(At least 80) Dozens of Iraqi factory workers abducted - police

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MAC153835.htm

Dozens of Iraqi factory workers abducted -police

BAGHDAD, June 21 (Reuters) - Gunmen abducted dozens of Iraqi factory workers on Wednesday as they were being ferried home after work in a fleet of buses just north of Baghdad, police and Interior Ministry sources said.

Five busloads of employees of the state-owned Great Victory factory at Taji were commandeered by dozens of gunmen in at least five cars, the officials said. One source put the number of people kidnapped at 80 to 100, another at 100 or more.

The area, home to a major U.S. air base just north of the capital, has seen substantial activity by Sunni Arab militants.

Large-scale abductions of Iraqi soldiers, police and civilians have been a feature of sectarian insurgent violence in the past couple of years. Several have resulted in massacres, where those abducted have later been gunned down by the road.

[ECH1969]

1. Gunmen Snatch 80 Iraqi Factory Workers

Gunmen have abducted at least 80 workers from a factory north of Baghdad.

It is believed to be the largest single abduction in Iraq.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1225463,00.html?f=dta
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80 more Iraqis to be beheaded. More Progress.

[grytpype]

2. Well, they're going to die breathing the sweet air of freedom. n/t

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

3. This will be very very messy

Does unending mass torturing and killing meet the definition/threshold to be called civil war?

If not, what will it take for our MSM to call it such.


Walks like a duck, talks like a duck, its a duck.

[Igel]

26. No, attempted mutual genocide.

War implies fighting between armies. By that token, Rwanda was merely civil war, albeit one-sided.

Try a version of the Civil War in which groups of abolitionists and anti-abolitionists never actually fought each other. Instead, the abolitionists killed anybody with a southern accent that might own slaves, and the anti-abolitionists just killed slaves and people with a northern accent. It's unclear that either side wants to defeat an army; they want to defeat a clan, a people, or a religion.

It's the popularization of some of the worst practices from European religious wars, although that's not intended as a claim that they've borrowed any practices.

Perhaps if you tweak the meaning of civil war you can get there. But then the Holocaust was also a kind of civil war, again, a very lopsided one, but with some skirmishes (Warsaw ghetto comes to mind).

[Recursion]

28. Oddly enough, that happened

Try a version of the Civil War in which groups of abolitionists and anti-abolitionists never actually fought each other. Instead, the abolitionists killed anybody with a southern accent that might own slaves, and the anti-abolitionists just killed slaves and people with a northern accent. It's unclear that either side wants to defeat an army; they want to defeat a clan, a people, or a religion.

No need to "imagine" that; it's exactly what happened in Kansas and Missouri in the 1850's.

[Igel]

30. And yet the civil war started later.

I'm not saying that what's happening isn't horrible; just it doesn't meet my definition of civil war. That makes it no less atrocious.

[Hissyspit]

4. So much for Bush's Best Week Ever.

Saddam council murdered apparently by the Interior Ministry (democracy includes a safe and far system of court justice, the Russian hostages threatened with death, and now this....

[ECH1969]

5. yup

[sabra]

6. don't forget the Iraq cable leaked to the WashPo....

[tjwash]

7. Breaking-- Mass abduction at Baghdad factory

Story here at the BBC

Gunmen have abducted at least 80 Iraqi factory workers from a fleet of buses just north of Baghdad, officials say.

The abduction took place at a state-owned factory complex at Taji where dozens of insurgents commandeered buses taking employees home after work.

A source quoted by Reuters news agency said the number of those kidnapped was at least 100 and possibly many more.

It is the latest of a series of mass abductions of workers in Iraq, many of whom have been ransomed or killed.

Two factories at the industrial complex - the Nasr and Hattin facilities - were reportedly used to manufacture armaments under Saddam Hussein, but have now been converted to make products for civilian use.

Taji also hosts a major military base, that was once used by Iraq's armed forces and is now home to US troops.

[leftyladyfrommo]

8. Ah shit!

[jazzjunkysue]

9. But it's their last throws! Didn't they get the memo???!!!!!

The insurgency is winding down. They said so this sunday on CNN.

[NYC]

10. Major military base is home to U.S. troops.

...Taji also hosts a major military base, that was once used by Iraq's armed forces and is now home to US troops...

Unless Taji is huge, this is happening right under U.S. noses.

[rwork]

11. What a nightmare

He will stay the course with someone else's kids.

