Posted on 02/21/2007 11:17:22 PM PST by neverdem
BAGHDAD, Feb. 21 — A truck bomb that combined explosives with chlorine gas blew up in southern Baghdad on Wednesday, and officials said it might represent a new and deadly tactic by insurgents against Iraqi civilians.
It was at least the third truck bomb in a month to employ chlorine, a greenish gas also used in World War I, which burns the skin and can be fatal after only a few concentrated breaths. The bomb killed at least two people and wounded 32 others, many of them sent to hospitals coughing and wheezing, police and medical officials said.
Iraqi and American officials said the use of chlorine seemed aimed at bringing a new level of fear and havoc to Iraq as a new security plan for Baghdad takes shape.
Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, an American military spokesman, said the attacks highlighted the fluidity of insurgent tactics in Iraq, dominated by militant groups that often notice and repeat attacks that attract the most attention and cause the most suffering.
Insurgents have shifted tactics to focus on helicopters, and on Wednesday one group forced down an American Black Hawk helicopter, the eighth such incident since Jan. 20. Roadside bombs have been adapted to punch through heavily armored Humvees. Attacks on Americans also now include coordinated assaults from multiple locations, with a mix of weapons and in at least one case, counterfeit American uniforms and vehicles.
“The enemy is adaptive,” Colonel Garver said. “The enemy wants to win.”
The Black Hawk attacked on Wednesday was forced into a “hard landing” after taking fire from heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades in Diyala Province, north of Baghdad, the United States military said. There were no injuries. A Sunni insurgent group, the Mujahedeen Army, claimed responsibility for the attack in an Internet posting, according to...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I guess this isn't a WMD according to the Dims, is it? /sarc
These really are noble resistance fighters.
luckily they do not know how to employ chlorine properly - may the fart of their ignorance blow strongly!
What are Pelosi's and Murtha's plans when they come and do it here in the middle of a large US city, after we withdraw from Iraq in disgrace?
Nevertheless, we can still win this war if we have the will.
may the fart of their ignorance blow strongly in their general direction!
Blame someone else then raise taxes.
if we have the will.
Our "leadership" does not.
Things are starting to turn around.
Unfortunately we are too civilized to strangle such barbarians with their own intestines.
Yes, I agree. But not fast enough. Election is coming quickly.
Things like this do not work according to a pre-set schedule. I know of very few brand new democracies that have taken hold in a period of less than five years.
It's not like a TV show where everything gets wrapped up neatly in a specified timeframe.
There is progress. In spite of the media and the Dems. That, for now, will have to suffice.
I saw a clip of Murtha from the last day or two saying that if the US wasn't in Iraq then Al Qaeda would simply go away. Since I don't believe he's that stupid he must then be that evil.
One wonders if the Chlorine gas came from Saddam's old WMD's, or if it was manufactured by the insurgents in Iraq recently.
One would be bigger news than the other...
Tell that to a majority of Americans who'll wind up voting for Hillary/Clinton/Edwards and the like in 2008.
Not the kind that we were looking for.
It isn't.
The reasons that were held up for the war in Iraq are proven to be wrong.
Bush made a fatal error.
He decided to go into Iraq without the inconveniant french and politically weak germans.
Therefore he picked war reasons that would not stand in Europe (Fischer to Bush in Munich before the Iraq War: Excuse me, but I am not convinced).
Ironically germanies spy agencies brought the fake informations on wmd programms in mobile truck units on the table but uttered doubts a few weeks later.
You cannot ride into a war like this on bullshit.
You got to say what's really on if you want souvereign nations with free channels of information to follow on the long term:
Maybe (I don't know exactly):
They're building a caliphate state over there - we cannot controll that - we cannot protect our loyal friends in arabia anymore - our former pupett saddam has become a problem long time ago - we've got to take him out and controll the area between Iran and our 'friends'.
But according to newer publications the planning guys in the pentagon thought this would be nearly over by 2006 and they could do it easily alone.
Now we are 'stuck in Iraq' and I mean we (western nations). We cannot allow the 'insurgents' to gain controll - because that would be (and maybe allready is) a beacon for the 'bad guys'. We need our dollars and euros to be safe in Saudi Arabia - because they spend them back here. It's not only money but our wealth, education, defense, future that may be cut of from us.
Afghanistan is even more important - because you can controll the spread of extremist islamists from pakistan from there aswell as to interdict the bigger part of the world production of heroin.
And because these guys have earned a break.
The chlorine is used as an intermediate product in chemical industry as well as a sanitation agent.
It's a trade product as it leaves the factory door and becomes a weapon underway.
The Headline of this articel is certainly missleading.
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