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This is not good news. A military guard for one of the Sunni members of Iraq’s Parliament blew himself up inside the parliament building just after 2:00 p.m. this afternoon in an area where politicians, journalists and staff meet to enjoy teas and eat. Some are suspecting a wider plot was involved to derail the talks between Iraq’s parliament and the insurgency. This may turn out to be true considering that the metal detectors were not working today.

Time magazine is reporting that 2 people were killed while sky news has the tally up to 8 with 20 wounded.

In an assault apparently aimed at chilling negotiations between the Iraqi government and a faction of the insurgency, the Iraqi Parliament, located in Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone, suffered a bomb attack. An official at the Ministry of the Interior told TIME that the bomber was wearing a suicide vest and was a guard for one of the members of parliament. The blast went off just after 2 p.m. on Thursday at the cafe in the central atrium of the building just outside the main hall where politicians, staff and journalists often meet for a cup of tea or a plate of food from a buffet spread. Early reports say at least two people were killed and a dozen wounded, but the toll is expected to rise.

The metal detectors at the entrance to the Baghdad Convention Center, where Parliament is housed, were not operating Thursday, said the Interior Ministry official, who was suspicious of a wider plot. Two weeks ago, Coalition forces found two suicide vests inside the Green Zone and there was speculation about the presence of a third in the area.

Within an hour of the explosion, a message from the al-Qaeda-controlled Islamic State in Iraq was posted on a prominent militant website, muslm.net, calling the blast a “message” to anyone who cooperates with “the occupier and its agents.” It said ominously, “We will reach you wherever you are”

How could anyone not have been suspect of inoperative metal detectors? They had sniffer dogs in place so that suggest that perhaps the bombs were already inside.

The Democrats have been on the cusp of withdrawing all support for the war in a cut an run initiative that started almost the instant they voted to support the war. This will only fuel their efforts to pull out and let the Iraqi’s fend for themselves because it is more proof that the Iraqi government nor the Bush administration can control the escalating violence despite their efforts. I don’t say best efforts because I believe the surge was doomed from the beginning due to the fact that that the Rules of Engagement never changed. I had hope and we were certainly seeing signs of success but a bombing of this magnitude inside the green zone can’t be ignored as just another normal event in a string of daily bombings. This is a very serious attack; one that was likely anticipated to happen sooner or later by the mere fact that vests had been found inside the green zone previously.

If Iraq falls to the terrorists we will have a defeat on our hands. I find it hard to believe that people in Congress fail to care about this yet it is looming large. What then? Terrorists will claim victory, Democrats will use it as a political talking point and the West will be no safer. This is a debacle that needn’t have come to this point.

Others: Wizbang, Hot Air, Captains Quarters

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