Another Day, Another Suicide Bombing. The consequence of the Iraq War and Occupation driven by the Americans in the Bush Adminsitration, and out of the Bush Administration, is that the suicide bomb has transformed from being a strategic weapon to a tactical weapon. It is a matter of time, and I believe of months, before this "tactical weapon" of suicide bomb will strike with more power than the Sept 11, 2001 attack on the Americans. (Image: Joao Silva for The New York Times)

At 6:30 a.m., a suicide bomber drove a garbage truck full of explosives into a parking lot next to the Sadeer Hotel in central Baghdad. Within hours, Islamist Web sites posted several statements from the network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted militant, claiming credit for the attack. The statements said they had chosen the hotel as a target because it had a "Jewish staff" and Israeli intelligence agents were staying there.

Gunmen exchanged fire with the hotel's guards for several minutes before the truck blew up about 40 yards from the eight-story hotel, which is next to the Agriculture Ministry building.One person was killed and at least 22 were wounded in the blast, which took place so early that few people were in the streets, Interior Ministry officials said.

The explosion destroyed dozens of cars in the parking lot, leaving a huge crater in the concrete and sending a massive plume of black smoke in the area around Firdous Square, where the statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down by American soldiers two year ago. All the hotel's windows were knocked out, but the building did not appear to have been damaged structurally, witnesses said.

In Habbaniya, 50 miles west of the capital, a suicide bomber drove an Oldsmobile sedan into an Army base this morning, killing two officers and a civilian, and wounding at least 15 people, Army officials said. The attacker is believed to have been a Sudanese citizen, the officials said.