ABC News reports that Mosul attack was suicide bomber.

[TacticalPeek]

A web page is claiming credit for a jihadist, age 24.

http://abcnews.go.com So far just a banner at top.

[berni_mccoy]

1. Hmmm... I wonder if this story will get yanked...

The WaPo story claimed it was a morter attack.

I've also heard missle attack as well from other news sources.

They can't get their lies straight.

I wonder what the real story is?

[Purveyor]

2. More...

Dec. 22, 2004 — New evidence shows the bombing of a U.S. military mess tent in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Tuesday — which killed 22 people and wounded 70 others — was a suicide attack, ABC News has learned.

A backpack found by investigators at the site and remnants of a torso indicate that the attack was caused by a suicide bombing, sources told ABC News.

<SNIP>

[flowomo]

3. cnn reporting the same....

http://www.cnn.com/

[jmcgowanjm]

4. What happened-IRR122104

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that
the martyrdom fighter was wearing the uniform of a
puppet policeman and drove his12-ton Mercedes truck
packed with explosives through two barriers and up into
the mess hall. The enormous blast that resulted took the lives
of about 160 American soldiers.

The correspondent reported that the mess hall
could accommodate more than 150 persons and that in
addition to the mess hall itself there was a recreation
room where troops could get internet access, and another
room for international telephone calls and express
letter postage. This was formerly called the Officer’s
Lounge (These guys had a GD Blueprint!). Some Iraqi
and Lebanese translators who worked at the base reported
that there could not have been fewer than 160 Americans in
the building at the time of the blast in the lunch room itself,
in addition to those who would have been in the internet
and telephone recreation rooms. Outside the building was
a garden in which the soldiers would take breaks, to lounge
or write letters. In the area the US troops would not have
been wearing body armor, a factor that brings down the death
toll of Resistance bombings outside on public
streets.

Eyewitnesses said that the driver of the truck was going
fast, about 120km per hour, when he slammed into the
glass front of the mess hall and blew up the vehicle inside
the facility, reducing the building to a ball of flame and
burning ruin.

[Ganja Ninja]

10. From the pictures I saw of the tent it doesn't look like a bomb ...

that big went off. If a 12 ton truck loaded with explosives had been used it would have shredded the entire tent. The damage I saw looked a lot smaller as if it were a suicide bomber blew himself up.

[jmcgowanjm]

26. 1st-Good 8degreesColdMorning, 2nd-Mercedes accounted for

3rd-Driver accounted for.

The puppet official disclosed that the truck used in
the Resistance bombing of the US base on Tuesday had
been stolen from a government bureau in Mosul several
days before the attack.

4th-
The statements by the puppet governor and by the Jaysh
Ansar as-Sunnah Resistance organization confirmed
what Mafkarat al-Islam had reported about the blast on
21 December (See the Iraqi Resistance Report for 21
December 2004.) They also contradicted claims made by
US sources and published on various internet news sites
that attributed the attack to rockets or to a martyrdom bomber
on foot. Neither such attacks would have produced the type
of destruction wrought to the solid concrete building that
was totally razed on Tuesday when a martyrdom fighter drove
a 12-ton Mercedes truck loaded with explosives into the
building and blew it up.

The tent pics are collateral damage.

[0007]

34. I'm surprised it didn't take more lives

[wishlist]

5. Apparently there were also three mortar rocket blasts after the attack

According to a chaplain's blog that I read linked from another post on the forum this morning, there were three separate mortar attacks after the initial explosion that were aimed at the bunched up rescuers and survivors being treated for injuries in a building close to the lunch tent. So there were more attacks than just one suicide bomber, according to the chaplain's first-hand witness account of events after the initial explosion.

[jmcgowanjm]

6. Makes sense

It is almost mission impossible to destroy American
military. However, now we have a "dream team": an Idiot-in-
chief, Jewish radicals, Christian fundamentalists, military
yes men, and our Iraqi puppet like Allawi. This dream team
won't listen to any sound advice based on reality, and, in
my opinion, has a better than even chance to destroy
American ground forces.

[pdxmike]

8. pardon me?

Um....

Just asking. But what do "Jewish radicals" have to do with a missile attack/suicide bomb(or whatever) attack on US soldiers in Mosul?

And please don't tell me about Wolfie, Perle, and the rest of the Straussians. The nuts who pulled the trigger in Mess-o-potamia were named Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, and Rice. None of them were Jews.

[Blue_Tires]

14. um...wolfowitz?

[jmcgowanjm]

27. You ask, then put up offlimits signs. Interested or not

Note the Christian Fundies I included.
And I'm an expert on Fundies.
An admitted amatuer on "Greater Israel"

Nothing, but nothing makes sense, about the US
in Iraq except the "Greater Israel" concept.

Zionists want everything between the Nile/Euphrates.
ChristianFundies want Greater Israel to happen
cause then Rapture happens.

And these guys are surrounding the Son of God
in the Monkey Palace!

Read this from an avowed Jew

http://tbrnews.org/Archives/a1264.htm

"Why has Mr Wolfowitz provided Mossad super-spy Rafi
Eytan (Pollard's controller)
with a free pass into the United States, despite
a long-standing prohibition?"

