Who Is Again Bombing Baghdad?

April 7, 2009

Yesterday seven car bombs killed 37 across Baghdad. These bombs were hidden in parked cars and not suicide attacks. So far nobody has claimed responsibility.

The U.S. blames 'Al-Qaeda'.
Maliki blames Baath party elements.
Disgruntled Son of Iraq groups that are now without pay may be another possibility.
Some of the thousands of prisoners the U.S. is currently releasing may also have a motive.
And of course one should never exclude the possibility of a false flag/black operation by some other interested side. Maliki? Iran? The U.S. military?

Who do you you think is most likely responsible for these attacks?

Posted by b on April 7, 2009 at 12:41 UTC | Permalink

Comments

somebodies special forces

Posted by: annie | Apr 7 2009 13:23 utc | 1

It seems so obvious to me: as the US begins the wind-down, the real battle for control that’s been going on the whole time rises to the surface. Maliki has been glad the US paid the Awakening Sunnis to keep them quiet, but he has blocked them from taking any official government positions. Now, the quiet war of assassinations is rising to the surface.
Part of the US plan of paying the Awakening folks had one “benefit”: it kept the Sunnis somewhat divided, as each chief got paid directly by the US for the fighters he could produce. There were no formal links between different neighborhood groups, all worked directly with the US and got their pay from the US (this has been a common imperial tactic since at least the Romans). It also makes it easier for Maliki to pick them off one at a time.
These attacks look like on group of Awakening or other, almost certainly facing heavy pressure from Maliki’s forces, attacking Shiite civilians (and security) not so much to fight back against Maliki, but as a way of reopening the “communal” war and re-unifying the Sunni factions.
The current localized Sunni militias can’t compete with Maliki. But once they unite (even loosely), the civil war is back in full swing.

Posted by: Bill | Apr 7 2009 14:21 utc | 2

There is no possible way to know with any certainty what is going on. We know the Mossad had done thing like this, we know our own gov’t had done things like this. We’re told that Iran, the Syrians, and any number of Muslim forces might have done this.
Further, what is to keep Russia from doing it, keeping us drained in Iraq, a payback for Afghanistan? Or China, or some teenager, or spontaneous combustion?
All these are possibilities and all these parties have something to gain from turbulence in Iraq.
What a tangled web we weave when we get caught trying to deceive.

Posted by: scott | Apr 7 2009 14:33 utc | 3

These attacks look like on group of Awakening or other, almost certainly facing heavy pressure from Maliki’s forces, attacking Shiite civilians
that is likely what it is supposed to look like. which may have no bearing whatsoever on what it really is.

Posted by: annie | Apr 7 2009 14:34 utc | 4

Annie: True, of course. Much of my confidence comes from the fact that this is exactly what I was expecting, so I’m biased in favor of explanations that show I was right.

Posted by: Bill | Apr 7 2009 14:37 utc | 5

btw, what makes these bombs ‘look like’ that to you?
But once they unite (even loosely), the civil war is back in full swing.
hmm, who did that benefit last time it broke out? for anyone who wants the US to stay in iraq for the next 100 years what scenario would most likely convince iraqis and americans to a departure of US troops would be a dangerous option? for the US to play the role of ‘middleman’ their has to be convincing polar opposition. what better than an uptick in violence? after all, an iraq moving along smoothly would support us leaving by the timetable, not what the neocons want.

Posted by: annie | Apr 7 2009 14:40 utc | 6

Much of my confidence comes from the fact that this is exactly what I was expecting, so I’m biased in favor of explanations that show I was right.
my sentiments exactly.

Posted by: annie | Apr 7 2009 14:41 utc | 7

Who knows. Could be the local used car dealer, trying to drum up sales.

Posted by: Ensley | Apr 7 2009 15:07 utc | 8

could be a crackhead…

Posted by: wanda sykes | Apr 7 2009 15:22 utc | 9

There are some in Afghanistan who probably would like to delay a transfer of US troops from Iraq. Then again, I would guess most US troops would rather be in Iraq bases than Afghan outposts. I would also guess that there are those true believers in the US chain of command that would like to make Obama’s tepid new plans fail.

Posted by: biklett | Apr 7 2009 15:24 utc | 10

I suspect Saddam Hussein.

Posted by: ralphieboy | Apr 7 2009 15:25 utc | 11

Or it could have been US:UK mercs, responding to the US Defense budget only zooming $60B higher, instead of topping $700B. They already caught UK mercs running around dressed like Arabs with bomb making equipment in Iraq. The timing on Gates ‘budget reduction’ announcement seems propitious, especially given Obama’s sidetrip there yesterday to get briefed on the outbreak of Awakening’s St Valentine’s Day Massacre. Only wish the US could have an Awakening. All I hear are government civil servants grumbling about low salary raises, and defense contractors grumbling they’re gonna be ‘forced’ to become Defense civil servants, with pensions. Man, that’s gotta be tough watching Titanic sink from the comfort of your civil service lifeboat seat, spending the day online blogging, or playing solitaire at your orthopedic desk!

