Baghdad Suicide Attack Targets Army Recruits, Kills 61

White House Shrugs Off Attack

by Jason Ditz, August 17, 2010

At least 61 people were killed today and another 125 wounded when the Iraqi Army’s attempt to do a little pre-dawn recruiting in Baghdad turned tragic. With some 1,000 men lined up to apply for work, a suicide bomber struck.

The suicide attacker was wearing nail-packed explosives on his body, and when he detonated the nails ripped through the crowd, splatting blood and gore across the area and leaving many Iraqis wondering if the Iraqi Army is really able to provide security.

Yet the White House shrugged off today’s attack as irrelevant, insisting that it would not change their current plans to redefine the American troops in Iraq from “combat troops” to “transitional troops” and sell that to the American public as the end of the war.

The attack is among a number of high profile attacks across Iraq in the past several months, with death tolls rising dramatically since the lead up to the March 7 election. July’s death toll was the highest in years, and today’s bombing suggests that August may wind up no different.

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