[Anyone] Va Tech and Iraq

[Thos Myers]

And the war comes home to Virginia:

At least 33 people were killed on the campus of Virginia Tech today  
in what appears to be the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history.  
Many of the victims were students.



  Sunday 15 April 2007

     Cars, minibuses and roadside bombs exploded in Shiite Muslim  
enclaves across the city Sunday, killing at least 45 people in  
sectarian violence that defied the Baghdad security crackdown, while  
a radical anti-U.S. cleric raised a new threat to Iraq's government.

Sunday 15 April 2007

Four hired guns in an armored truck, bullets flying, and a pickup and  
a taxi brought to a halt. Who did the shooting and why?
     On the afternoon of July 8, 2006, four private security guards  
rolled out of Baghdad's Green Zone in an armored SUV. The team  
leader, Jacob C. Washbourne, rode in the front passenger seat. He  
seemed in a good mood. His vacation started the next day.

     "I want to kill somebody today," Washbourne said, according to  
the three other men in the vehicle, who later recalled it as an  
offhand remark. Before the day was over, however, the guards had been  
involved in three shooting incidents. In one, Washbourne allegedly  
fired into the windshield of a taxi for amusement, according to  
interviews and statements from the three other guards.



   Saturday 14 April 2007

Civilian deaths down in Baghdad but up elsewhere since start of  
security operation.
     Baghdad - Iraqi civilian deaths have fallen in Baghdad in the  
two months since the Feb. 14 start of the U.S.-led offensive,  
according to an Associated Press tally. Outside the capital, civilian  
deaths are up as Sunni and Shiite extremists shift their operations  
to avoid the crackdown.

     And the sweeps have taken a heavy toll on U.S. forces: Deaths  
among American soldiers climbed 21 percent in Baghdad compared with  
the previous two months.



  Saturday 14 April 2007

     A car bomb blasted through a busy bus station near one of Iraq's  
holiest shrines Saturday, killing at least 37 people, police and  
hospital officials said.

     The bus station bombing occurred about 200 yards from the Imam  
Hussein shrine in Karbala, where the grandson of Islam's Prophet  
Muhammad is buried - one of the most important sites for Shiites.  
After the attack, hundreds of people swarmed around ambulances,  
crying out and pounding their chests, and attacking police who tried  
to clear the roadway.



  Saturday 14 April 2007

Afghan report on killings of civilians is called consistent with US  
findings.


     A platoon of elite Marine Special Operations troops reacted with  
"excessive force" after an ambush in Afghanistan last month, opening  
fire on pedestrians and civilian vehicles along a 10-mile stretch of  
road and killing 12 people - including a 4-year-old girl, a 1-year- 
old boy and three elderly villagers - an investigation by an Afghan  
human rights commission alleges.

Thos Myers
www.taosdailyweekly.com
Read the Weekly daily




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