Tale of two Baghdads?
For those that have not heard yet there was a large attack planned on the Iraqi Government in Baghdad. The Iraqi police and local law enforcement where able to prevent the attack in several raids across the city.
During raids on houses and warehouses in Baghdad that lasted throughout the day, the authorities arrested 25 people and recovered more than 440 pounds each of TNT and C4, about 66 gallons of ammonium nitrate solution and 60 mortar shells, according to a statement from Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, a spokesman for Baghdad Operations Command, which is responsible for security in Baghdad, the capital.
To me this is a example that Iraq can function on it’s own given the chance, training and time. but the
stories from theNew York Times against the Los Angles Times differ to the point where I wonder if there are talking about the same place. For example.
NY Times
A wide-ranging plot to bomb government ministries and other public places, to be followed by a wave of political assassinations, was uncovered by Iraqi officials, who responded Tuesday by bringing much of Baghdad to a virtual standstill while security forces conducted raids that netted large quantities of explosives, officials said.
LA Times
When Baghdadis awoke this morning to find their streets sealed off and the city under virtual lockdown, the rumors began to fly.
Army officers had staged a coup in the Green Zone, one version said. No, it was Baathists loyal to the former regime who had taken over, according to another.
Mostly, the rumors concerned the Sunni lawmaker Saleh Mutlak, who has been recommended for disbarment from the upcoming March elections by the former De-Baathification Committee, now known as the Accountability and Justice Committee.
It may be just me, but one seems to try to keep the rumors down while the other is all about spreading them.
Speaking of rumors, there seem to be plenty coming out of Afghanistan from destroying Korans to killing protesters by US/NATO forces.
Haji Abdul Manan, one of the protesters, told the German Press Agency, DPA: “The people came out of their homes today to protest this action of foreign forces in a peaceful way, but the Afghan and international forces opened fire on us.”
Covered by none other then al jazeera, but I am sure that there is not shock there.
Category: Breaking News, Media, Terror War
’25 people and recovered more than 440 pounds each of TNT and C4, about 66 gallons of ammonium nitrate solution and 60 mortar shells’
That’s only slightly more than they found just before the RNC in St Paul in 2008.
The important part of this story should be this-the Iraqi government collected intelligence, carried out multiple raids, and detained the perpetrators. This may have been carried out by the Iraqi military but the method was straight out of the police manual. That is progress.