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Tal Afar bomb killed 152, the deadliest of war
Reuters ^ | March 31 2007 | Mussab Al-Khairalla

Posted on 03/31/2007 8:27:51 AM PDT by jmc1969

The Iraqi government raised the death toll on Saturday from a truck bomb in the town of Tal Afar to 152, making it the deadliest single bombing of the four-year-old war.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Abdul Kareem Khalaf said 347 people were wounded in Tuesday's attack on a Shi'ite area.

Khalaf said 100 homes had been destroyed in the main blast, which officials have blamed on al Qaeda. The explosion left a 23-metre (75-ft)-wide crater.

"It took us a while to recover all the bodies from underneath the rubble of the homes ... What did they achieve by using two tonnes of explosive to kill and wound 500 in a residential area?" Khalaf asked at a news conference.

(Excerpt) Read more at in.today.reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: iran; syria; talafar
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1 posted on 03/31/2007 8:27:51 AM PDT by jmc1969
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To: jmc1969
That is a HUGE blast and crater. A mini WMD of sorts. At some point, when it destroys enough and kills enough, any weapon, regardless of its composition becomes a WMD.

We should find out who planned and executed this attack, particulalry if there are Iranian hands in it, and then respond in kind.

I do not put it past the Iranians at all to kill their own kind in an effort to create a larger civil-war in Iraq in an effort to drive the US out so they can waltz in.

2 posted on 03/31/2007 8:38:14 AM PDT by Jeff Head (Freedom is not free...never has been, never will be (www.dragonsfuryseries.com))
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To: jmc1969
What did they accomplish? Nothing. But when you belong to a Cult of Death, what does it matter.

Whatever one's complaints about Judaism or Christianity, it is nothing compared to the direct, made up and erroneous drivel that came from Mohammad. He pieced together what he learned about the Jewish and Christian faiths while on the run in Medina (Jewish) and Ethiopia (Coptic Christians) and melded that into the Arab pagan mythology.

It is such a contradictory and silly mishmash - that is the reason why Islamic "scholars" will not allow anyone to go against or question their teaching. They would find that the emperor has no clothes - and no brains.

3 posted on 03/31/2007 8:38:57 AM PDT by txzman (Jer 23:29)
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To: jmc1969
What did they achieve by using two tonnes of explosive

Just for comparison .... this is roughly the equivalent of dropping 1.5 battleship 16 inch rounds into a neighborhood.

4 posted on 03/31/2007 8:41:26 AM PDT by Centurion2000 (Democrats in Republican Clothing ... DIRC ... They are the knives in the back of the GOP.)
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To: txzman

Even muslims are subject to the law of unintended consequences. Maybe these people will get so deeply sick of killing that they will embrace peace someday.

There is still hope left.


5 posted on 03/31/2007 8:48:25 AM PDT by Pete98 (After his defeat by the Son of God, Satan changed his name to Allah and started over.)
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To: txzman

Mohammed also made several trips as a merchant to Syria, which at the time was a Byzantine province with several varieties of Christians around.


6 posted on 03/31/2007 8:49:08 AM PDT by Sherman Logan (I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian.)
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To: Centurion2000

The last I heard the US estimates the explosive yield was nearly 5 thousand pounds of RDX.


7 posted on 03/31/2007 9:03:46 AM PDT by jmc1969
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To: jmc1969

RDX? Kinda hard to buy that at the old Stop and Rob on the street corner.

Is RDX stable enough that it can last for several years, say from Saddam's old stockpile?

That leaves a government being involved. Slovakia makes a lot, as does Russia and China.

Wonder who else has access to make or purchase RDX, and transport it to Iraq?


8 posted on 03/31/2007 9:12:59 AM PDT by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimers!)
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To: Sherman Logan; txzman

He also included some pagan touches (such as the moon rock in Mecca) to make sure he covered everything.


9 posted on 03/31/2007 9:16:22 AM PDT by livius
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To: texas booster
"Stop and Rob"

LOL!

10 posted on 03/31/2007 9:20:26 AM PDT by 2111USMC
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To: texas booster; Jeff Head

I doubt that Slovakia, Rusia, or China had anything to do with this. There's little doubt that this massive bombing was done with state support from Iran or Syria. This could be a desperate Iranian response to increasing pressure on Iran to stop unranium enrichment. It I had to bet, I'd say this is Iran lashing out because the rest of the world won't let Iran have nuclear weapons.


