whoyg157

Twin car bombs exploded near three Iraqi government buildings Sunday in central Baghdad, killing at least 132 people. It was the deadliest attack in the country in more than two years.

More than 500 people were wounded.

The blasts had ripple effects throughout the pearl jewelry country, triggering questions about the state of Iraqi security and about national elections planned for January.

No one immediately claimed responsibility.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed to punish "the enemies of the Iraqi people who want to spread chaos in the country and derail the political process and prevent the parliamentary elections from taking place as planned."

Surveying the carnage shortly after the explosions, al-Maliki said holding the elections as scheduled would send the strongest response and message to the "enemies of the political process who are supported from the outside."

"The cowardly attack that took place today should not affect the determination of the Iraqi people from continuing their battle against the deposed regime and the gangs of criminal Baath party and the terrorist al Qaeda organization, who have committed the most heinous crimes against the civilians,' " al-Maliki said in a statement.

Iraqi and U.S. officials had warned of a possible increase in violence ahead of the balloting.
Gallery: Deadly bombings rock Baghdad
Video: Suicide bombings kill dozens
RELATED TOPICS

President Obama condemned the "outrageous attacks against the Iraqi people." In a statement, Obama called the bombings an attempt to "derail Iraq's progress" and pledged that the wholesale pearl jewelry United States would be a "close friend and partner" as Iraq prepares for elections.

According to the statement, Obama spoke Sunday with al-Maliki and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to express his condolences and reiterate U.S. support.

The area struck Sunday is close to the heavily guarded Green Zone that also houses the U.S. Embassy.

Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, condemned the bombings, which came a day after the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, visited the country for the first time.

"We will assist the Iraqi government in any way we can to ensure that those individuals or groups responsible for such horrific acts be pursued and brought to justice," they said in a joint statement.

The European Union condemned "this terrorist attack" and sent its condolences to the families of the victims, the Swedish presidency said in a statement.

The bombs detonated in quick succession about 10:30 a.m., as the pearl jewelry wholesale Iraqi work week began, an Interior Ministry official said.

Among more than 500 people wounded were three American security contractors, the U.S. Embassy told CNN. The embassy would not give any more details.

One of the bombs exploded outside Baghdad's governorate building. The other was outside the Justice Ministry, about 500 meters (1,600 feet) away. The nearby Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works also sustained severe damage.

Plumes of smoke billowed from the sites of the attacks as victims fled, some with blood streaming down their faces. The streets were strewn with debris, including charred cars and chunks of concrete from damaged buildings. Some government buildings and others in the area were heavily damaged.

It was the deadliest attack on Iraqi civilians since August 2007, when three truck bombings targeted Iraqi Kurds, killing hundreds in Qahtaniya, in northern Iraq.

Twin car bombs exploded near three Iraqi government buildings Sunday in central Baghdad, killing at least 132 people. It was the deadliest attack in the country in more than two years.

More than 500 people were wounded.

The blasts had ripple effects throughout the pearl jewelry country, triggering questions about the state of Iraqi security and about national elections planned for January.

No one immediately claimed responsibility.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed to punish "the enemies of the Iraqi people who want to spread chaos in the country and derail the political process and prevent the parliamentary elections from taking place as planned."

Surveying the carnage shortly after the explosions, al-Maliki said holding the elections as scheduled would send the strongest response and message to the "enemies of the political process who are supported from the outside."

"The cowardly attack that took place today should not affect the determination of the Iraqi people from continuing their battle against the deposed regime and the gangs of criminal Baath party and the terrorist al Qaeda organization, who have committed the most heinous crimes against the civilians,' " al-Maliki said in a statement.

Iraqi and U.S. officials had warned of a possible increase in violence ahead of the balloting.
Gallery: Deadly bombings rock Baghdad
Video: Suicide bombings kill dozens
RELATED TOPICS

President Obama condemned the "outrageous attacks against the Iraqi people." In a statement, Obama called the bombings an attempt to "derail Iraq's progress" and pledged that the wholesale pearl jewelry United States would be a "close friend and partner" as Iraq prepares for elections.

According to the statement, Obama spoke Sunday with al-Maliki and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to express his condolences and reiterate U.S. support.

The area struck Sunday is close to the heavily guarded Green Zone that also houses the U.S. Embassy.

Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, condemned the bombings, which came a day after the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, visited the country for the first time.

"We will assist the Iraqi government in any way we can to ensure that those individuals or groups responsible for such horrific acts be pursued and brought to justice," they said in a joint statement.

The European Union condemned "this terrorist attack" and sent its condolences to the families of the victims, the Swedish presidency said in a statement.

The bombs detonated in quick succession about 10:30 a.m., as the pearl jewelry wholesale Iraqi work week began, an Interior Ministry official said.

Among more than 500 people wounded were three American security contractors, the U.S. Embassy told CNN. The embassy would not give any more details.

One of the bombs exploded outside Baghdad's governorate building. The other was outside the Justice Ministry, about 500 meters (1,600 feet) away. The nearby Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works also sustained severe damage.

