Assassins increasingly target top Iraqi government officials

[Barrett808]

Assassins increasingly target top Iraqi government officials
DEFENSE MINISTRY ADVISER SLAIN; PROBE CONTINUES IN KIDNAP HOAX
By Robert F. Worth
New York Times
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/11431061.htm

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A high-ranking adviser in Iraq's Defense Ministry was assassinated late Monday night by gunmen at his house in Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

The official, Maj. Gen. Adnan Qaragholi, was killed just after 11 p.m. when 10 gunmen forced their way into his house in the Doura neighborhood in southern Baghdad and shot him to death, Interior Ministry officials said.

Insurgents try to assassinate the leaders of Iraq's fledgling military and the police almost daily, and many officers have been killed. Most high-ranking members have a corps of bodyguards, and it was not clear Monday night how the assassins, who arrived in three cars, got into Qaragholi's house, or whether there was a firefight. The gunmen escaped and neighbors alerted the police to the killing, the officials said.

The Doura neighborhood has been one of the most common places for assassination attempts. Armed gangs roam the area, and the police acknowledge that they have little control there.

The killing of Qaragholi was one of at least two Monday. A businessman who runs a travel agency was also shot and killed in the western neighborhood of Ghazaliya at noon, Interior Ministry officials said. The businessman, Tariq Hasoun Khadim, was the manager of the Travel Call Co., based in the ``green zone,'' the fortified compound that houses Iraq's government.


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http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/11431061.htm

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. How long would the "Iraqi Government" survive without

Uncle Sam's little army of body guards AKA the Marine Corps and Army?

[bemildred]

2. Translation: protection for top Iraqi stooges proving ineffectual. nt