Mortar Shells Slam Into Green Zone - Public Address System Announcement: "This is not a drill."

[sabra]

http://www.ksat.com/news/10842235/detail.html

Mortar Shells Slam Into Green Zone

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A huge explosion rocked central Baghdad shortly before sunset, local time, and after two mortar shells slammed into the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Black smoke could be seen rising into the air along the east bank of the Tigris River.

The Green Zone houses the U.S. embassy and other key government buildings. The public address system inside the zone could be heard warning in English that people should take cover. The address said, "This is not a drill."

After the blast, heavy gunfire rang out throughout the center of the city.

[originalpckelly]

1. We've tripped a bear trap...

now it is slowly closing, and the farther it goes the more blood is shed, and if we don't get out soon enough it will come slamming shut.

[Blackhatjack]

3. I Agree--The Prospect Of Major Loss Of Life Is Going UP not Down...

These chickenhawks on Capitol Hill keep thinking things will go along as they have for the last 2-3 years and the loss of life will be roughly the same.

Wrong.

The insurgents/foreign fighters have sized up the 'Green Zone', know its vulnerability, know that all the major players for the US are stationed there, know that their target is concentrated in a small area, and have been planning a major attack on it for a long time.

Top military officials know that the few attacks that have been documented so far are actually 'testing' the boundaries and responses. You can bet they know what is coming.

I fear we will find out what happens when a huge attack comes on the 'Green Zone' and there is no effective way to quickly exit the area. It might be compared to the TET Offensive in Vietname, but it will likely be much more damaging, and loss of life much greater.

[Name removed]

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[Lasher]

2. Not hard to see this coming

Most people learned long ago that castles no longer protect you very effectively against a hostile population. That new billion dollar embassy will make an inviting target once we get our people moved into it.

[Hubert Flottz]

8. "This is not a drill!"("No Pun Intended")

"Get thee behind me!"

[Lasher]

9. Is this the part where we give Junior's plan a chance to work?

Or does that come when he escalates for the fourth time? With 3,059 US soldiers dead and half a trillion dollars wasted you would think he's had just about enough chances. We need to take some kind of action in Iraq, like an orderly withdrawal over the horizon, but this Idiot in Chief and his cronies are sure not the ones to manage it. I really believe any one of the 6th graders from our local school could do a better job.

[Hubert Flottz]

10. GI Junior's daddy and his neocon pals look at the troops like they

are just 21,500 more toys for Junior's little Iraqi sandbox. Junior's Daddy and Mommy raised a fool! It's our money so they don't care about that. They are making money on the war while the country is going broke. What has the Bush KKKlan or Cheney...EVER sacrificed? Who ever heard of a country giving the rich people four tax cuts, when the country has soldiers fighting and dying overseas? Bush has done nothing so far, but WEAKEN our national security, any way you look at it.

[bdamomma]

4. that green zone is not immuned to attacks.

I hope those Senators realize that Bush's war is unwinnable. FU Bush.

[sabra]

5. I've seen a report that affiliates of the Mehdi army have infiltrated

the Green Zone, as security members for Shiite members of the gov't...

[Blackhatjack]

6. CNN just showed video of Green Zone burning smoke rising... n/t

[kentuck]

7. More casualties now reported...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070125/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_explosion

<snip>
9 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomber struck a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in central Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 19 people and wounding 23, police said. The blast occurred shortly after two rockets slammed into the heavily fortified Green Zone.

A massive plume of black smoke rose into the air on the east bank of the Tigris River and heavy gunfire rang out across the city center in the aftermath.

The suicide bomber struck in the central neighborhood of Karradah, the second bombing to strike the area in three days. At least three policemen were among the dead.