Suicide bomber attacks Iraqi recruits as al Qaeda forces retain control of areas in Anbar

The Long War Journal ^ | January 9, 2014 | BILL ROGGIO

[Hojczyk]

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, an al Qaeda branch in the Middle East, killed 21 people in a suicide attack at a military recruiting center in Baghdad today. The attack was launched as the ISIS continues to control Fallujah, parts of Ramadi, and other areas in Anbar province.

The suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives outside the Iraqi Army recruitment center at the Muthanna airport in Baghdad, according to the National Iraqi News Agency. Iraqi officials reported that 21 Iraqis, including four soldiers protecting the center, were killed and 35 more were wounded in the deadly blast.

Today's attack takes place as the Iraqi government is contemplating military action to retake the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi from the ISIS, which seized Anbar's two largest cities last week. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda seizes partial control of 2 cities in western Iraq.] Although Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki initially said the military would move in to retake the cities, he is now encouraging Anbar's tribes to fight the ISIS.

Fallujah remains fully under the control of the ISIS and allied tribes one week after Iraqi forces were withdrawn from the city. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda, tribal allies 'control' Fallujah.] Half of Ramadi is still said to be controlled by the ISIS. Iraqi forces have blockaded the cities, and in Fallujah, troops are launching artillery strikes into civilian areas thought to be held by the ISIS.

[allendale]

Post bin Laden al Qaeda has become an international fundamentalist Sunni fighting force. They are funded by Saudi Arabia and Qatar. They are actively fighting in Syria and Iraq. Saudi Arabia hopes to lead a Sunni confederation that would include Syria, large parts of Iraq and the Gulf states. They would control the population with sharia law as they now do within Saudi Arabia. Ultimately this will be more dangerous to Israel than Iran.

[zeestephen]

Two things I notice about Middle East violence that never change.....

(1) Since the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990, several hundred “wedding parties” have been allegedly bombed or rocketed by USA forces. I swear the Associated Press has been reporting this same story once a month for the last 25 years!

(2) After hundreds of suicide bomber mass murders at various kinds of “recruiting centers” in Iraq and Afghanistan, these people are still lining up to get slaughtered!

[Howie66]

Al Qaeda need not sweat it at all. Their BFF, Barak Hussein Obama has got their back.