On A6 of this morning's New York Times, two articles about Iraq appear. First, to ___ who e-mailed the public account griping that the snapshot didn't include news of Turkey's attack on Iraq, go to "U.S. Doubts Kurds' Claims Of New Attack By Turkey" written by Stephen Farrell and Damien Cave which explains those doubts and quotes an unidentified US military official stating, "We do get advance warning. We do not think there was any operation on Sunday." The US gets advance warning, not the central (puppet) government in Baghdad, not the Iraqi president (who is a Kurd from the region in question -- northern Iraq).
On the same page, Damien Cave's "At Christmas, Iraqi Christians Ask for Forgiveness, and for Peace" appears. He reports the service at Sacred Heart Church was down from two years ago (from 400 to 120 at Mass Monday). That's no doubt due to the fact that Christians are among the many religions being targeted in Iraq by death squads. It may also have to do with Rev. Thaer al-Sheik who offers a scold passing as a sermon as he poses the question of, "If the angel Gabriel comes today and says Jesus Christ is reborn, what do we do? Do we clap or sing?" Clap and sing would be the response from most churches but apparently al-Sheik has a beef with clapping -- possibly because he rightly grasps that sermons like the one he reportedly delivered aren't worthy of applause. Women in the church begin shouting out answers: "We ask him for forgiveness" and "We ask for peace". Valid answers to the question posed -- to anyone but al-Sheik who bah-hum-bugs that, "We are always like beggars, asking God for this or that." If you believe an angel visits a war zone, you should also believe that an angel would be aware of the suffering. It's only al-Sheik that misses the point, though Cave points out that, near the end, he too "could not resist asking God for a little help. He ended his sermon with a request . . . 'We call on God for equality, freedom -- an end to war and an end to hunger. We only demand from God peace for all of you'." Note, he's not "asking . . . for a little help," he's demanding. But wants to shame two women for sharing what they would ask of an angel. It should also be noted that the women don't live on church property. Cave tells you the church was guarded by "men with the AK-47s".
Violence continues today. Bob Strong (Reuters) reports that a Baiji car bombing has claimed at least 23 lives (with 77 wounded) while a bomber exploded himself at a funer in Baquba claiming the lives of at least 10 other people (with five more injured). The thuggish Interior Ministry 'celebrated' the Baiji bombing by ordering the police cheif of the region fired.
In other reported violence today, Reuters notes, in the continued targeting of officials, that Duraid Kashmula ("governor of Nineveh Province") was targeted with Mosul roadside bombing that left his driver and a body guard wounded, a corpse was discovered in Dhuluiya and a Baguba police station "blew up" claiming the lives of 2 police officers.
In addition Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports the car bombing on the checkpoint's death toll has risen to 25 (with the wounded toll rising to 80) , a Tikrit bridge bombing, a US military helicopter killed 5 Iraqis and wounded four in Samraa, and:
At 3 am morning, the US troops raided the office of the Iraqi Red Crescent in Sab’aa Nisan neighborhood (the 7th of April neighborhood) downtown Baquba city arresting 3 guards. While doing a walking patrol in the area, the US troops arrested a member of the local committees. After a while, the US troops killed the man. Another member of the local committees who was in the scene was killed also by the US troops, Iraqi police said. The US army said in a press release that his troops were attacked while conducting a raid early morning and the forces engaged killing two criminals arresting four.
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