150 kidnapped from the Education Ministry in Baghdad.
It's getting even worse.
150 kidnapped in Iraq from a government building of the Sunni Education Ministry. Women separated out and locked in a room. Shia divided from Sunni by about 80 gunmen. 150 Sunni men driven away. There were Iraqi police within sight who did nothing.
Enough trucks to transport 80 men and 150 captives "headed eastwards -- into Shi'ite east Baghdad -- followed by police units which later said they lost the trail."
(Reuters, AFP, AP)
Meanwhile: Abizaid presses al-Maliki to disband militias (again.)
(USAToday) The central government isn't arming or paying (Sunni) units in Anbar.
Update: How do the details on this get less clear? (AP) The Sunni Higher Education Minister puts the number kidnapped now at 130, while Maliki's office puts it at 45-50.
Five senior police officers have been arrested in connection incliding the Karrada police chief.
Maliki also tried to spin this off as "not terrorism, but the result of disagreements and conflict between militias belonging to this side or that." (What does that mean?)
(Reuters) Up to 100 kidnapped, all but 50 have been freed. "The interior minister hauled in police chiefs to explain how dozens of gunmen..."
150 kidnapped in Iraq from a government building of the Sunni Education Ministry. Women separated out and locked in a room. Shia divided from Sunni by about 80 gunmen. 150 Sunni men driven away. There were Iraqi police within sight who did nothing.
Enough trucks to transport 80 men and 150 captives "headed eastwards -- into Shi'ite east Baghdad -- followed by police units which later said they lost the trail."
(Reuters, AFP, AP)
Meanwhile: Abizaid presses al-Maliki to disband militias (again.)
(USAToday) The central government isn't arming or paying (Sunni) units in Anbar.
Update: How do the details on this get less clear? (AP) The Sunni Higher Education Minister puts the number kidnapped now at 130, while Maliki's office puts it at 45-50.
Five senior police officers have been arrested in connection incliding the Karrada police chief.
Maliki also tried to spin this off as "not terrorism, but the result of disagreements and conflict between militias belonging to this side or that." (What does that mean?)
(Reuters) Up to 100 kidnapped, all but 50 have been freed. "The interior minister hauled in police chiefs to explain how dozens of gunmen..."
posted by mikevotes at
7:18 AM
6 Comments:
Thanks, Doug.
As is my practice, I will reciprocate. (probably later today.)
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 10:53 AM
Do you get included in the morning Al-Jazzaera conference call for your talking points?
By
Anonymous, at 12:40 PM
Wow, Sam, no.
Do you know how I could?
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 1:27 PM
Yikes. This is going to be bad.
By
Bravo 2-1, at 4:08 PM
It won't matter what course of action we take (we will fight in Congress about what we are going to do) this will end up a blood bath.
I can imagine that the Iraq politicians are involved (that's the accusation).
I still don't understand that after 4 years we haven't truely trained enough security forces able enough to stop this kind of kidnapping?
The accusation is that they didn't even try to stop it, even though forces were in the area. But the pundits say they couldn't stop it if they wanted to because they are such a poor force. After 4 years of training?
By
Unknown, at 5:28 PM
Yeah, Richard Haas (president of the CFR actually came out and said that Iraq is unwinnable. First major figure I've seen make that statement. I wonder if it will open the field to that discussion.
I'm going to write a post later tonight outlining just what few options the US has left.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 6:03 PM
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