Momentum shifts to Democrat in tight Wisconsin Senate race

WEST SALEM, Wisconsin (Reuters) - Fresh off a nasty battle to recall Wisconsin's governor in the spring, the state has another high profile political fight on its hands for the U.S. Senate.

But after an expensive four-way Republican primary that he won narrowly, Senate candidate and former governor Tommy Thompson was left "broke" - forcing him to raise more money and campaign less. Poor polling for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who is an average of 8 points behind Democratic President Barack Obama in the state, has not helped.

Thompson's Democratic opponent, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, meanwhile has been campaigning actively and spending freely on advertising, erasing a lead for Thompson and putting her ahead by an average of 5 points in September polling.

"Tommy Thompson has gotten himself into somewhat of a hole," said Barry Burden, a politics professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. "He's taken a pounding and he's not where he wants to be with less than six weeks to go."

Thompson, Wisconsin's longest-serving governor, and Baldwin, who would be the first openly gay U.S. senator, both claim to be middle-class champions and anticipate a tough campaign.

"I think you're going to see a closer, more competitive race than what you see in the polls," Baldwin said before campaigning in West Salem, a town of 5,000 in western Wisconsin. "Historically, this has been an evenly divided state."

After a bruising 16-month battle over a law curtailing collective bargaining rights for public sector workers that ended in the unsuccessful recall of Walker, Wisconsin was seen as a tossup in Senate and presidential races. Romney's choice of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate does not appear to have helped Republicans here.

Democrats now control the Senate, 53-47, and Republicans need a net gain of four seats on November 6 to ensure they take a majority in the chamber and control the legislative agenda.

Thompson says that Baldwin campaign's cash advantage over the past six weeks "means that I have to work harder."

"But now we got money and we're coming back."

Charles Franklin, a professor at Marquette Law School in Milwaukee, says there is still time for the momentum to shift. "But time is beginning to run short," he said

"FOR THE AVERAGE JANE"

The issues in the race largely reflect those in the national election. Thompson argues lower taxes, fewer regulations, large spending cuts and entitlement reform will boost the sluggish U.S. economy. He also attacks Baldwin for supporting Obama's health care reforms, and vows to repeal them.

The former governor has shifted from describing himself as a "true conservative" in the Republican primary to a "moderate conservative." Thompson says he had a successful record as governor and that Baldwin is an extreme liberal who favors "more taxes and government control of the economy."

A February 2012 National Journal ranking of U.S. House members has Baldwin tied with two others as the 21st most liberal of the 435-member chamber.

Republican voters like Doug Hass, who lives north of Madison, say Thompson will bring sanity to Washington.

"We need to cut the debt and kill Obamacare," Hass said.

Baldwin says deficit reduction is not enough and the United needs investments in infrastructure, education and research to create jobs. She says she is a champion for the middle class, while her opponent favors tax cuts for the wealthy.

Acknowledging Thompson's residual popularity from his time as governor, she focuses on his record after leaving office in 2001 - as Secretary of Health and Human Services under George W Bush and then as a consultant for health care firms.

When asked if her sexual orientation may be raised as an issue in the campaign, Baldwin returned to her main theme.

"Voters want a fighter who is going to be on the side of hard-working, middle-class families," she said.

Voters at the recent event in West Salem, a Midwestern corn roast complete with polka band, shared that view.

"I don't care one bit about Tammy Baldwin's sexual orientation," said Darral Faas, 54, a part-time cashier. "What matters to me is that in Congress she was a staunch advocate for the average Joe and the average Jane."

"RIGHT DOWN TO THE WIRE"

Thompson scraped by in the August 14 Republican primary with just under 34 percent in the vote. Marquette's Franklin says this is a far cry from Thompson's gubernatorial campaigns, the last was in 1998, when he crushed his opponents.

"Tommy is not the dominant figure he once was," he said.

Thompson said the primary left him "$1 million in the hole." As of late July, Baldwin had more than $3.1 million on hand, according to regulatory filings, and has spent heavily on advertising to make full use of that advantage.

