Iraq Rebels Threaten to Kill 60 Shi'ite Hostages

[420inTN]

7 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - Sunni insurgents have taken at least 60 people hostage in an Iraqi town near Baghdad and are threatening to kill them unless Shi'ites leave, said a Shi'ite official who said he was contacted by residents there.

"People from the town called me begging the Iraqi government to save their relatives who are hostages. They told me there are at least 60 hostages," the Shi'ite official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.

The official said insurgents with heavy weapons appear to have taken control of the town of Madaen, just south of Baghdad, and no police or government forces were in sight.

more, full story here

[Kikosexy2]

1. Hmmm...

Civil war???

[420inTN]

2. To early to tell. n/t

[leftchick]

3. "The Iraqi Government"??

omg... they are gonna have a long wait. FUBAR.

[4dsc]

23. Which Iraqi government??

If I am not mistaken, the newly election government doesn't have any control yet so they would have to pleading to the US puppet government of Allawi...

But then again, is there really anybody in charge in iraq??

[leftchick]

24. In answer to the question, is anybody in charge? NO!

It is called Chaos! Here is an article from yesterday about the "Iraqi Government".

No Iraqi government for at least a week

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/iraqpolitics

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq's new government will not be formed until next Thursday at earliest, said Hussein Shahrastani, the parliament's deputy speaker and a senior member of the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA).


"The earliest would be the end of the next week," Shahrastani told AFP on Friday.


His words confirmed the caution displayed on Wednesday by prime minister designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari who warned that forming a cabinet could take time.


Sharastani's words deflated expectations the government could still be unveiled this Sunday when the 275-member parliament holds its next session.

[acmavm]

4. Oh please, this is just another one of those pessimistic phony stories

that people spread to undermine the wonderful things we've done for the Iraqi people, now that we gave them freedom and all that crap.

I certainly hope it is understood that was pure sarcasm.

What we've done to the people in that poor country will rank up there as one of the great crimes of history.

[Just Me]

12. There MUST be a "reason" for permanent US military presence.

There just MUST be a "reason",...yes?

BLECH!!!

,...divide, divide, divide,....to conquer, control, colonize.

HMPFF!!!

[Cocoa]

26. yep, it's the pessimists and naysayers

and the pessimistic naysayers, as Scott McClellan would say.

[ECH1969]

5. Pretty obvious plan

Right now the UIA is thinking about purging all Iraqi military forces of Sunnis because their hatered of them. And, at the same time passing a law that no ex-Baathists are ever allowed in high government positions again. The insurgents have wet dreams of that happening, because all the sudden 50,000 trained Iraq military forces are fired and sent into the waiting arms of the insurgency. And, the leaders of the Sunni community that want to join the government, won't be able to, so there would be only one place for them to go and that is the insurgecy.

Why do you think Rummy and Rices #2 flew down to Iraq.

The insurgent groups are going to try to piss off the Shia pretty hard over the next couple weeks to get them to pass these laws.

[420inTN]

6. They prefer bullets over ballots? n/t

[ECH1969]

7. It depends on which part

I do think most Sunnis plan to vote next time around, because they realize that boycotting the election just make it so they have no representation.

The hard core Sunni insurgents who are a subset of that population and the foreign fighers want to make life miserable for both the Sunni and Shia communities and them have them blame each other for the problems and then start a full out civil war.

[HardElection]

8. Might be CIA Psyops

I wouldnt put it past them to try to "divide and conquer".

[scarletlib]

21. I agree with you.

This is our excuse of why we can't leave because the poor Iraqi's just won't stop fighting one another.

HA!

I'm not saying that there are not differences among them but I read articles several months ago that said these so called differences are not that great. That there has been intermarriage among the groups, etc.

[just a girl]

9. But isn't the insurgency losing strength?

And attacks are down, right?

[realFedUp]

10. bet the British are beginning to feel some deja vu

some people never learn...

[Just Me]

11. "Who" reported to Reuters that these insurgents are "Sunni"?

A "Shi'ite official" asking not to be identified?

Sorry. I've read way too much "shit-stirring" anonymous PLANTS to believe anything in print.

[Roland99]

13. 60 people about to march to freedom.

[The_Casual_Observer]

14. "let freedom reign!"

Those pesky dead-enders again making the place untidy.
"How many times did we see the same vase getting carried off!"

[jasmeel]

15. Insurgents Seize 60 Hostages in Iraqi Town

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Sunni guerrillas took at least 60 people hostage in an Iraqi town near Baghdad on Friday and threatened to kill them unless Shi'ites left the area, a Shi'ite official quoted residents as saying.

The hostage-taking and three successive days of bombings which killed at least 34 people suggested insurgents had regrouped after a lull in violence since Jan. 30 elections.

"People from the town called me begging the Iraqi government to save their relatives who are hostages. They told me there are at least 60 hostages," the official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters in Baghdad.

Insurgents with heavy weapons appeared to have taken control of the mixed Sunni and Shi'ite town of Madaen, just south of Baghdad, and no police or government forces were in sight, said the official.
snip>

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050415/ts_nm/iraq_dc_50

[roughandtumble]

16. Sunni VS Shia

Sounds like civil war.

[Yupster]

20. Bad news for the Sunnis I think

The Shia have them outnumbered 3 X 1 and have a lot of grudges to settle. I don't ubderstand why Sunnis would want a Civil War?

Are they that assured of their superiority?

It reminds me of the US Civil War where one southern boy could whip seven Yankee shopkeepers.

[Igel]

17. You just have to love communalism when you see it.

Whether in Iraq or Pakistan.

[Alpharetta]

18. Not on CNN's front page

CNN.com has the Jackson trial right now.

Not on news.google.com front page right now either.

it's freaking non-story

[WillyT]

27. It's On MSNBC's As Of Now !!!

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

Signs of civil war to come???

:shrug:

[bemildred]

19. Sounds like spook horseshit to me, but time will tell. nt

[Igel]

22. It's made the NYT.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-iraq.html

The ever reliable debkafile reports at least one demand is the explusion of Shi'a from the area. If so, it's consistent with Sunni actions of centuries past; seems like overmuch hyperbole, tho'.

NYT tries to make it sound like it might be a routine 'kidnapper gangs' (not all killings and actions are from high minded patriotism intented to present a pure Iraq for Iraqis, even the ones that don't kill kids, women, and other civilians). Scary when such things can be called routine, but I guess Chicago in the '20s had such things.

NYT also presents the option that it's a tribal thing: one tribe wants territory and is making inroads into another's turf (and people say tribalism is a bad thing). Since the area's mixed sunni/shi'a, and tribes tend to be one or the other, here we get the best of both worlds: an ethnic gang with religious overtones. Cool.

Few facts. Much speculation.

[frictionlessO]

25. That would be near my guessing as well.. from what Juan Cole says

.... Ethnic gangs with religious overtones.... hmmm Beirut circa 1980 anyone??