11 posted on 03/31/2007 9:22:45 AM PDT by Pub Linkser--80 ("We're goin' in to win. There's no turning back." -- US Admiral to D-Day assault troops, 6/5/44.)
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To: txzman
"Whatever one's complaints about Judaism or Christianity, it is nothing compared to the direct, made up and erroneous drivel that came from Mohammad."

How can you make such a ridiculous statement???? Why just last week Christian fanatics rioted around the world. Hundreds were killed and several innocents were even beheaded because of the so called "Chocolate Jesus" art exhibit .... oh wait, that didn't happen.

12 posted on 03/31/2007 9:23:12 AM PDT by trek
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To: texas booster

Forgot one item: God bless Texas.


13 posted on 03/31/2007 9:23:51 AM PDT by Pub Linkser--80 ("We're goin' in to win. There's no turning back." -- US Admiral to D-Day assault troops, 6/5/44.)
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To: jmc1969; Jeff Head
I'm thinking this bombing could be an indirect threat from Iran about what they will do in a few Western cities if the West launches a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.

It seems to me that IF Israel has the capability to destroy these nuclear facilities, everybody would be better off if Israel strikes Iran. We should lease any kind of aircraft to Israel that they need, even B1 or B2 bombers. Then after Israel strikes, Iran would have much less justification to attack Europe, America, and Americans in Iraq. Not that Iran cares about justification, but the Western public would view Iranian retalitation as unjustified, and that helps sustain political support for a counter-attack against Iran. Israel is becoming a key player in stopping Iran.

14 posted on 03/31/2007 9:33:41 AM PDT by Pub Linkser--80 ("We're goin' in to win. There's no turning back." -- US Admiral to D-Day assault troops, 6/5/44.)
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To: jmc1969

Thank God and George Bush that this did not happen in the United States.


15 posted on 03/31/2007 9:46:43 AM PDT by Delta 21 ( MKC USCG - ret)
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To: Delta 21

Only prayers and the work of many single-minded American citizens around the world has prevented this from happening.

But it doesn't mean it won't. Pray, and pray hard. The President hasn't aged so fast because he doesn't know what the enemy is trying to do.

And almost all of us don't know either.

If they could kill hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, they would do it.
One day I fear they will.


16 posted on 03/31/2007 9:55:19 AM PDT by romanesq
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To: Pete98

"There is still hope left."
No, there's not.


17 posted on 03/31/2007 10:06:20 AM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ("Don't touch that thing")
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To: jmc1969

Iraq is in serious need of a neighborhood watch program that has some religious consistency, vigilance, balls, backbone and retribution. I cannot imagine people who seem so defenseless.


18 posted on 03/31/2007 10:07:42 AM PDT by Migraine (...diversity is great (until it happens to you)...)
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To: Pub Linkser--80
It seems to me that IF Israel has the capability to destroy these nuclear facilities, everybody would be better off if Israel strikes Iran.

The problem is that Israel DOESN'T have the ability to do the job alone without using nuclear weapons. And Israel WILL use nuclear weapons if they are faced with a nuclear Iran. Unless we want to see the nuclear genie let back out of the bottle, we are going to have to do it.

The problem is that we may not be able to do it alone. Europe may help us, if they know they won't be left stranded afterward. But with the American political situation the way it is, nobody can rely on us.

It's reaching a critical moment. If it is going to be done, it has to be done soon. Iran knows this. Congress knows this. Bush knows this. The French know this. Israel knows this. It's all coming to a head.
19 posted on 03/31/2007 10:23:47 AM PDT by montanus
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To: Pub Linkser--80

There is little doubt that Baathist Syria or Shiite Iran that provided the logistics to bomb Iraq.

An act of war, if the first several thousand bombings didn't indicate it.

Mass killing of civilians, delivered my mule train and a Fifth Column inside Iraq, instead of V1 and V2 rockets across the Channel.

If the left ever really cared about humanity, instead of just their commie/socialist brethren, they would decry the mass killing by both Syria and Iran.

They have the means to discover who is behind the murders but choose not to look.

"There are none so blind as those who will not see".


20 posted on 03/31/2007 10:30:49 AM PDT by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimers!)
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