Plumes of smoke billowed from the sites of the attacks as victims fled, some with blood streaming down their faces. The streets were strewn with debris, including charred cars and chunks of concrete from damaged buildings. Some government buildings and others in the area were heavily damaged.

It was the deadliest attack on Iraqi civilians since August 2007, when three truck bombings targeted Iraqi Kurds, killing hundreds in Qahtaniya, in northern Iraq.

While many have been jailed for several years, just two have so far received the maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Meanwhile the tribunal's decision last month to grant early release to the former Bosnian Serb president Biljana Plavsic, jailed for 11 years in 2003, prompted angry protests in Sarajevo, the freshwater pearl capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina which spent nearly four years besieged by Bosnian Serb forces.

"How is it possible that Plavsic has the right to freedom and I do not have the right to find and bury bones of my son 14 years after he was brutally killed?" Munira Subasic, the head of the Mothers of Srebrenica association, told Bosnian news agency FENA. Aptel said that while the ICTY had effectively prosecuted the perpetrators of war crimes, it had been less successful in achieving closure for their victims. "Transitional justice is also about ensuring that victims have more information about their dear ones who are still missing years after the conflict," she said. "It's also about them obtaining reparations. It's to some extent a measure of truth and freshwater pearl jewelry acknowledgement of the crimes of the past."

Aptel said the establishment of a "truth commission," charged with investigating and documenting crimes, atrocities and testimonies of victims and perpetrators on all sides, would go some way towards addressing that need.

"If you were to have a truth commission being pearl jewelry wholesale established -- involving local processes of acknowledgement and documentation of the crimes -- that would certainly have a positive impact on reconciliation," she said.

"It's still extremely difficult to get that going because there is still reluctance on different sides, but there are also a lot of people now pushing for that. Even the fact that there are people from the different countries of the former Yugoslavia being brought together just to talk about establishing a truth commission, that in itself is a huge step forward."

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has successfully brought dozens of war criminals to justice, but a "truth commission" is still necessary if the region's ethnic factions are ever to achieve lasting reconciliation, according to a former legal adviser to the court.

More than 14 years since his indictment, Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic finally goes on trial Monday at the U.N.-established court at The Hague in the Netherlands. Among other charges against him, Karadzic is alleged to have participated in the 1995 massacre of up to 8,000 Bosnian men and boys at pearl jewelry Srebrenica in 1995.

Yet, Karadzic's trial is just one among many; court proceedings are currently under way against 41 defendants. Of 161 individuals indicted on all sides of the three-way conflict, just two --- Karadzic's senior general Ratko Mladic and Croatian-Serb fugitive Goran Hazdic --- remain at large. Around 60 convicted war criminals are serving prison sentences in European jails.

Cecile Aptel, a Senior Fellow at the International Center for Transitional Justice and a former legal adviser to the court's chief prosecutor, said the tribunal had to be considered a success by the measure of its mandate to punish atrocities committed in the Balkans between the bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1992 and the 1999 war in Kosovo.

But the ICTY's narrow focus on prosecuting senior leaders and those suspected of involvement in the worst incidents means that many more instances of suspected war crimes pearl jewelry wholesale have not been brought to trial, Aptel said.
Video: Karadzic trial set at Hague
RELATED TOPICS

"The tribunal was established to prosecute and try individuals but it had to make tough decisions on only taking a number of individuals and it made the decision to go for those bearing the greatest level of responsibility," Aptel told CNN. "That is perfectly coherent and normal but it means there are a huge amount of other cases that have not been tried in The Hague."

Under U.N. pressure to wrap up proceedings since the early 2000s, several lower-level cases have been transferred to national courts in the former Yugoslavia. Aptel said one of the tribunal's major achievements had been to encourage greater judicial accountability in the countries involved in the conflict.

"Domestic jurisdiction is taking over a huge number of other cases that were not taken by the ICTY," she said. "I think it's a great credit to the ICTY that the domestic courts in the wholesale pearl jewelry various countries of the former Yugoslavia have been encouraged and equipped to do a lot more for the accountability of these crimes."

Aptel also rejected suggestions that the failure of the ICTY to deliver a verdict on Slobodan Milosevic --- the former Serbian leader died of a heart attack in his cell before his trial could be completed after almost five years in custody --- had dented the tribunal's credibility.

She said that the extent and complexity of the charges --- 66 counts including genocide -- against Milosevic meant that the trial was always going to run for many years.

"A criminal trial is not only about the end result. It is also about the very thorough presentation and review, and examination and cross-examination of evidence," Aptel said. "You are talking about war crimes committed over a period of nearly 10 years in a number of countries. If you compare that to a normal criminal case involving one murder then really it didn't take that long."

Yet some in the former Yugoslavia have questioned whether the ICTY has delivered adequate justice on those who participated in the atrocities of the 1990s. Victims and the families of the dead and missing have been frustrated by the length of time it has taken to bring many defendants to trial, Aptel said.

