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Eighteen Killed in Baghdad Suicide Bombing    [

    Another Grim Week in Iraq
    The New York Times | Editorial

    Saturday 10 March 2007

    On Sunday in Basra, British troops stormed an Iraqi intelligence office and found about 30 prisoners, some of them tortured. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki was outraged - not at the torture, but at the raid that halted it. Soon British troops will be leaving Basra, leaving Mr. Maliki and his security forces free to do as they please.

    On Monday in Baghdad, a suicide bomber attacked a row of bookstores, killing 20 people. The White House insists that Baghdad is growing more secure, as the extra infusion of American troops ordered by President Bush begins to take up positions in threatened neighborhoods. And on it went. On Tuesday, sectarian attacks killed at least 118 Shiite pilgrims. Then on Thursday, The Times reported that the day-to-day commander of American forces in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, was recommending that those extra 21,500 combat troops - plus the 7,000 support troops Mr. Bush somehow forgot to mention - stay on into next year. On the same day, General Odierno's boss, Gen. David Petraeus, said that even more American troops could be needed in the near future.

    Anyone who wanted to believe that all Mr. Bush was seeking was a short-term security push - as part of a larger strategy to extricate American troops from this unwinnable war - now needs to face up to a far less palatable reality. What is under way is a significant and long-term escalation. The Army cannot sustain these levels for more than another few months. And as long as Iraq's leaders refuse to make significant political changes, the civil war will continue to spin out of control.

    With this backdrop, it is somewhat reassuring to see Congressional Democrats getting a little smarter in their gathering efforts to force a policy change. They are still talking about a phased withdrawal and an arbitrary exit date. That's an approach we've never favored without a parallel political strategy to try to contain the chaos and regional strife that are likely to follow. What they can usefully do, and are attempting, is to use the power of the purse constructively to force the White House to give American troops the kind of support they need and to demand some sanity from Iraq's leaders.

    Rather than trying to challenge the administration's request for $100 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, House Democrats now want to add funds to speed the production and delivery of badly needed protective armor, provide better medical care for wounded troops and veterans, and shore up the Army's eroding combat readiness.

    A supplemental financing bill amended this way would be hard for senators to vote against or for Mr. Bush to veto. House Democrats also want to make it a vehicle for prodding the White House into imposing benchmarks and timetables on an Iraqi government that still refuses to purge its security forces of sectarian thugs and reach out to the country's Sunni Arab minority. We hope they succeed.

    In what may have been this week's only good news out of Iraq, a growing number of parliamentarians have begun challenging Prime Minister Maliki's destructive policies. There is talk about forming a political bloc that would cross rather than reinforce the sectarian divide. If the White House won't demand more from Mr. Maliki, Congressionally enacted benchmarks could help empower Iraq's more moderate politicians. Without a more enlightened Iraqi government - and a tougher policy from Washington - next week, and the weeks and months to come, will be no better than the last.

 

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    Eighteen Killed in Baghdad Suicide Bombing
    By Sameer N. Yacoub
    The Associated Press

    Saturday 10 March 2007

    Baghdad - A suicide car bomb struck Baghdad's Shiite militia stronghold Saturday, killing at least 18 people as international envoys met in the Iraqi capital to talk about stabilizing the violence-shattered country.

    The blast hit an Iraqi patrol in Sadr City at midday, scattering burning debris across a small bridge, witnesses said.

    An Associated Press reporter traveling with U.S. troops nearby said the explosion showered shrapnel across a joint U.S.-Iraq security station 300 yards away. The partially shattered windshield of a car landed at the gates of the compound.

    Police said at least 18 people were killed and 48 wounded.

    Home to about 2.5 million of Baghdad's poorest residents, Sadr City is the base for fighters allied to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. His militia, the Mahdi Army, has laid low in recent weeks during a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown under pressure from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

    Hours earlier, Iraqi special forces teams backed by U.S. soldiers detained six suspects believed to be a rogue members of the Mahdi Army, the U.S. military said in a statement.

    The suspects were accused of coordinating and carrying out kidnappings and murders of Iraqi civilians, the statement said.

    In central Baghdad, two mortars fell near Iraq's Foreign Ministry, where envoys gathered for an international conference on how to quell the violence and bolster Iraq's government. There were no reports of injuries, but smoke was visible from the meeting area.

    Meanwhile, Iraqi officials said they were holding a top al-Qaida official, but not the terror mastermind Abu Omar al-Baghdadi who they believed was captured a day earlier.

    "After preliminary investigations, it was proven that the arrested al-Qaida person is not Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, but, in fact, another important al-Qaida official," said Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Mousawi, an Iraqi military spokesman.

    "Interrogations and investigations are still under way to get more information," he said.

    Al-Mousawi declined to give the suspect's name on Saturday.

    It was al-Mousawi who announced late Friday that al-Baghdadi had been captured. A senior adviser to the prime minister also had told the AP that al-Baghdadi had been taken into custody. The adviser spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

    Al-Mousawi said the suspect at first identified himself as al-Baghdadi, and that his identity was corroborated by another man captured with him. The reported arrest followed rumors this week that al-Baghdadi's brother had been arrested in a raid near Tikrit.

    Almost nothing is known of al-Baghdadi, including his real name and what he looks like; his capture would be difficult for officials to verify.

    He is believed to lead the shadowy Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida-inspired group that challenged the authority of Iraq's elected government. He has also signed militant messages posted online, as the leader of the Mujahedeen Shura Council - an umbrella group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq.

    An alleged member of the Islamic State of Iraq was among 27 suspects detained in U.S. raids across Iraq overnight, the U.S. military said.

    One suspect was killed and 18 were detained in Taji, an area on the northern outskirts of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.

    Eight suspects were captured in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, and one was detained in Ramadi,115 kilometers 70 miles west of Baghdad, it said.

    Also Saturday, the U.S. military said it was investigating the shooting of three Iraqis in Baghdad's Azamiyah neighborhood. American paratroopers fired on a vehicle when it failed to respond to warning signals, the military said in a statement. Three Iraqis were killed and three others were wounded in Friday's incident, it said.

    In other violence, a roadside bomb killed three Iraqi policemen and wounded another Saturday in central Ramadi, police said.

    Gunmen opened fire Saturday on Shiite pilgrims in Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, police said. One person was killed and three were wounded. Later, two more pilgrims were killed in shootings in eastern Baghdad, police said.

    The pilgrims were on their way back from a Shiite shrine in Karbala, where millions of faithful were performing rites this weekend for Arbaeen, a holiday that marks the end of a 40-day mourning period after the death anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson.

    Some 340 people, mostly Shiite pilgrims en route to Karbala, were killed in sectarian attacks this past week.

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    Associated Press reporter Ryan Lenz traveling with US forces in Baghdad contributed to this report.