Iraq Attack

clearly, the attacks are meant to destabilize the govt ahead of the transition. what is the point? possibly to stall the handover, give fodder to bbc (who's been saying this attack is end of mankind all day now...), and generally go after the US' cred....

the good news is allawi is a hardass and has a license to ill because when he goes after these terrorists hardcore, the bbc won't be able to preface their reports with "US attacks scores of iraqis", it will be "iraqi govt roots out terrorists" instead... here's allawi puttin' it down:

Iraq PM Vows to Crush Insurgents Behind AttacksThu Jun 24, 2004 02:29 PM ET

By Lin Noueihed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's interim prime minister vowed on Thursday to crush foreign Islamic militants and remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime who he blamed for attacks that killed at least 85 people.

Iyad Allawi played down the assaults in five Iraqi cities as the desperate acts of ragtag militants who knew their days were numbered.

"These are isolated incidents. We are going face them and we are going to defeat them and we are going to crush them," Allawi told reporters. "We have been expecting this escalation and we are expecting more escalation in the days ahead."

Insurgents mounted bombings and shootings in Baquba, Ramadi, Falluja, Mosul and Baghdad on Thursday, hoping to sabotage the formal U.S. handover to Iraqi rule in six days' time.

Three U.S. soldiers were killed in the attacks, some of the boldest in the insurgents' bloody campaign.

A group headed by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who the United States links to al Qaeda, purportedly claimed responsibility for the violence in a statement on the internet.

Allawi said he believed Ansar al-Islam, a group linked to Zarqawi, was behind the bombings in Mosul. But he blamed Baathists loyal to Saddam for attacks in Ramadi and Baquba.

"Zarqawi has proven himself to be a coward. He is hiding and he is trying to hit and hurt the Iraqi people," Allawi said at a ceremony to mark the handover of 11 ministries to Iraqi control. "We are not going to allow this to continue. We have one route only, the route of victory."

booya grandma. take that shit to the bank. yeah, talk is cheap but we'll see how this plays out.

BTW: sadr is a defeated nothing. notice the media is underplaying this one bigtime..where's the ny times frontpage when this happens?

hilarious. he went from 10,000 strong to nothing. zip. he's lucky to come out with his skin.....and the media silence continues on the apparent victory of the coalition forces.