OBL. Zionists, Fundies, they're all on the same team.
And they want us to be their slaves, at best.

[pdxmike]

33. give me a break

OK. Fine . Whatever. The old "zionists want to rule the world" stuff. Have you been reading your well worn copy of the "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion"?

The truth in the middle east is horrific enough. And I am more than willing to concede that Sharon and the Likudniks are wrongheaded at best. But when people start spouting that "greater zion" garbage, I can't help but wonder if they are wearing the 'ol tin foil hat a little tight.

[jmcgowanjm]

29. The USMilitary has an Idiot for Commander in Chief

Since the CinC is an Idiot, it stands to reason
that he is either surrounded by fellow idiots,
yesmen, or people w/ their own agenda.

PWTOA could also be idiots. Wolfie would be one of those.

Now, per the Mosul truck bomb which razed a solid concrete building (that tent photo is collateral damage
at best).

Wolfie is 2nd in terms of DoD hierarchy
when dealing w/ the Invasion of Iraq.
Why aren't the MSM calling for his head
or even statements from him?

Does Wolfie think everything is fine?

The NeoCon Zionists-
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1090384
and Israel(is there a difference)were hellbent on starting a war with Iraq
and using US blood and treasure to do it.

BTW-why doesn't Israel help us out w/
about 3500 IDF. I'll tell you why.
Because everyone in Iraq would drop everything
until those 3500 IDF were gone.

Israel is even throwing their relationship w/ Turkey
away to secure oil from Kurdistan.

Which brings us back to Mosul.

It will be shown that Wolfie was the one wanting to
attack Fallujah. Then Wolfie sent the Stryker Brigades
into Mosul. Setting up 8500 US for the
disaster that happened.

[pdxmike]

36. where do you get this stuff?

What concrete building are you talking about? The tent WAS the target. That served as the mess for the base. Our friends at Halliburton are in the process of building a reinforced mess, but are predictably way behind schedule. Oh, and by the way, there was no truck bomb. It was a suicide bomber. The implications are far worse. How did this guy infiltrate a "secure" base? There are concerns that the insurgents have a network on site.

You mention the IDF sending troops to Iraq. Who in their right mind would ever suggest that? Mr. fire meet mr. gasoline.

As to the Kurd/Israel relationship. You should read the Seymor Hersch article that was in the New Yorker this Summer. The Israelis are cultivating ties with the Kurds. But oil is not the primary reason. They are convinced that there will be a Shiite government in Iraq, possibly with close ties to Iran. Both the Kurds and Israelis are scared of this and the the Israelis think they can use the Kurds to keep the Iraqis occupied. The IDF and Mossad are working with the pesh merga(sp?), supplying logistical support and training.
This is just good old fashion geo-political maneuvering and leveraging.

BTW- also in that Hersch article, he makes it clear that the Sharon government thought that the Iraq war was a swell idea. But they now think that it has been a disaster. They sent Barak to talk to Cheney last fall. Barak told the evil Dick that "we know all about failed occupations. You have already lost this war, the only question is the size of your humiliation".
Sorry I don't have a link.

[Skittles]

37. "our friends at Halliburton"

are you referring to the Cheney's war profiteers?

[pdxmike]

38. I was being sarcastic n/t

[Skittles]

39. ah, got ya

slow, just got up :D

[Jacobin]

40. BWaaaahahahahahahahaha

"Perle and Wolfie" had nothing to do with Iraq.

bwahahahahahahahahahahahhaha

tell me some more!!!!!!

Please, please, tell me some more!!!!!!


bwahahahahahahhaha

[pdxmike]

41. Of course they did.

But this thread was/is about the Mosul bombing. Perle and the Wolfman are irrelevant when the issue is whether a truck bomb, suicide bomber, or missile hit the tent
Of course those shining lights of the neocons were pushing for the war. But they didn't have to push. It was coming anyway.

[maddezmom]

7. CNN reporting that the blast may have been caused by planted bombs

[rudlop]

9. What is Bush up to?

Nothing gets on the news anymore without Bush's approval. Why does he want this reported?

[Cocoa]

12. this is something that can't be hidden

there's limits to what can be suppressed.

[Cocoa]

11. Bush made a point of calling it a "rocket attack"

I thought it was odd, and I'm sure that he knew a rocket attack couldn't have done that.

[leftchick]

13. Update:AP: Bomb Planted in Mess Tent?

I am more inclined to think it was a sucide bomber.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=1&u=/ap/20041222/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_041221222966

<snip>
The military was investigating whether a bomb was planted at the mess tent in Forward Operating Base Marez, where the blast sprayed shrapnel as U.S. soldiers sat down to lunch Tuesday. Initial reports said a 122 mm rocket ripped through the tent's ceiling.


Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, commander of the multinational force in Iraq, told CNN that a planted bomb was "a possibility." A radical Sunni group, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, said it carried out the attack and claimed it was a "martyrdom operation" — a reference to a suicide bomber.


The explosive was apparently packed with pellets the size of BBs that ripped acorss the tent when it exploded, Brig. Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of Task Force Olympia — the main U.S. force in nothern Iraq — told Nemitz.


