Suicide attack on Iraqi holy city

[Raven]

At least 36 people have been killed and more than 160 hurt in a suicide car bomb attack in Iraq's holy city of Karbala

The attacker detonated explosives at a crowded bus station in the city close to a shrine holy to Shia Muslims, at around 0915 local time (0515 GMT).

Many of the casualties were said to be women or children.

Meanwhile in Baghdad at least 10 people died in a truck bomb attack on a key bridge in the south of the city.

The driver of the pick-up detonated his bomb near a checkpoint on the Jadariya bridge, across the River Tigris. The bridge appears to have been left intact.

This follows a truck bomb which partially destroyed the Sarafiya bridge in northern Baghdad on Thursday, killing eight people.

The attacks come as a US-led security operation enters its third month.

The surge has brought down the rate of sectarian murders in the capital but has failed to stop bomb attacks.

Correspondents say the latest attacks suggest a change in tactics by insurgents, who are targeting infrastructure in an attempt to undermine confidence in the crackdown.



~Thoughts

[Ferret]

/Makes pro-war statement & leaves/
Crazy is as crazy does.
/Makes pro-war statement & leaves/

[Domoviye]

The Surge may not have stopped the bombings, but it has really slowed them down. Before we'd have at least one large scale bombing a day in some part of Iraq. Now its one about one a week.
The reason the bombers are targeting infrastructure is it has a better chance of success. The Iraqi police force, military and US troops are keeping a much better lookout in all the major markets and buildings. So a lot more suicide bombers are captured before they can detonate themselves. The bridges and less notable infrastructure isn't as well protected.

The Surge is still building up, it will reach its peak in mid summer. That will be the real test, and so far the US and Iraqi government have the momentum.

[mammamaia]

thoughts?

homo sapiens is the only species that kills for fun and religion... i'd rather be an amoeba, thank you!

[Domoviye]

Weasels, foxes, cats, coyotes, killer whales, dolphins, and some primates also kill for no apparent reason.

[Ferret]

Minks and barracudas too for sure.

[Frost]

Still want to be an amoeba? Chances are some kind of feral animal is going to hunt you down anyway.

I dont care about the war any more, ive lost interest.

[mammamaia]

key word is 'apparent'...

and yes, i would... don't care about being killed, only about 'killing'...

[Raven]

Sometimes Killing those that are evil is the only way or more of the innocent will die.






~Raven

[Frost]

True that.

The world isn't black and white, and it's naive(sp?) to believe that it is.

[SeaBreeze]

Maybe the POWERS THAT BE (I'm not going into religion so that will have to do..) should just wipe this planet clean. Start over but this time, have some input!

[Alice in Wonderland]

Sometimes I'm glad I have no television... I reckon I'd get fed up with the amount of propaganda and such. Atleast on the internet I can chose to ignore it. xD

I'm not saying I'm ignorant to the fact that there is a war going on... It's just been so drawn out and isn't getting anywhere...

The terrorists last resort is always bombing something. D= It causes so much panic and such because they are hard to find and defuse before they are detonated... They get power by having the threat of an unexpected attack whenever they damn well please...

[mammamaia]

The world isn't black and white, and it's naive(sp?) to believe that it is.

sorry, but it's naive and self-deluding to think it's not...


Hiding in the Fog

by maia

Black is black and white is white,
there really are no “shades of gray”
but the dice are often loaded
in black’s favor... or white’s way.

Bad is bad and good is good
and neither will change its hue.
Those degrees of gray between them?
Fake excuses for wrongness we do.

When it comes to good and bad
never, ever the twain will meet.
Those shades of gray? Just excuses
for those with gray clay feet.

When it comes to bad versus good,
and you put shades of gray into play,
remember... you’re only fooling yourself
and you’ll pay for it some day.

Up can’t be down a wee bit
nor can high be partially low,
tho’ the morally challenged among us
make it seem as if it’s so.

White is white and black is black...
there are absolute moral grounds.
It’s only when shades of gray are dreamed up
that GOOD’s trumped and EVIL abounds.

“The gods can either take away evil from the world and will not,
or, being willing to do so cannot; or they neither can nor will, or
lastly, they are both able and willing. If they have the will to remove evil and cannot, then they are not omnipotent. If they can, but will not, then they are not benevolent. If they are neither able nor willing, then they are neither omnipotent nor benevolent. Lastly, if they are both able and willing to annihilate evil, how does it exist?” -Epicurus, 300BC

“...and why?” -maia 2001AD

[mammamaia]

Maybe the POWERS THAT BE (I'm not going into religion so that will have to do..) should just wipe this planet clean. Start over but this time, have some input!

...i'd push the button, if it was available... but, in starting over, i'd sure be careful about what 'input' should be heeded...

[Torana]

Starting the world over again........that wouldn't work at all.
The only way you could do it and have it in any way slightly successful is to take away free will......and what is the point to life without it!!!

People can not agree with each other and like the same things as each other and the whole time this is happening there will be war, there will be murders, yadda yadda.

The only way to stop it all is for people to accept that we are all uniquely different and get over it and sadly that is NEVER gonna happen!!!!!!

We can't livein a world where there is no hate, anger, death, famine and disease and that is all there is to it. The whole time the world has these things there is going to be reocurrences of these incidents all the time.

I wouldn't push the button at all, I wouldn't want to be responsible for all of it eventually happening all over again.

This is the world we live in and we should just be happy that we have it, at least with every bad thing that happens something good happens as well.

[Raven]

This is something I wrote sometime ago when i came back from Iraq.



There are no heroes



I’m still alive.
It can only be a miracle.
Though its been a hell of a ride.
My destination still unknown.
It’s a fact of life.
If you make one wrong move.
With a gun in your hand under cover of fire.
You better walk the line.
Or you’ll be left for dead.
And another name forgotten.

A man holds a gun and shoots to kill.
But he doesn’t know why.
A child watches his father die while his mother weeps.

I have seen fear and I have seen faith but.
There are no heroes carrying guns here.
Just brothers walking the line of destruction.
Leaving only ghosts.

We walk a line that we cannot see.
We shoot to kill.
But we cannot answer why.
And we shed a tear for those we have lost.
While we pity those to remain.

I see houses burnt beyond repair.
The smell of death is in the air.
I see a woman weep in despair.
A tracer lights up the night sky.
Its another families turn to die.

There are no heroes carrying guns here.
Just brothers walking the line of destruction.
Leaving only ghosts.

Old men kneel to accept their fate.
Wives and daughters cut and raped.
Another generation drenched in hate.

Another brother falls just left in the dirt.
Another nameless hero sunken to the ground.
The dark sky is lit up under tracer fire.

There is no truth here.
Through all the lies to be told.
Its just a world filled with rage and hate.
While brothers lie in shallow graves.
The nights lit up under tracer fire.

I have seen fear and I have seen faith but.
There are no heroes carrying guns here.
Just brothers walking the line of destruction.
Leaving only ghosts.

Say a prayer and light a candle.
Or Toll a bell for another name left in limbo.
There are no heroes carrying guns here.
Just brothers walking the line of destruction.
Leaving only ghosts now.

There is a lot of evil men and women and children out there that do things so bad the only way to stop them is to kill them. And thats the sad thing about life.

To stop those that wish to do harm and murder in the masses the only way is to Kill them before they kill us.

War is horrid no hiding that fact but terror is far worse because its not just soldiers that get hurt its the children that get hurt and they are our future. Without them we have no future.

[Domoviye]

Good poem.

[Night Haunter]

very good poem potrays the message here clearly.