Both sides have proxy groups advertising on their behalf. Republican strategist Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS spent more than $2 million on advertising attacking Baldwin in September.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spent around $1.5 million attacking Thompson in September, while the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, the largest U.S. public sector union, spent almost $1 million.

Although no Republican presidential candidate has won Wisconsin since 1984 and Obama won here by 14 points in 2008, the state has a history of tight races. John Kerry beat George W. Bush by around 10,000 votes in 2004, while Al Gore won by around 5,000 in 2000. With turnout here expected to reach 70 percent, getting people to the polls will be crucial.

(Reporting by Nick Carey; Editing by Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/momentum-shifts-democrat-tight-wisconsin-senate-race-193038657.html

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Thousands attend NYC concert highlighting poverty

Musician Neil Young, right, performs with his band Crazy Horse including Frank Sampedro, left, and Ralph Molina, at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park on Saturday Sept. 29, 2012 in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Musician Neil Young, right, performs with his band Crazy Horse including Frank Sampedro, left, and Ralph Molina, at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park on Saturday Sept. 29, 2012 in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Guitarist Dan Auerbach, right, and drummer Patrick Carney of The Black Keys perform at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park on Saturday Sept. 29, 2012 in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Guitarist Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys performs at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park on Saturday Sept. 29, 2012 in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Musician John Legend performs at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park on Saturday Sept. 29, 2012 in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Actress Olivia Wilde speaks at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park on Saturday Sept. 29, 2012 in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

(AP) ? Neil Young, the Black Keys, Foo Fighters and others wowed thousands who turned out Saturday night for a free concert in Central Park to call attention to poverty worldwide.

Dubbed the Global Citizen Festival, the concert also featured K'naan, John Legend and Band of Horses, with Young's performance capping off the evening. Video of the event was streamed worldwide as about 60,000 music fans crowded the park's Great Lawn, the midtown Manhattan skyline twinkling behind them.

Legend made a surprise appearance, playing one song "Imagine" at a piano on stage, a short walk from where the song's author, John Lennon, once lived. The five-hour show was a mix of tight sets from the bands, roughly an hour each, mixed with videos and information from guest speakers about global poverty-related problems like infant mortality and polio.

"Feels good to be here," Foo Fighters lead singer Dave Grohl told the crowd during a break between hits like "Learn to Fly," ''Best of You" and "My Hero." Grohl, members of the Black Keys and others joined Young on stage for the finale, his anthem "Rockin' in the Free World."

The concert was scheduled around the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this month and organizers used an innovative approach to ticket distribution so that many concert-goers were forced to learn about an array of global problems in order to get a ticket.

Anyone wanting free tickets had to register at globalcitizen.org, which then required users to watch videos or read information about poverty-related issues. Each time material was consumed, users could earn points toward a drawing for tickets. Points were also accumulated by sharing information by way of Twitter or Facebook.

"Our social media campaign has been off the charts," said Hugh Evans, CEO and co-founder of the Global Poverty Project. The approach demonstrates a new model for harnessing digital tools that might be repeated for other big events with political or social messages.

Organizers said more than 71,000 people had signed up online, resulting in more than 3.5 million page views. On average, they spent just over six minutes consuming content or sharing information. Nearly 200,000 pieces of information were shared on Facebook, and just a bit more than that on Twitter. About 170,000 people signed petitions via the site, and there were 98,000 videos viewed to completion.

Evans said the project achieved its goals, set out last year, of getting more than 100,000 people to take action related to extreme poverty while telling a new story about the challenges. To that end, the site conveys information in detailed, documentary-like accounts and uses an array of video, graphics and stories that are friendly for mobile and digital consumption.

Financially, he said, the project also achieved its yearlong goal ? working with an array of organizations like the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, the Earth Institute and Rotary International ? of garnering $500 million in commitments to help fight poverty.

So now what?

Evans said that he's hoping the audience, built online and at the concert, will continue efforts by tweeting President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney to halve extreme poverty by 2015, which is the key U.N. anti-poverty goal. And Evans is working on an announcement in October or November about "a major rock band" getting involved with the anti-poverty efforts.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-09-29-Central%20Park%20Concert/id-81ac6f8092f44bc39e37fec39905e7a9

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Afghan forces also suffer from insider attacks

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Afghan Army Sgt. Habibullah Hayar didn't know it, but he had been sleeping with his enemy for weeks.