Posted by: Pigeut Ameron | Apr 7 2009 15:26 utc | 12

The jews did it. That’s just the way they roll.

Posted by: slothrop | Apr 7 2009 15:38 utc | 13

Israeli Mossad killing the remaining Iraqi Scientist, disguised as mass bombing, when in fact it is a remote control op targeting one individual. They been doing this for years.

Posted by: Syrian Nationalist Party | Apr 7 2009 17:21 utc | 14

part 1 video Baghdad, City of Walls 4/5/09 prts 1thru 4 @ link.

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad is an award-winning photographer and journalist from Iraq.
He began documenting life on the streets of Baghdad in 2001 and, when the Iraq war started two years later, he reported for The Guardian newspaper on those parts of the Iraqi capital that were simply too dangerous for outsiders to cover. But growing violence forced him to leave the city.
In Baghdad, City of Walls Ghaith returns to the streets of a Baghdad now divided by security walls separating the city’s Sunni and Shia residents.
Thousands of homeless roam the streets, children grow up hating Americans, the dead are buried in improvised cemeteries and there is electricity for only three hours a day.
Ghaith’s ability to move around the city despite the dangers, gives us a unique insight into this Baghdad and to a story so far untold.

Posted by: annie | Apr 7 2009 17:40 utc | 15

?
FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, April 5
05 Apr 2009 20:50:46 GMT
Source: Reuters
April 5 (Reuters) – Following are security developments in Iraq at 2045 GMT on Sunday.
* DIYALA PROVINCE – A U.S. soldier died as a result of a combat operation in Iraq’s volatile northern Diyala province, the U.S. military said in a statement, without elaborating.
ABU GHRAIB – Two houses were blown up in the Abu Ghraib district of west Baghdad, one of which belonged to a leader of the Sunni Arab neighbourhood patrolmen who were instrumental in reducing violence after they turned on al Qaeda. A man was killed and two women wounded, municipal officials said. It was not clear if the target was the “Sahwa” leader’s house.
MOSUL – Gunmen wounded two Iraqi soldiers in two separate incidences when they hurled hand grenades at their patrols in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
SAMARRA – Gunmen killed a policeman and wounded another four when they opened fire at a moving police car in central Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
FALLUJA – Two bombs which exploded in succession killed a police officer and wounded another eight in central Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.
MOSUL – Gunmen shot dead a civilian in a bus station in western Mosul, police said.
MOSUL – Gunmen shot and wounded a civilian in a drive-by shooting in western Mosul, police said.
MOSUL – Two mortar rounds wounded a policeman when they landed on a police station, in southeastern Mosul, police said.
MOSUL – Gunmen wounded two civilians and a policeman when they shot at a police checkpoint in central Mosul, police said.
MOSUL – A roadside bomb killed a child and wounded a civilian when it exploded in western Mosul, police said.
KIRKUK – Gunmen in a moving car shot and wounded a civilian in the south of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, on Saturday, police said.

Posted by: annie | Apr 7 2009 17:43 utc | 16

American faces death for rape, murder

The soldiers changed into black outfits and masks so they would look like insurgents and headed for the house of a 14-year-old girl they had noticed walking through the village.

hmm, i wonder if they all have standard issue black outfits for impersonating insurgents.

Sergeant Paul Cortez testified that he raped Abeer Kassem Hamza al-Janabi while Barker pinned the sobbing girl to the floor.
The men switched positions and then heard about four or five shots from a bedroom where Green had taken the girl’s father, mother and six-year-old sister, Cortez said.
Green shot the girl when he was finished raping her and the soldiers set the home on fire by tossing a lighter onto a Kerosene-soaked blanket covering her naked body, the other soldiers said.
They then went back to their checkpoint about 200 meters away and grilled chicken wings.

Posted by: annie | Apr 7 2009 18:22 utc | 17

All of the above.

Posted by: steve | Apr 7 2009 19:28 utc | 18

the dirty filthy joos
this has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.

Posted by: Not A $$$ Grubber | Apr 7 2009 22:13 utc | 19

Why not watch all 29 episods of Secret Rulers of the World on Youtube, not the fake chill, the real 1-29 by Amenstop Production. Then you will not take comment such as Grubber’s with much interest.

Posted by: Syrian Nationalist Party | Apr 7 2009 22:29 utc | 20

Them that done it, whoever they be, they knew POTUS’ schedule well before we did.

Posted by: small coke | Apr 9 2009 1:28 utc | 21

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