Pakistan isn't the only country experiencing that kind of violence. Suicide bombers attack just about anywhere and we can never expect it.
That said, all of the attacks are similar, destroying the buildings that were involved. However, the Oklahoma City bombing claimed 168 lives, so while 40 is closer to 168 than it is to 2,000, it's still not a great comparison. This would be more like the attacks on U.S. embassies around the world. But it doesn't matter. It's still tragic wherever it happens.
I don't blame Reza for equating it. It's the same concept, just a diminutized version of 9/11. And yes, the U.S. being involved in ongoing conflict does increase the chance for violence in countries nearby, it wouldn't have prevented this kind of attack because even when the U.S. is not actively fighting somewhere in the world, these kinds of things happen. We can't anticipate them and we can't condone them.
Terrorist Attack In Pakistan
You are absolutely right though it certainly felt like 9/11.MovieWes wrote:No offense, Reza, but there is quite a bit of difference between 40 people dead and 2,000 people dead. This is absolutely nothing like 9/11. It's tragic, yes, but still not even close. This is more along the lines of the Oklahoma City bombing.
However, I still maintain that what Americans are doing in the Northern areas of our country is what is leading to all these terrorist attacks where the victims are all innocent local Pakistani men, women and children. It is just NOT acceptable! Whenever America ''enters'' a foreign country it does nothing but leave devastation for the local inhabitants.
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No offense, Reza, but there is quite a bit of difference between 40 people dead and 2,000 people dead. This is absolutely nothing like 9/11. It's tragic, yes, but still not even close. This is more along the lines of the Oklahoma City bombing.
Edited By MovieWes on 1222002816
Edited By MovieWes on 1222002816
"Young men make wars and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men: courage and hope for the future. Then old men make the peace, and the vices of peace are the vices of old men: mistrust and caution." -- Alec Guinness (Lawrence of Arabia)
Deadly blast targets Marriott Hotel in Islamabad
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suicide truck bombing destroyed the packed Marriott Hotel, near the Parliament building and the prime minister's home, in the city of Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday night.
The attack killed at least 40 people and wounded another 200, police said.
People were still trapped in the hotel, which burst into flames after the explosion caused a natural gas pipe leak, officials said. The fire was still burning at 2 a.m., six hours after the blast, according to The Associated Press.
Rescuers worked to moved bloodied bodies from the hotel but were forced to stop out of fear that the structure could collapse.
Details and the number of fatalities are still unclear because of conflicting initial reports. One or two vehicles was involved in the attack.
The gas leak set the top floor of the five-story, 258-room hotel on fire, police said, and the blaze quickly engulfed the entire structure.
Mohammed Ali, an emergency service official, told the AP that rescue workers made an initial chaotic search for survivors, but rescuers could make only two trips. Ali said that during the short forays into the hotel, they had found neither bodies nor survivors and had to retreat quickly.
"The fire has eaten the entire building," he told the AP.
The Marriott, a Western brand-name hotel, has been the site of attacks in the past, said CNN's Peter Bergen.
Police said the vehicle bomb went off about 7:30 p.m., after the breaking of the fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
The explosion left a path of destruction -- felled trees and shattered windows -- for miles.
Video showed a deep crater in the pavement where, presumably, the bomb detonated. More than a dozen cars were reduced to twisted steel.
At the CNN bureau more than two miles from the hotel, the explosion sounded like it went off just outside the office, said CNN's Reza Sayah, who was at his desk.
"All of a sudden, the bureau roared and rumbled," he said. "It was a roaring rumble that would not stop. Seconds later, the windows shattered."
GEO TV's Hamid Mir, who was at the site, said he saw at least 52 bodies.
Mir said most of the fatalities appeared to be drivers who were waiting with their cars outside the Marriott Hotel and hotel staff, most of them security guards.
An Interior Ministry spokeswoman said 257 people had been taken to hospitals and 28 confirmed dead, but government spokesman Farhapullah Baber put the death toll at "about 40."
A spokesman for the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr. Wasim Khawaja, said it had received 25 bodies and 106 people who were hurt, 30 of whom were severely injured. Many of them suffered head injuries and abrasions, he said. Watch bombing victims rushed into hospital »
Mir said someone saw the hotel gates rammed open by a small car, followed by an explosive-laden truck, which detonated. Baber said initial reports said only that a small truck laden with explosives broke through the gate.
But the hotel manager said the blast went off outside the gates of the hotel, which is near the compound that contains the parliament building, the prime minister's house, the Supreme Court and the presidency.
http://www.cnn.com/2008....ex.html
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suicide truck bombing destroyed the packed Marriott Hotel, near the Parliament building and the prime minister's home, in the city of Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday night.
The attack killed at least 40 people and wounded another 200, police said.
People were still trapped in the hotel, which burst into flames after the explosion caused a natural gas pipe leak, officials said. The fire was still burning at 2 a.m., six hours after the blast, according to The Associated Press.
Rescuers worked to moved bloodied bodies from the hotel but were forced to stop out of fear that the structure could collapse.
Details and the number of fatalities are still unclear because of conflicting initial reports. One or two vehicles was involved in the attack.
The gas leak set the top floor of the five-story, 258-room hotel on fire, police said, and the blaze quickly engulfed the entire structure.
Mohammed Ali, an emergency service official, told the AP that rescue workers made an initial chaotic search for survivors, but rescuers could make only two trips. Ali said that during the short forays into the hotel, they had found neither bodies nor survivors and had to retreat quickly.
"The fire has eaten the entire building," he told the AP.
The Marriott, a Western brand-name hotel, has been the site of attacks in the past, said CNN's Peter Bergen.
Police said the vehicle bomb went off about 7:30 p.m., after the breaking of the fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
The explosion left a path of destruction -- felled trees and shattered windows -- for miles.
Video showed a deep crater in the pavement where, presumably, the bomb detonated. More than a dozen cars were reduced to twisted steel.
At the CNN bureau more than two miles from the hotel, the explosion sounded like it went off just outside the office, said CNN's Reza Sayah, who was at his desk.
"All of a sudden, the bureau roared and rumbled," he said. "It was a roaring rumble that would not stop. Seconds later, the windows shattered."
GEO TV's Hamid Mir, who was at the site, said he saw at least 52 bodies.
Mir said most of the fatalities appeared to be drivers who were waiting with their cars outside the Marriott Hotel and hotel staff, most of them security guards.
An Interior Ministry spokeswoman said 257 people had been taken to hospitals and 28 confirmed dead, but government spokesman Farhapullah Baber put the death toll at "about 40."
A spokesman for the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr. Wasim Khawaja, said it had received 25 bodies and 106 people who were hurt, 30 of whom were severely injured. Many of them suffered head injuries and abrasions, he said. Watch bombing victims rushed into hospital »
Mir said someone saw the hotel gates rammed open by a small car, followed by an explosive-laden truck, which detonated. Baber said initial reports said only that a small truck laden with explosives broke through the gate.
But the hotel manager said the blast went off outside the gates of the hotel, which is near the compound that contains the parliament building, the prime minister's house, the Supreme Court and the presidency.
http://www.cnn.com/2008....ex.html