[alcuno]

12. MSNBC says 100 people.

Whatever happened to the 10 bakers? Do all these people just end up shot throught the head somewhere? You can't keep 100 people.

[saigon68]

14. "BRING EM ON" (the corpses) shouted the AWOL CHIMPANZEE

"Civil War ? What fucking Civil War ", he continued

[Yavin4]

13. Hey, Look Over There An Immigrant Gay Couple Is Getting Married!!!!

and burning the flag

[Terran1212]

15. X D

[leftyladyfrommo]

16. Right when Bush is in Europe - perfect timing to make him look

really stupid.

[dave29]

18. I believe it's called "Yurp"

:)

[dave29]

17. but were they wearing Birkenstocks?

damn treehuggin flag burnin job takin hippie homos

[The_Casual_Observer]

34. And having an abortion.

[leftyladyfrommo]

19. Coming across Reuters now - but I can't verify this anywhere

else. Not even on al Jazeera. Not on the major networks yet.

Have we just decided to ignore this story? Its a big article over on BBC.

God I hate never being able to trust anything in the news and govt here in this country.

[Veronica.Franco]

31. BBC link ...

Mass abduction at Baghdad factory

Gunmen have abducted at least 80 Iraqi factory workers from a fleet of buses just north of Baghdad, officials say.
The abduction took place at a state-owned factory complex at Taji where dozens of insurgents commandeered buses taking employees home after work.

A source quoted by Reuters news agency said the number of those kidnapped was at least 100 and possibly many more.

It is the latest of a series of mass abductions of workers in Iraq, many of whom have been ransomed or killed.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5103358.stm?ls

From the BBC two hours ago ..

[Javaman]

20. I'll be interested in the spin they put on this one...

when mass bodies are found.

What has happened to this fucking world? :cry:

[annabanana]

21. Is "insurgent" another name for Sunni?

Or is it just the word used when someone has to be the "bad guy" for a particular storyline?

edit to add: There's just hardly any "news" in our News anymore..

[Igel]

27. Mostly, but not always.

In this case, probably. N. of Baghdad is mixed Sunni/Sh'ia (used to be almost entirely Shi'a, but a Sunni/Shi'a war in the 1700s altered already lopsided power relations, and Shi'as have been losing ground since then).

Many of the 'insurgents' are fighting less civil war and more ethnic cleansing/genocide campaigns. Mostly Shi'a on the bus, probably Sunni attackers. But it's strictly abductive reasoning without more info.

[Recursion]

29. Yes, and...

...I've also noticed the word for Iraqi police or security forces who abduct and murder people is "persons dressed in security forces uniforms".

Unfortunately, even WaPo couldn't sit on the fact that these "persons dressed in security forces uniforms" (ie, Iraqi Security Forces) have killed hundreds of times as many Iraqis as the muj's have.

[shadowknows69]

25. Where is the protection for these buses

I thought our main purpose there is to provide security for the budding Iraqi democracy.

[Roland99]

22. That crack Iraqi military will swoop down on those captors like

Mac fanatics at a clearance sale on PCs.

[Barrett808]

23. More than 100 Iraqi gov't employees kidnapped (at once!)

BAGHDAD (AFP) - More than 100 Iraqis employed by the ministry of industry north of Baghdad were kidnapped by gunmen as they left work.

The workers at the Hateen and Nasr factories in the restive town of Taji were ambushed by at least 50 gunmen who had arrived in five minibuses, the source said.

They were loaded onto the same buses that were waiting to take them back to their homes, he said.

Hateen and Nasr were part of the military-industrial complex under the rule of ousted leader

Saddam Hussein before their conversion into civilian manufacturing facilities belonging to the ministry of industry.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060621/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestkidnap

[TomInTib]

24. I thought when we killed Zarqawi they were gonna unravel.

Maybe these guys kept the playbook.

Maybe someone else has been implementing tactics.

Golly, I wish georgie would come home and explain everything once again so I can sleep.

[sabra]

32. Update: Gunmen Kidnap About 200 Iraqis

http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/2947/2006/06/22/[e-mail]

Gunmen Kidnap About 200 Iraqis

Up to 200 employees of Iraqi state-owned companies were abducted by a group of gunmen north of Baghdad on Wednesday, police source said.

Around 50 gunmen stopped several buses that ferried about 200 employees home and snatched them away, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

These workers belong to two state-owned companies in the Taji area north of Baghdad, he added.

A search and rescue operation is underway in the area.

[The_Casual_Observer]

33. Do I hear 300? 300?

Did the tide turn yet?