Twenty days ago, one of his roommates was arrested for allegedly plotting an insider attack against their unit, which is partnered with NATO forces in eastern Paktia province.

Afghan soldiers and policemen ? or militants in their uniforms ? have gunned down more than 50 foreign troops so far this year, eroding the trust between coalition forces and their Afghan partners. An equal number of Afghan policemen and soldiers also died in these attacks, giving them reason as well to be suspicious of possible infiltrators within their ranks.

"It's not only foreigners. They are targeting Afghan security forces too," said the 21-year-old Hayar, who was in Kabul on leave. "Sometimes, I think what kind of situation is this that a Muslim cannot trust a Muslim ? even a brother cannot trust a brother. It's so confused. Nobody knows what's going on."

The attacks are taking a toll on the partnership, prompting the U.S. military to restrict operations with small-sized Afghan units earlier this month.

The close contact ? with coalition forces working side by side with Afghan troops as advisers, mentors and trainers ? is a key part of the U.S. strategy for putting the Afghans in the lead as the U.S. and other nations prepare to pull out their last combat troops at the end of 2014, just 27 months away.

The U.S. military also has shown increasing anger over the attacks.

"I'm mad as hell about them, to be honest with you," Gen. John Allen, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, told CBS' "60 Minutes" in an interview scheduled to be broadcast on Sunday. "It reverberates everywhere across the United States. You know, we're willing to sacrifice a lot for this campaign, but we're not willing to be murdered for it."

So far this year, 51 foreign troops ? at least half of them Americans ? have been killed in insider attacks. The Afghan government has not provided statistics on the number of its forces killed in insider attacks. However, U.S. military statistics obtained by The Associated Press show at least 53 members of the Afghan security forces had been killed as of the end of August.

A U.S. military official disclosed the numbers on condition of anonymity because he said it was up to Afghan officials to formally release the figures. An Afghan defense official who was shown the statistics said he had no reason to doubt their accuracy.

Overall, the statistics show that at least 135 Afghan policemen and soldiers have been killed in insider attacks since 2007. That's more than the 118 foreign service members ? mostly Americans ? killed in such attacks since then, according to NATO.

Typically, foreign troops are the main targets, but Afghan forces also have been killed by comrades angry over their collaboration with Westerners and many more get killed in the crossfire, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said. He said the ministry did not have a breakdown of how many had been targeted or killed in gunbattles during the attacks.

In at least one instance, an Afghan police officer with alleged ties to militants, killed 10 of his fellow officers on Aug. 11 at a checkpoint in southwestern Nimroz province. An Afghan soldier also was killed on April 25 when a fellow soldier opened fire on a U.S. service member and his translator in Kandahar province, the southern birthplace of the Taliban.

Last year, a suicide bomber in an Afghan police uniform blew himself up May 28 in Takhar province, killing two NATO service members and four Afghans, including a senior police commander. And just a week before that, four Taliban fighters wearing suicide vests under police uniforms attacked a government building in Khost province, triggering a gunbattle that left three Afghan policemen and two Afghan soldiers dead. On April 16, an Afghan soldier walked into a meeting of NATO trainers and Afghan troops in Laghman province, blew himself up, killing five U.S. troops, four Afghan soldiers and an interpreter.

"It's difficult to know an attacker from a non-attacker when everybody is wearing a uniform, Hayar said.

The attacker was one of seven people rounded up earlier this month from various units within the Afghan National Army Corps 203, Hayar said. The corps covers the eastern Afghan provinces of Paktia, Paktika, Ghazni, Wardak, Logar and Khost.

"He was together with me in my room with some of my other colleagues. He had a long beard. We didn't know anything about him. We were living together, sleeping together," said Hayar, who has been in the Afghan army for 2 1/2 years.

He said the suspected infiltrator was identified after a Taliban militant arrested in Logar told his Afghan interrogators that members of the fundamentalist Islamic movement had infiltrated the corps and were planning imminent attacks. That prompted Hayar's superiors to start questioning soldiers in various units.

