from buildings that included the home and office compound of Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite, and offices of Saleh al-Mutlaq, the head of the Iraqi National Dialogue Front, a Sunni political bloc.
It was the second bombing in two days to strike guards of Allawi, who is on a short list of possible future national leaders and is a fierce critic of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
U.S. troops have managed to shut down numerous car-bomb factories around the city, reducing the number and intensity of bombings in recent months.
Even so, U.S. commanders have warned that security in the capital is still fragile, despite marked improvements since last summer.
In a statement, Allawi's Iraqi National Accord bloc said it had informed the United States, the United Nations and the Iraqi government of a plot against the former prime minister. "Unfortunately no action was taken," the statement said. Also Tuesday:
•An anti-al-Qaeda Sunni tribal sheik who was promoting national unity was killed along with his nephew in a drive-by shooting near Tal Afar, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad. The attack was the latest in a series of strikes against Sunni Arabs who have joined forces with the U.S. and Iraqi governments against the terrorist network.
• The bodies of a Christian woman and her brother were found in a garbage dump, police and church officials said in the southern city of Basra.
The police chief, Maj. Gen. Jalil Khalaf, has blamed religious vigilantes who target women not wearing conservative Muslim dress for the deaths of at least 40 women in the city.
•A Finance Ministry official said the Iraqi government plans to cut the number of people receiving food rations by about 5 million by the end of June.
The official, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, said well-off families will be dropped from the list of those eligible for rations. No income threshold has been set, the official said.
The ration system dates to the Persian Gulf War, when the U.N. Security Council imposed economic sanctions on Iraq after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The system continued after the fall of Saddam in 2003.
December 12, 2007
Pg. 8
By Associated Press
BAGHDAD — A suicide car bomber struck in one of the capital's most heavily guarded neighborhoods Tuesday, killing two guards at a checkpoint near the home and offices of two prominent politicians, including the first prime minister after Saddam Hussein.
Both politicians were out of the country at the time.
The explosion took place in a neighborhood bordering the U.S.-protected Green Zone in western Baghdad, less than a quarter-mile from buildings that included the home and office compound of Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite, and offices of Saleh al-Mutlaq, the head of the Iraqi National Dialogue Front, a Sunni political bloc.
It was the second bombing in two days to strike guards of Allawi, who is on a short list of possible future national leaders and is a fierce critic of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
U.S. troops have managed to shut down numerous car-bomb factories around the city, reducing the number and intensity of bombings in recent months.
Even so, U.S. commanders have warned that security in the capital is still fragile, despite marked improvements since last summer.
In a statement, Allawi's Iraqi National Accord bloc said it had informed the United States, the United Nations and the Iraqi government of a plot against the former prime minister. "Unfortunately no action was taken," the statement said. Also Tuesday:
•An anti-al-Qaeda Sunni tribal sheik who was promoting national unity was killed along with his nephew in a drive-by shooting near Tal Afar, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad. The attack was the latest in a series of strikes against Sunni Arabs who have joined forces with the U.S. and Iraqi governments against the terrorist network.
• The bodies of a Christian woman and her brother were found in a garbage dump, police and church officials said in the southern city of Basra.
The police chief, Maj. Gen. Jalil Khalaf, has blamed religious vigilantes who target women not wearing conservative Muslim dress for the deaths of at least 40 women in the city.
•A Finance Ministry official said the Iraqi government plans to cut the number of people receiving food rations by about 5 million by the end of June.
The official, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, said well-off families will be dropped from the list of those eligible for rations. No income threshold has been set, the official said.
The ration system dates to the Persian Gulf War, when the U.N. Security Council imposed economic sanctions on Iraq after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The system continued after the fall of Saddam in 2003.