U.S. General in Iraq Decries ‘Barbaric’ Insurgent Attacks

American Forces Press Service ^ | Gerry Gilmore

[SandRat]

WASHINGTON, March 8, 2007 – Sensational attacks like the March 6 suicide bombing that killed more than 100 religious pilgrims in Karbala, Iraq, illustrate insurgents’ lack of respect for human life, the top U.S. military officer in Iraq told reporters today.

Those “Shiite pilgrims were killed in a barbaric manner by thugs with no soul,” Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said today in Baghdad during his first news conference as the chief of Multinational Force Iraq. Petraeus took command of MNFI on Feb. 10.

However, new security initiatives instituted as part of Operation Law and Order should assist in reducing the violence over time, Petraeus said. American troops and Iraqi soldiers and police are bolstering security at major marketplaces and checkpoints, he said. New security outposts are being set up in Baghdad’s neighborhoods, where joint U.S.-Iraqi forces are establishing an around-the-clock patrol presence to protect residents.

The Karbala incident is but one among a series of recent insurgent-staged attacks in Baghdad and other areas of Iraq, Petraeus noted.

“Schools, health clinics and marketplaces have all been attacked,” Petraeus said. “Car bombs have targeted hundreds of innocent Iraqis, including dozens of Sunni Arabs leaving a mosque in al Anbar province.”

Suicide bombers killed more than three-dozen people, mostly students, during a Feb. 25 attack at a Baghdad college, Petraeus recalled. And, a car-bomb explosion in Baghdad’s booksellers’ district on March 5 killed 26 people.

Fourteen Iraqi policemen were killed execution-style in early March, and Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd al-Mahdi was wounded during a Feb. 26 assassination attempt.

“Thankfully, and impressively, he remains undaunted and is already back on the job,” Petraeus said.

Some sensational attacks “inevitably, will continue to take place,” Petraeus acknowledged, “though every effort will be made to reduce their number by identifying and destroying the networks and facilities of the bombers and by interdicting those who would visit such violence on the Iraqi people.”

[SandRat]

FR WAR NEWS!

WAR News at Home and Abroad You'll Hear Nowhere Else!

All the News the MSM refuses to use!

Or if they do report it, without the anti-War Agenda Spin!

[AZRepublican]

I decry ‘Barbaric’ attacks by House and Senate Democrats.

[Man50D]

It's time to send U.S. troops into Iran.

[Beckwith]

It's time to send U.S. troops cruise missiles into Iran.

[sageb1]

Seems to me that these pilgrimages are magnets. Why do they keep going if they are attacked every time?

[JudgemAll]

Demoralization, shaming and smothering everything at any costs is the enemy's doing. If it is not pilgrimage, they'll attack other activities... just like Democrates do.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

"Demoralization, shaming and smothering everything at any costs is the enemy's doing. If it is not pilgrimage, they'll attack other activities... just like Democrates do."

I agree, and it's exacerbated by the fact that there haven't been any consequences to those who are pulling the strings on the insurgency outside of Iraq (e.g. Iran and Syria). They get to throw punches without worrying about taking any in return. In large measure, this is true because of the political climate that the democrats and the media have created here in the US. If my child and your children have to clean up this mess in 10 years (i.e. Islamic radicalization and the global Jihad) it will be in large part because the ability to deal with this now has been severely hurt by the actions of those on the left and in the media whose narcissistic zeal leads them to believe they know better than anyone else.

[Clint Williams]

Sensational attacks like ... illustrate insurgents’ lack of respect for human life, the top U.S. military officer in Iraq told reporters today.

Like duuuh... just when did our enemies have respect for human life? The Soviets? The Communists? The Nazis? The British? (Okay -- I don't know about the Mexico, Spain, and a few other conflicts, and the Brits have changed I think, but I'm more than willing to listen to some FR historians...)

[tkathy]

Thugs with no soul describes islamofascists and their awful belief system.

[prairiebreeze]

Seems to me that these pilgrimages are magnets. Why do they keep going if they are attacked every time?

Probably because their false religion or imam demands it.

With all due respect to General Petraus, these bombers blow themselves up because they are told that it's the ONLY sure way to get to heaven for them and their immediate families.

Is it barbaric? Yes. Are they thugs? Maybe, perhaps even probably.

But the underlying motivation comes from islam. There is no guarantee to a muslim for salvation...except through jihad.

Mohammed was a sick puke.