Flames poured from the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Saturday after a massive truck bombing.
New York Times
September 21, 2008
By CARLOTTA GALLISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A huge truck bomb exploded at the gateway of the five-star Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Saturday evening, just a few hundred yards from the prime minister’s house, where all the leaders of government were dining after the president’s address to Parliament.
At least 40 people were killed and 100 were wounded, according to The Associated Press. The toll was expected to grow because of reports that many people were still trapped inside the six-story hotel, which was engulfed in flames.
A vast crater, some 40 feet wide and 5 feet deep, lay at the security barrier to the hotel. Witnesses said security guards and their gate posts were buried under a mound of rubble. A line of cars across the street from the hotel were mangled and trees on the street were charred. Windows in buildings hundreds of yards away were shattered.
Witnesses said they dragged out dozens of bodies from the lobby of the hotel and an adjacent parking lot, including those of a number of foreigners.
One wounded American who works at the embassy here in the capital said he had just opened his car door in the parking lot when the explosion erupted. The American, who gave only his first name, Chris, said he had received injuries to his face, neck and shoulder, and was holding a bloody T-shirt to his face.
He said American Embassy personnel were at the scene, trying to help American citizens they said were trapped in the hotel.
Amjad Ali Khan, a guard on duty at a side entrance to the hotel, said he saw four to five bodies in the hotel parking lot and that he helped carry out 40 bodies from inside the hotel. He said they were “in the lobby and in the restaurant and everywhere.”
“There were very few people injured,” he said. “They were all dead.” He said he saw three Western women who had died from head wounds.
“They are terrorists,” he said when asked who he thought was responsible for the blast. “They threatened a few days ago. We heard there were four to five suicide bombers on the loose.”
The Marriott, a favorite place for foreigners to stay and gather, has been attacked by militants at least twice in the past, including a suicide attack in January 2007 that killed a policeman.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, and its exact cause was unclear.
But Pakistan, an ally of the United States in the fight against terrorism, has faced a wave of militant violence in recent weeks following army-led offensives against militants in its border regions, though the capital has avoided most of the bloodshed.
The best way to describe World War IV would come in three parts:
• First, this would be ‘United States of America World Wars’ being counted;
• Where did World War III go? That would be the cold war with Russia and the Communists, which did get hot with proxy fights plus wars in Korea and Vietnam for the United States;
• The third description would be this map:
This post picks up on the theme that was the genesis of this blog–the Bush Doctrine and the Bush ‘War on Terror’ is framed as an escalation of military intervention in the region of the world shown above in the age of economic and cultural globalization. The term World War III was first used on this blog in the Summer of 2006 when Israel used the Bush Doctrine to invade and destabilize Lebanon instead of using Soft Power to reach out to their neighbors in order to bring about peace. Soft Power–the subtle effects of culture, values, and ideas on others’ behavior from more direct coercive measures called hard power such as military action or economic incentives–is a much stronger means of developing good relationships with other groups of people while blunt military intervention murders civilians, devastates their way of life and creates animosity towards the occupying force.
This week bombings in India continue the violence across this large region of the world. Below the break there are two articles on this weeks bombings plus paragraphs from Wikipedia on the Mujahideen:
Five bomb blasts hit New Delhi
Financial Times
By James Lamont in New Delhi and Joe Leahy in Mumbai
Published: September 13 2008 14:44 | Last updated: September 13 2008 18:02Multiple bomb blasts ripped through some of Delhi’s best known shopping areas Saturday night, creating chaos across India’s capital.
Five blasts over a 45-minute period killed as many as 18 people, Shivraj Patil, the home minister, said. Early reports estimated that 90 people were injured. Three other bombs failed to detonate.
The audacious terror attacks were claimed by the Indian Mujahideen, a little known militant group. They targeted some of Delhi’s best known landmarks and markets, exposing the inadequacy of India’s security forces.
Two bombs exploded in Connaught Place, the heart of the city and a major business and shopping centre. An unexploded bomb was discovered at India Gate, a symbol of India’s nationhood and close to the presidential palace and Indian parliament.
The attack on Delhi follows recent bomb blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Jaipur. More than 400 people have died in terror attacks over the past three years.
The latest attack comes as the US Congress is considering the approval of the US-India civil nuclear deal and days before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Washington.
Mr Patil said the attacks were intended to disrupt India’s social harmony. ”We will find out who has done it and make sure those responsible will be punished,” he vowed.
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