With little difference between the two candidates on policy, voters may look for other factors.

"I believe that this election is very interesting because for the first time in the history of Uruguay in addition to political postures and programs, which always affect the outcome to a degree, the election will be affected greatly by the personal attractions and weaknesses of each candidate, which the pearl jewelry public can clearly discern," said Uruguayan sociologist Cesar Aguiar.

Mujica, 74, was imprisoned for 14 years and released in 1985, when democracy was restored to Uruguay after a 17-year dictatorship. He served as minister of livestock and agriculture from 2005-2008, and is now a senator.

"He is the man who talks and dresses austerely," said analyst Gabriel Pereyra. "He is the man who communicates and talks the language of the people."

Analyst Rosario Queirolo describes Mujica as "a person who somehow lives what he preaches and is an antipolitician in another way. He doesn't very well fit the image of a president we have in Uruguay."

Mujica has played down his connection with the violent Tupamaros, who were defeated in 1973. Not that it seems to matter now, Birns said.

"That's a long time ago and really plays no role in his profile," he said.

Lacalle, 68, was president from 1990-1995. A lawyer and former senator, he lives in Montevideo's best neighborhood, Carrasco. He said during a previous corruption investigation he is worth $2 million, which "isn't seen well in Uruguay," said Pereyra.

The ex-president is a traditional politician from a long-time political family, said analyst Alfonso Lessa.

"Lacalle in his government put forth policies that were clearly liberal with respect to privatization," Lessa said. "Today he's not putting forth those policies. He's had a change."

Still, Hakim said, Lacalle has not become extremely pearl jewelry wholesale conservative.

"Lacalle has a reputation of being person of center right," he said. "There's really no right wing in Uruguay."

Birns, from the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, describes both men using nearly identical language.

"Mujica is an uninspiring figure who is considered to be durable but not particularly inspired," he said. "You're not going to get any flashes from him. He's a meat-and-potatoes type of guy."

Lacalle, Birns said, "is an uninspiring figure. He doesn't have a particular personal following."

Bruce Bagley, dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Miami, also doesn't see much difference.

"They both fit into the mold of Venezuelan leaders in recent years," he said.

The next president will have to address governmental reform, education and public safety, Pereyra said.

"International comparisons with hard facts show that Uruguay is a much more secure country than the vast majority of Latin American nations," sociologist Aguiar said. "But even so the public perception is that it is increasingly becoming more insecure."

Still, analysts don't see any major issues.

"The issues that are important to Uruguay tend to be domestic issues," Birns said. "And Uruguay has played almost no regional or foreign policy role."

Located on South America's southeastern coast, Uruguay is pearl necklace one of the smallest Latin American countries, about the size of the state of Washington. But it is also considered one of the most economically developed. The nation has a strong political system and social welfare programs, Hakim said.

Uruguay has a population of 3.5 million, 92 percent of whom live in urban areas, according to the CIA World Factbook. The vast majority of them are of European descent.

"It's a country that keeps chugging along," Hakim said. "The political fights are very serious, but the governments stay the same. Whoever wins, Uruguay will continue to be Uruguay."

A former guerrilla fighter jailed for 14 years and an ex-president were headed for a runoff for the presidency of Uruguay, after neither was expected to capture more than 50 percent of the vote in Sunday's election.

Jose Mujica, a former Marxist Tupamaro guerrilla who was the top vote-getter Sunday, will be challenged by Luis Alberto Lacalle, who served as president from 1990-1995. The inflatable runoff will be held November 29.

Both candidates predicted victory at separate rallies Sunday night.

"We have ahead of us 30 days that are a fight but are not filled with hate for anyone," Mujica said at a boisterous gathering in the capital, Montevideo.

With 60 percent of the vote counted, Mujica was leading with 47.4 percent of the vote to 29.2 percent for Lacalle, news reports said. Another two candidates trailed with 17.8 percent and 2.5 percent of the vote. Only the top two vote-getters advanced to the runoff.

Third-place candidate Pedro Bordaberry conceded defeat, saying he called Mujica and Lacalle to congratulate them. Bordaberry told his supporters he would vote for Lacalle.

Speaking at his National Party headquarters, Lacalle thanked Bordaberry for his support.

"We believe we are a better option for inflatable bouncer security, for certainty, for peace, for dialog," Lacalle said.

Mujica had led in two polls last week, but both showed him falling short of the 50-percent-plus-one vote he needed to win outright.

Known to his supporters as El Pepe, Mujica belongs to the same Broad Front Party as popular current President Tabare Vazquez Rosas. Both men are considered leftists.

Lacalle is considered more conservative.

Some analysts say neither Mujica nor Lacalle is likely to take Uruguay down a different path.

"You'd scarcely notice a difference in terms of which one of inflatable castles them is elected," said Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a liberal Washington-based think tank.
We have ahead of us 30 days that are a fight but are not filled with hate for anyone
--Jose Mujica

"No one expects any dramatic change in Uruguay no matter who wins," said Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based independent policy center. "Uruguayan politics is pretty stable."