Hayar said his roommate's uneasy reaction raised suspicion, and investigators found Taliban songs saved to the memory card of his cell phone. He was then detained by Afghan intelligence officials and confessed he was a member of the Taliban and planned to stage attacks.

Hayar says he assumes his former bunkmate was probably going after foreign forces, but it makes him uncomfortable nevertheless.

"It's very hard to trust anybody ? even a roommate," he said. "Whenever I'm not on duty, I lock my weapon and keep the key myself. I don't put my weapon under my pillow to sleep because maybe someone will grab it and shoot me with my own weapon."

To counter such attacks, the U.S. military earlier this year stopped training about 1,000 members of the Afghan Local Police, a controversial network of village-defense units. U.S. commanders have assigned some troops to be "guardian angels" who watch over their comrades even as they sleep. U.S. officials also recently ordered American troops to carry loaded weapons at all time, even when they are on their bases.

Then, after a string of insider attacks, Allen this month restricted operations carried out alongside with small-sized Afghan units. Coalition troops have routinely conducted patrols or manned outposts with small groups of Afghan counterparts, but Allen's directive said such operations would no longer be considered routine and required the approval of the regional commander.

For their part, Afghan authorities have detained or removed hundreds of soldiers as part of its effort to re-screen its security forces. The Ministry of Defense also released a 28-page training booklet this month that advises soldiers not to be personally offended when foreign troops do things Afghans view as deeply insulting.

The booklet urges them not to take revenge for foreign troops' social blunders, such as blowing their noses in public, stepping into a mosque with their shoes on, walking in front of a soldier who is praying or asking about their wives.

"Most of the coalition members are interested to share pictures of their families. It is not a big deal for them. If someone asks you about your family, especially the females in your family, don't think they are disrespecting you or trying to insult you," the booklet says.

"That is not the case. By asking such questions, they are trying to show that they want to learn more about you. You can very easily explain to them that nobody in Afghanistan would ask, especially about wives or females in the family."

___

Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Rahim Faiez in Kabul contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-forces-suffer-insider-attacks-185712158.html

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China woos oenophile wine market

On the outskirts of Yinchuan, a sleepy provincial capital near the Gobi Desert, workers put the finishing touches on Ch?teau Changyu Moser XV, a vast building with white stone walls and black-tiled mansard and domed roofs. If it weren't for the cast-metal statues of Chinese lions guarding the main gate, it could pass as a classical ch?teau found in the cradle of France's Loire Valley.

When it opens soon, the 150-acre estate will serve as local headquarters for Changyu Pioneer Wine, a Chinese vintner that already has ersatz ch?teaux in other parts of China. This summer the company announced plans to spend $950 million on a "wine city" in eastern China's Shandong province, complete with two ch?teaux and a European-style village.

As the country's nouveau riche continue to spend lavishly on wine, such copycat French castles - as well as Mission-style Napa Valley knockoffs - are rising out of the countryside. In some places winemakers don't even bother with a vineyard - they just have a castle with a cellar full of trucked-in wines.

"I almost don't care about how good the wine is," said Chinese architect and winemaker Qingyun Ma. "As soon as I see a fake French ch?teau, I think there's something wrong."

No wine tradition

Ma is one of the growing number of Chinese oenophiles who want the wine world to look beyond hyperreal European settings and start thinking of made-in-China Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir without laughing. That's not easy, since the country has no winemaking tradition of its own.

In China, people who wanted a drink traditionally downed shots of baijiu - fierce, clear booze made from sorghum that remains a staple at Chinese banquets. When they tried to make wine, the product was barely drinkable.

Shao Xuedong, chief winemaker at Cofco Junding Winery, a state-owned company that operates a Napa-inspired winery in Shandong, remembers when he first started in the business in the 1990s. Back then, "at least 95 percent" of Chinese wine wasn't real, he said. "It was just some blend of water, sugar and grape juice."

Emma Gao is the winemaker at Silver Heights, a family winery in Yinchuan that produces some of China's most admired vintages. Gao, who studied at La Facult? d'Oenologie de Bordeaux, said many of her neighbors don't understand what she's trying to accomplish.

Huge potential

"Here, people think a good wine shouldn't give you a headache the next morning," she said.

