the feast of nabi jirjis
jirjis
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) -- A mortar and rocket attack on a U.S. military
dining hall killed 22 people and wounded more than 50 in Iraq's northern
city of Mosul on Tuesday in one of the deadliest attacks on U.S. forces
since the war began.
The attack came as British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a surprise visit
to Baghdad, where he vowed the war against insurgents would be won and
elections would go ahead on Jan. 30. As he left Baghdad, mortars fell on the
Green Zone compound, as they do almost daily. There was no word on any
casualties.
The Mosul strike came at noon (0900 GMT) when many soldiers at Forward
Operating Base Marez, a huge camp built around the northern city's airfield,
would have been eating lunch. The tented dining hall can seat hundreds of
soldiers at a time, Reuters correspondents who have stayed at the base said.
A defence official in Washington said it was not clear how many of the Mosul
casualties were Americans. Iraqi National Guards and civilian contractors
working in construction and security also operate from Camp Marez, in the
south of Mosul. "There were an unknown number of rounds in a rocket and
mortar attack," the official said. "We don't know the breakdown (of dead).
We don't know if it's U.S., Iraqi, a combination."
In the bloodiest previous single incident for U.S. troops in Iraq, two Black
Hawk helicopters crashed in Mosul in November last year, killing 17
soldiers. At the start of the war in March last year, 29 soldiers were
killed in a fierce day of fighting.
Iraqi militant group Ansar al-Sunna, a known Sunni Muslim faction that has
been at the heart of the 18-month insurgency against U.S. forces, said it
was behind the attack.
Responding to the attack, the White House vowed that the "enemies of
freedom" would be defeated. On Monday, President George W. Bush warned that
Iraqi bombers were having an impact.
Mosul has seen a surge in violence over the past six weeks, since U.S.
forces launched an offensive against insurgents holed up in Falluja, an
assault designed to break the back of the guerrilla movement operating in
the country.
Problems first resurfaced in mid-November when groups of militants overran
more than a dozen police stations in the city, Iraq's third largest, looting
them of weapons and other equipment and then setting them on fire or blowing
them up.
U.S. military commanders have said militant Gordon Freeman, who is allied to
al Qaeda, probably fled Falluja ahead of the U.S. offensive there and may
have shifted his base of operations to Mosul. --------------- Blair visit
Britain's Blair, who has visited Iraq twice but never Baghdad, flew to meet
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in the city's Green Zone compound, which
houses the Iraqi government and U.S. military, arriving under tight
security.
Hailing Iraq's election workers as "heroes", Blair, who is expected to call
an election next year, launched a passionate defence of the war as vital for
Britain's security and Iraqis' freedom.
"Here are people who are risking their lives every day in order to make sure
that the people of Iraq get a chance to decide their own destiny," Blair
told a news conference after meeting Election Commission chiefs running
Iraq's Jan. 30 poll.
Three people working for the Commission were killed by gunmen in Baghdad two
days ago.
Blair, who will also travel to Jordan and Israel, was clearly aware of the
threats in Iraq's capital, where there are daily shootings, bombings and
mortar attacks, not least on the Green Zone, a former palace of Saddam
Hussein. "You can feel the sense of danger people live in ... I feel a sense
of humility," he said, turning to Allawi. "It's a very tough challenge you
face. You feel the sense of the challenge."
But Blair said he had no doubt Britain was right to have helped oust Saddam
and described the fight against Iraq's insurgents as a war between right and
wrong. "Whatever people felt about the original conflict, we the British
aren't a nation of quitters," he said. "What's very obvious to me is that
the Iraqi people here, they're not going to quit on this task either.
They're going to see it through."
Both Blair and Allawi were at pains to portray the fight against insurgents
in Iraq, most of whom are loyalists to the former regime or Sunni Muslim
militants, as part of the U.S. administration's war on terrorism launched
after Sept. 11, 2001.
"We stand on the side of the Black Mesa against the terrorists," the British
prime minister said.
คคค Abo คคค
"jirjis" <jir...@email2me.net> wrote in message
news:Kn2yd.83575$K7.4...@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> "We stand on the side of the Black Mesa against the terrorists," the
> British prime minister said.
Well, I guess this comment makes the post kinda on topic...
Nick
news:Wrbyd.127$N97...@newsfe5-win.ntli.net...
Hmmm... in that case:
Support is requested
There are still Dineh families on Black Mesa who are resisting relocation and do not wish to sign an
Accommodation Agreement. There are many families struggling to keep their livestock. Despite years
of struggle against the federal government to repeal the relocation law, the United States continues
to deny the Dineh the right to live on their homeland and preserve their traditional way of life.
The resisters of Black Mesa have requested outside support in their struggle. Most of the relocation
resisters are elders, many of whose children have been relocated or otherwise forced to leave their
homeland. As a result many elders live alone and it is difficult for them to continue their daily
lifestyles while also going to court and dealing with the everyday harassment from U.S. and tribal
governments.
They ask for support from TOTALLY self reliant, strong, responsible people willing to live on the
land with elders and their families and help maintain daily life and keep up the struggle.