Mortars and rockets produce shrapnel but are not packed with pellets, which are often found in roadside bombs or explosives worn by suicide bombers.

[DownNotOut]

15. What is

* up to? I wonder why he had this mess tent blown up.


DownNotOut

[leftchick]

16. um...

is that a trick question?

[DS1]

17. CNN are already blaming it on the Iranians

[VolcanoJen]

18. The attackers claimed it was a suicide bombing yesterday.

The Pentagon seems to want us to think it was a "lucky missile strike."

The Pentagon now has some very, very serious questions to answer as to security inside firebases such as this one in Mosul.

:-(

[The Magistrate]

21. A Bomb Seems More Likely To Me, Ma'am

In eyewitness correspondents' accounts in the immediate aftermath, no mention was made of the sound of an incoming round, but only of the sudden and terrible detonation. Rocket artillery in particular makes a most distinctive sound in the seconds before the blast, and it surprised me somewhat no mention was made of this....

[VolcanoJen]

22. Precisely, Sir.

Eyewitness accounts speak of soldiers screaming "I can't hear!"

:-(

The horrible sound must have been terrifying, and sudden. No eyewitnesses have spoken of the sound of incoming rounds.

[Catchawave]

24. A lucky strike? From about 3-5 miles away?

Which is about how far they would have launched that puppy? I'd say there was a very serious security breach, and the Pentagon's just covering their tushies.

[idiosyncratic]

19. NPR reported this YESTERDAY. Why the delay in MSM?

I heard this yesterday morning . . . why wouldn't the military let the truth of this story out until now?


Oh . . . so they wouldn't look like idiots for having such poor security for our troops. :cry:

[bobbyboucher]

20. Hmmm, they must have realized that the "rocket" theory was

worse pub than the "suicide bomber" theory. I can see why. If the insurgents got a bunch of those rockets people are going to start thinking that we haven't already won this war.

[Jacobin]

23. For the life of me, I don't understand why this matters

Bomb inside the compound or a missile....what's the difference. We all know that the occupying army is riddled with insurgents in the form of the "Iraqi military" and Iraqi workers.

It is a completely and utterly hopeless cause. We are targets and 80% or more of Iraqis support attacks on the occupying troops. This will not work. They won't stand for it.

Instead of discussing how to get the fuck out, the media is all agog over "what kind of bomb/missile was it?!?!?!?!?"...as if it makes a fucking difference.

I suppose its simply a question to distract from the reality of the loss of Iraq.

[daleo]

25. I suppose the issue is:

Did an Iraqi bring a bomb into the mess tent?
or
Did an Iraqi supply coordinates, distance etc. data to a mortar team (or rocket team)?

As you say, both scenarios would indicate the security of the base is badly compromised. To me this would indicate that the population has decisively turned against the U.S. occupation (not that there was really much doubt before this).

If this is the case, we might expect to see more of this, unless the U.S. military completely bars Iraqi nationals from the bases. In which case, what can the U.S. military possibly be doing there at all?

[jmcgowanjm]

30. The tent was collateral damage,12TMercedes(alaBeirut)

Razed a concrete builing where the majority
of 160 KIA came from

IRR122204

The puppet official disclosed that the truck used in
the Resistance bombing of the US base on Tuesday had
been stolen from a government bureau in Mosul several
days before the
attack.

IRR122104
The correspondent reported that the mess hall
could accommodate more than 150 persons and that in
addition to the mess hall itself there was a recreation
room where troops could get internet access, and another
room for international telephone calls and express
letter postage. This was formerly called the Officer’s
Lounge. Some Iraqi and Lebanese translators who worked
at the base reported that there could not have been fewer
than 160 Americans in the building at the time of the blast in
the lunch room itself, in addition to those who would have
been in the internet and telephone recreation rooms. Outside
the building was a garden in which the soldiers would
take breaks, to lounge or write letters. In the area the US
troops would not have been wearing body armor, a factor
that brings down the death toll of Resistance bombings
outside on public streets.

Eyewitnesses said that the driver of the truck was going
fast, about 120km per hour, when he slammed into the
glass front of the mess hall and blew up the vehicle inside
the facility, reducing the building to a ball of flame and
burning ruin.

Now doesn't this narrative make alot more sense?
Notice the consistency and detail.

[Englander]

28. Mention was made yesterday of the suicide "bomber"

being a forward spotter for the mortar/artillery crew...

In the photos' of the mess tent,there's a missile shaped hole in the roof,and the material is curved downwards,suugesting that something came in,rather than blew up..?

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/Page/RTD_SectionFront&c=Page&cid=1031779535994

[HeeBGBz]

31. What about the reports of the 4 mortar strikes?

This is kinda fishy.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

32. after the intial suicide bomber there were also mortars

a post up above mentions this fact.
The fact a suicide bomber infiltrated the camp is pretty serious.
We need to get the fuck out of there.

[Carl Brennan]

35. I heard last night, I think it was Nightline, that the person

who may have done this was an Iraqi policeman or military trainee. It was a brief statement and I'm not sure about anything else.