Wednesday, November 13, 2013

At least 39 dead, at least 88 injured

Violence yet again rolls Iraq.

And the press tries to keep up.

For example, AP offers, "The deadliest among Wednesday's attacks was the one targeting a group of Shiites marking Ashoura in the eastern city of Baqouba, a former al-Qaida stronghold, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad. That attack killed eight people, including two children, and wounded 35, a police officer said." And that is deadly and does seem deadliest but then Reuters offers, "In the deadliest attack, 10 people were killed when a suicide bomber drove a truck packed with explosives into a police checkpoint in the town of al-Alam near Tikrit, police said." And it just continues. The theme to The Mary Tyler Moore Show was "Love Is All Around" but, in Nouri al-Maliki's Iraq, it's violence that's all around.

While the wires try to figure out if 8 is greater than 10, National Iraqi News Agency notes that Falluja Mayor Adnan Hussein was shot dead. Alsumaria adds a bodyguard of the mayor's and an engineer who was traveling with the mayor were also injured. Last month, at least 5 mayors were assassinated in Iraq.

National Iraqi News Agency also reports an eastern Mosul attack left 2 police members dead, a Mosul roadside bombing left one police officer injured, an armed clash in Imam Village left 5 militants dead and one Iraqi soldier injured, a western Mosul roadside bombing claimed the lives of 3 police officers and left two more injured, 2 Baquba bombings claim 3 lives and leave thirty injured, 2 police homes in Qarma were blown up killing 4 people and leaving seven more injured, an armed clash in Dujail left 2 militants dead and five police officers injured, and a Baghdad roadside bombing left three police officers injured. Xinhau adds, "In northern Iraq, a soldier was killed and four others wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near their patrol in the town of Riyadh near the city of Kirkuk, about 250 km north of Baghdad, a local police source said."

That's 39 reported dead and eighty-eight injured. So far. The tolls may rise.

Yesterday, the White House issued the following:

The White House

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release

November 12, 2013

Readout of Vice President Biden's Call with Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani

Vice President Biden spoke today with President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani. The two discussed Iraq’s security challenges and the need for close coordination between Erbil and Baghdad to isolate terrorist networks. The Vice President affirmed the United States’ commitment to partner with Iraq against al Qaeda. Vice President Biden congratulated President Barzani on the recent passage of a law to govern Iraq’s upcoming parliamentary elections. The two also discussed Iraq’s important progress in building relations with its neighbors, including Turkey.

Alsumaria notes it here, National Iraqi News Agency notes it here.

Campaigning continues in Iraq in expectation of parliamentary elections on April 30th. All Iraq News notes Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq's leader Ammar al-Hakin declared today that the next big fight in Iraq will be defeating corruption. Corruption's a seriously problem but the inability of the Nouri-led government to address the security issues don't speak well for the ability of the government to address much these days.

Yet again, the optics are not good for Nouri's own campaigning -- All Iraq News notes Sadr City is flooded for the sixth day in a row. That's due to Nouri's refusal to spend any of oil billions pouring into Iraq each month to give Iraq a decent sewage system -- Nouri's refusal to do that for seven years now. All Iraq News notes Iraqiya MP Qais al-Shathar states the streets flooded with water demonstrate the failurs of the government:

The services provided to the citizens cannot be compared with the allocated funds for the services sector. The specified budgets for the services must be spent and be reflected on the services level. There should be an investigation over the spent funds for the services sector.

The following community sites -- plus Pacifica Evening News, Antiwar.com, On the Wilder Side, Jody Watley, Cindy Sheehan, Ms. magazine and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee --updated last night and this morning: