Iraq mosque bombings raise pressure on U.S.

(Iraqis gather at the bomb-damaged Khillani mosque, a main Shiite mosque in central Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, June 19, 2007 where at least 78 people were killed and more than 200 wounded. AP Photo by Hadi Mizban)

by Frank James

The U.S. military may be asserting itself with a large offensive operation in Diyala Province north of Baghdad to root out Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda terrorists. But today's massive truck bombing in Iraq's capital city would seem to suggest that those insurgents are capable of asserting themselves right back.

The massive truck-bombing of a Shiite mosque in central Baghdad today which killed at least 78 people with more than 200 injured, is another reminder of how difficult it is to fight an insurgency which when squeezed in one area often finds a way to push back in another.

Today's mosque bombing follows last week's attack on the al-Askari Mosque in Samarra. The remains of that important Shia mosque, two minarets, were toppled after a bombing last year destroyed the mosque's golden dome.

For the U.S., today's bombing is obviously another major setback. It makes it harder to credibly argue to Iraqis and the greater world beyond that the security situation in the country is improving when there's such a spectacular attack in the center of a city where the added presence of U.S. and Iraqi troops has been touted as improving security.

It also gives momentum to the sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites which, according to recent reports, has been accelerating after a seeming lull earlier this year.

Critics of the Bush Administration's surge will point to today's bombing as another example that the White House strategy isn't working.

But the pressure isn't only on the White House from the rising violence. Bombings like today's puts more heat on congressional Democrats too.

They have disappointed many Americans opposed to the Iraq War because of how the lawmakers conceded to President Bush after he threatened a second veto of a Iraq and Afghanistan spending bill if Democrats insisted on including a timeline for withdrawing U.S.

Many voters wanted a timeline. And the mosque bombings of last week and today won't do anything to lessen that sentiment.

Here's part of an Associated Press report on today's mosque bombing:

By LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) — A truck bomb struck a Shiite mosque Tuesday in central Baghdad, killing 78 people and wounding more than 200, even as about 10,000 U.S. soldiers northeast of the capital used heavily armored Stryker and Bradley fighting vehicles to battle their way into an al-Qaida sanctuary.

The troops, under cover of attack helicopters, killed at least 22 insurgents in the offensive, the U.S. military said.

The thunderous explosion at the Khillani mosque in the capital's busy commercial area of Sinak sent smoke billowing over concrete buildings, nearly a week after a bombing brought down the twin minarets of a revered Shiite shrine in the northern city of Samarra and two days after officials lifted a curfew aimed at preventing retaliatory violence from that attack.

Gunfire erupted after the blast, which police said occurred in a parking lot near the mosque, causing the outer wall and a building just inside it to crumble.

Police and hospital officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution, said at least 78 people were killed and 218 were wounded, adding that the toll could rise as bodies were pulled from the debris.

One officer said the explosives-packed truck was loaded with fans and air coolers to avoid arousing the suspicions of security forces guarding the surrounding area, which is full of shops selling electrical appliances.

Six of those killed lived in a house behind the mosque that also collapsed, the officer said, adding that 20 cars were burned and 25 shops were damaged.

The mosque's imam, Sheik Saleh al-Haidari, said it was a truck bomb and the explosion hit worshippers as they left afternoon prayers.

"This attack was planned and carried out by sick souls, damaging the mosque's outer wall and collapsing my office and the room above it," al-Haidari told The Associated Press by telephone.

"There are number of bodies being pulled from the rubble and a number of worshippers were killed or injured," he said, adding that he was not inside the mosque when the blast occurred.

The Khillani mosque is named after a revered Shiite figure who, according to Shiite tradition, was one of four deputies anointed by the Imam Mohammed al-Mahdi, who disappeared in the 9th century and will return to restore justice to humanity.

AP Television News video showed a huge pile of rubble where the wall used to be, but its turquoise dome was intact. The Imam Ali hospital in the Shiite district of Sadr City was packed with victims, many badly burned.

Karim Abdullah, the 35-year-old owner of a clothing store, said he was making his way by motorcycle to pray at the mosque when the explosion forced him to pull over.

"I stopped in shock as I saw the smoke and people on the ground. I saw two or three men in flames as they were getting out of their car," he added.
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