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thedrifter
08-19-03, 12:35 PM
OPERATION: IRAQI FREEDOM
Blast rocks U.N. mission in Baghdad
Suicide bomber demolishes corner of complex, at least 14 dead

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Posted: August 19, 2003
1:15 p.m. Eastern



© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

A powerful bomb sparked an explosion at the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad killing at least 14 people and injuring scores of others, including the top U.N. official in Iraq.

Witnesses said a man driving a cement-mixer truck blasted his way through the walled complex and blew up inside the lobby of the three-story building.

"The explosion was caused by a massive truck bomb," Bernard Kerik, the senior U.S. law enforcement official in Baghdad and former New York City police commissioner, told reporters at the scene. "We have evidence to suggest it could have been a suicide attack."

U.N. officials report 14 fatalities and 40 injured, but the toll is expected to rise.

Emergency crews are searching one side of the structure that collapsed to rescue the dozens feared buried under the rubble.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said as many as 300 workers of several nationalities could have been inside the building at the time of the explosion.

Sergio Vieira de Mello, the U.N. special representative to Iraq, is among those trapped in the debris.

"He has been injured, but we're not certain how badly. He appears to be conscious; they are giving him water," Eckhard told CNN.

President George W. Bush condemned the attack and extended sympathy to the victims.

"The terrorists who struck today have again shown their contempt for the innocent. They showed their fear of progress and their hatred of peace. They're the enemies of the Iraqi people. They are the enemies of every nation that seeks to help the Iraqi people," he said in a taped address.

The enormous blast, which reportedly broke windows more than a mile away, demolished a portion of the former Canal Hotel complex where the U.N. is based and destroyed cars parked outside.

"My house shook like it did during the bombing at the start of the war," a resident in the area around the hotel told the Associated Press.

Television footage showed an enormous plume of black smoke rising from the site following the explosion and U.S. Black Hawk helicopters circling the area.

Fox News correspondent Dan Springer reported from the scene that one entire corner of the building had been blown away and the nearby al-Kindi Hospital also suffered damage.

"What I'm looking at is a scene of immense devastation," Springer said.

United Nations weapons inspectors worked out of the hotel during the period before the war. Since the cessation of major combat in the country, hundreds of U.N. workers have been conducting a humanitarian relief mission. A U.N. mine-clearing conference was underway at the hotel when the attack occurred at approximately 4:30 p.m. local time.

Today's bombing mirrors that at the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad earlier this month which killed 11 people and wounded more than 50 others.

It also comes on the heels of attacks on other "soft targets" not secured by coalition forces, including oil and water pipelines.

Paul Bremer, the U.S. civilian administrator of Iraq, complained yesterday that Iraq's neighbors Syria and Iran were working against the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

He said Syria, which did not support Operation Iraqi Freedom, was allowing "foreign terrorists" to sneak across the border into Iraq.

"We held talks with the Syrians in this regard, we hope to see better cooperation," Bremer told the London-based Arabic newspaper Al Hayat.

Bremer said the fighters who carry "travel documents from a variety of countries" were being aided by Iran's intelligence and Revolutionary Guards.

"This is irresponsible conduct and runs counter to Iraq's interests. We believe that a free Iraq must not be subject to any interference by its neighbors," the paper quoted Bremer as saying.

The U.N. Security Council released a statement this morning condemning the "terrorist attack" and vowing to continue its efforts to help the Iraqi people rebuild.

"Such terrorist incidents cannot break the will of the international community to further intensify its efforts to help the people of Iraq," said the statement read by Assistant Secretary-General Danilo Turk. "Members of the council reaffirmed that this horrible attack aimed at undermining the vital role of the United Nations in Iraq will not affect their determination and members of the council will stay united against such attacks and to help the Iraqi people restore peace and stability to their country."

No terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Yesterday, Dubai-based Al Arabiya television broadcast an audiotape purportedly from al-Qaida spokesman Abdel Rahman al-Najdi that called on Iraqis to continue their fight against U.S. forces and promised to send more al-Qaida members to help them.

"The terrorists want to return to the days of torture chambers and mass graves. The Iraqis who want peace and freedom must reject them and fight terror and the United States and many in the world will be there to help them," said Bush in his remarks on today's tragedy. "By attempting to spread chaos and fear terrorists are testing our will. Across the world they're finding that our will cannot be shaken. We will persevere through every hardship. We will continue this war on terror until the killers are brought to justice. And we will prevail."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34174


Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

tferg78
08-19-03, 01:09 PM
PUT ME IN!!! I'm tired of this crap those insurgents are playing and I hate sitting in a 'SECURE' area... PUT ME IN!!!

btrogu
08-19-03, 04:00 PM
Guys I think it's time to pull out. We're trying to help these people and there are some who are going against everything we do . Pull out and I say screw them. Let them have Saddam back.

caryverell
08-19-03, 05:24 PM
Steady as you go btrogu.
We say Aye Aye sir; we perform.
We gain results.
We are Marines.
We seldom get the easy jobs.
Chances are the Marines may be ordered back in to Iraq in much larger numbers; the Army of One may not be up to giving these extremists the opportunity to die for their beliefs.

If the commander-in-chief sounds the call I'm "on the way".

Semper Fidelis

btrogu
08-19-03, 06:09 PM
Just seems like there aren't too many MARINES there.