[Farson]

Today, Iraqi security forces suffered a major blow to it's operational capability. Overall violence is down in the country, but insurgents are stepping up attacks on the government, with civilians suffering mass casualties.


Coordinated blasts hit Baghdad; kill at least 103



BAGHDAD – A series of coordinated attacks struck Baghdad Tuesday, including three car bombs that blew up near government sites. At least 103 were killed and 197 wounded in the worst wave of violence in the capital in more than a month, authorities said.

A total of four attacks, which also included a suicide car bomb on a police patrol, showed the ability of insurgents to strike high-profile targets in the heart of Baghdad and marked the third time since August that government buildings were targeted with multiple blasts that brought massive bloodshed.

It also was another embarrassment to Iraqi forces in their expanding role as front-line security as U.S. forces plan their withdrawal. The U.S. military has sent some troops and forensic equipment to assist the Iraqis in the aftermath, said Army Master Sgt. Nicholas Conner, a military spokesman.

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About an hour before the Baghdad blasts, a suicide car bomber struck a police patrol in the mostly Sunni district of Dora in southern Baghdad, killing at least three policemen and one civilian and injuring five people, said a police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.

Iraqi police said at least one of the Baghdad blasts was a suicide bomber — driving a bomb-rigged ambulance heading for the Finance Ministry. The other two explosions may have been car-rigged bombed detonated by timer or trigger. It's a freakin' mess over there, is the only way to rule in the Middle East with an oppressive regime? Is this what awaits us in Afghanistan?

The unemployment rate in Iraq is as high as 60%, can there even be any kind of stability under occupation with such high unemployment?

Invading Iraq was such a bad idea. My heart goes out to all those who have suffered in this conflict, foreign and domestic. This is a most tragic first decade of the new millennium.