Even so, Gao and other serious vintners see huge potential. Chinese bought 156 million cases in 2011, making the country the world's fifth-largest wine market, and purchases should hit 250 million by 2016, according to International Wine Spirit Research.

"Before, people would just buy wine to show off, but that's changing," said Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group in Shanghai. "Younger Chinese are drinking it at home."

California wines are popular, too. After retiring from the Houston Rockets, Chinese basketball star Yao Ming launched Yao Family Wines in November. The company produces a Cabernet Sauvignon in Napa Valley, with French beverage maker Pernod Ricard distributing it in China.

The emphasis may be on imports, but local wine is improving. More Chinese are going overseas to study winemaking, and critics have noticed: A Cabernet red blend by Helan Qingxue, a winery in Yinchuan, last year won the Best Red Bordeaux Varietal Over ?10 International Trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards.

Plaudits

China's boutique winemakers hope the plaudits will attract more experts to China to nurture its winemaking culture. France's Castel Group and R?my Cointreau have both teamed up with Chinese winemakers. Perhaps the biggest name in Bordeaux, Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite), has staked its flag in China, with vines planted and a winery under construction in Shandong. Working with state-owned local partner Citic, the famed French winemaker had a groundbreaking ceremony in March for the 4.3-acre winery. Overseeing the project is General Manager Gerard Colin, a Frenchman with more than 50 years of wine-producing experience who has lived in China since 1997. "I think we can make a wine with balance and complexity," he said.

Before teaming up with the Rothschilds, Colin helped out a winery just down the road called Treaty Port. At the center of its 52 acres is an imitation 17th century Scottish castle, a stone fortress complete with a Union Jack flying on the flagpole at the top. Finished in 2009, the castle has six bedrooms and a large wood-paneled hall.

Don't expect any European gimmicks from Lafite's first Chinese operation, however. Colin vows no cheesy castle this time.

"We are in China," he said. "We don't do Versailles."

Source: http://feeds.sfgate.com/click.phdo?i=2af2fa65b4406a5fe2437a52e2d59e2b

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Wave of bombings across Iraq leaves 26 dead

An Iraqi woman stands in rubble at the scene of a car bomb attack in the town of Taji, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012. A rapid-fire series of explosions in Baghdad while Iraqis were going to work on Sunday morning, killed and wounded scores of people, police said. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

An Iraqi woman stands in rubble at the scene of a car bomb attack in the town of Taji, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012. A rapid-fire series of explosions in Baghdad while Iraqis were going to work on Sunday morning, killed and wounded scores of people, police said. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraqis inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in the town of Taji, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012. A rapid-fire series of explosions in Baghdad while Iraqis were going to work on Sunday morning, killed and wounded scores of people, police said. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

An Iraqi boy stands at the scene of a car bomb attack in the town of Taji, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012. A rapid-fire series of explosions in Baghdad while Iraqis were going to work on Sunday morning, killed and wounded scores of people, police said. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraqis inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012. A rapid-fire series of explosions in Baghdad while Iraqis were going to work on Sunday morning, killed and wounded scores of people, police said. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

Iraqis stand in rubble at the scene of a car bomb attack in the town of Taji, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012. A rapid-fire series of explosions in Baghdad while Iraqis were going to work on Sunday morning, killed and wounded scores of people, police said. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

(AP) ? A series of coordinated bombings shattered Shiite neighborhoods and struck at Iraqi security forces Sunday, killing at least 26 in attacks that one official described as a rallying call by al-Qaida just days after dozens of militants escaped from prison.

The blasts brought September's death toll from sectarian violence to nearly 200 people ? a grim, above-average monthly total for the period since U.S. troops left last year. The steady pace of attacks has worked to undermine confidence in the government.

"The people are fed up with the killings in Iraqi cities," said Ammar Abbas, 45, a Shiite and government employee who lives in a Baghdad neighborhood near one of the bombings. "The government officials should feel shame for letting their people die at the hands of terrorists."

Police said the wave of explosions stretched from the restive but oil-rich city of Kirkuk in the north to the southern Shiite town of Kut, wounding at least 94 people. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but bombings are a hallmark of al-Qaida in Iraq, the Sunni insurgency that has been struggling for years to goad Shiite militias back toward civil war.

A key Shiite lawmaker said the bombings likely sought to galvanize al-Qaida in the wake of a prison break last Friday in Saddam Hussein's northern hometown of Tikrit. Scores of inmates escaped ? including as many as 47 convicted al-Qaida militants ? in a massive security lapse that the government acknowledged had help from inside.

"Al-Qaida leaders have no intention of leaving this country or letting Iraqis live in peace," said Hakim al-Zamili, a Shiite member of parliament's security committee. "The jailbreak in Tikrit has boosted al-Qaida's morale in Iraq and thus we should expect more attacks in the near future."

"The situation in Iraq is still unstable," al-Zamili added. "And repetition of such attacks shows that our security forces are still unqualified to deal with the terrorists."

Spokesmen for the government and Baghdad's military command could not immediately be reached for comment.

Sunday's deadliest attack struck the town of Taji, a former al-Qaida stronghold just north of Baghdad. Police said three explosive-rigged cars in a Shiite neighborhood went off within minutes of each other, killing eight and wounding 28 in back-to-back blasts that began around 7:15 a.m.

At almost the same time, in Baghdad, police said a suicide bomber set off his explosives-packed car in the northwest Shiite neighborhood of Shula. One person was killed and seven wounded. Police could not immediately identify the target.

"So many people were hurt. A leg of a person was amputated," lamented Shula resident Naeem Frieh. "What have those innocent people done to deserve this?"

The chain reaction of blasts continued throughout the morning, petering off around noon.

Another suicide bomber drove a minibus into a security checkpoint in Kut, located 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad. Maj. Gen. Hussein Abdul-Hadi Mahbob said three police officers were killed and five wounded.

A military patrol hit a roadside bomb in Tarmiyah, about an hour north of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding six passers-by, officials said.

And car bombs exploded outside the northern city of Kirkuk, the northeastern towns of Balad Ruz and Khan Bani Saad in Diyala province, and in the town of Madain outside Baghdad. In all, seven people were killed.

Also in Baghdad, a double car bomb struck the mostly Shiite neighborhood of Karradah in the most recent episode of an all-too-familiar insurgent tactic. The first explosion came as a security patrol passed, killing a police officer and a bystander, and wounding eight other people. As emergency responders rushed to the scene, the second car blew up, killing three passers-by and injuring 12, according to officials.

An Associated Press cameraman was knocked to the ground in the second explosion and an AP photographer was slightly injured.

All of the casualties were confirmed by Iraqi security and health officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to release the information.

Earlier this summer, the Iraqi wing of al-Qaida, also called the Islamic State of Iraq, launched a campaign dubbed "Breaking the Walls," which aimed at retaking strongholds from which it was driven by the American military after sectarian fighting peaked in 2007.

The insurgent group has for years had a hot-and-cold relationship with the global terror network's leadership. Both shared the goal of targeting the U.S. military in Iraq and, to an extent, undermining the Shiite government that replaced Saddam Hussein's regime. But al-Qaida leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri distanced themselves from the Iraqi militants in 2007 for also killing Iraqi civilians instead of focusing on Western targets.

But even before U.S. troops withdrew last December, the insurgency sought to taunt Shiite militias and undermine Iraq's beleaguered Shiite-led government through near-monthly spectacular attacks that usually came on the same day in different places across the country, leaving scores of Shiites and security forces dead.

So far this year, the deadly trend has continued. January was Iraq's bloodiest month since the withdrawal, with 255 people killed in sectarian-related attacks. At least 193 people were killed in September. Deaths hit a relative low in May, with 48 killed, according to an Associated Press count.

"Such attacks waged on almost monthly basis show that the terrorist groups are still strong and they are not scattered or in chaos as depicted by the government," said Hadi Jalo, a political analyst in Baghdad. "It shows also that the failing security forces have not moved a step forward in their war against terrorism."

___

Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub and Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad contributed to this report. Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at www.twitter.com/larajakesAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-09-30-ML-Iraq/id-fa87542b4b0c4ef0b0be0c62e5463a9e

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