*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[Barking_Mad]

U.S. Marines, Militia Battle Ferociously To Control Najaf Cemetery

AJAF, Iraq, Aug 9 (AFP) - US marines in Iraq battled ferociously all Monday to wrest control of the vast cemetery in the holy city of Najaf from Shiite Muslim militiamen. But by dusk it was unclear what, if anything, had been achieved and fighters from the Mehdi Army, founded by radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr last year, celebrated what they viewed as a small victory.

"There were two American offensives. At 7:00 am (0400 GMT), three tanks advanced. We destroyed one and the others retreated. Three hours later, three came back and we destroyed two," said one militiaman who gave his name as Mustafa, his eyes bloodshot with fatigue. "We managed to ground a tank, but we can't destroy it because it's in among the tombs," said another fighter as a group of his comrades danced.

"Give us victory oh Lord, in the name of the prophet (Mohammed), (Imam) Ali, Moqtada, give us victory," they chanted. Neither the US military nor war correspondents covering the fighting could confirm whether any US tanks had been damaged, possibly because the giant cemetery -- one of the largest in the world -- was completely cut off.

There were constant and deafening explosions in Najaf throughout the day. The city was pounded without reprieve. Mortars on top of tank fire. Tank fire on top of mortars as helicopter gunships swooped through the sky. Brief lulls were shattered by machine-gun and rifle fire.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Poles Won't Stay in Iraq Forever, Leader Says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka told President Bush (news - web sites) on Monday that Polish troops will not "stay in Iraq (news - web sites) forever" and they discussed circumstances that would allow Poland to reduce its presence. Poland has been a key backer of Bush's policy in Iraq and has been leading a multinational force of 8,000 troops in south-central Iraq, including 2,500 Polish troops.


As Bush and Belka met, however, Pentagon (news - web sites) officials said Poland had turned over command of Najaf and Qadisiya provinces to U.S. Marines on Monday due to a deteriorated security situation in the holy city of Najaf. The multinational force, led by Poland, said in a statement it would continue to be in charge in the provinces of Babil, Karbala and Wasit.

 

[bigfish]

US assault kills hundreds of Iraqis in Najaf

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/aug2004/naja-a09.shtml

By James Conachy
9 August 2004

Allawi is claiming that the target of the attack is not Sadr and his movement, but rather criminals who are posing as supporters of the Shiite cleric. The interim prime minister went so far on Saturday as to issue an invitation to the cleric to stand in the elections that are ostensibly to take place in January 2005.

The claims of Washington and its stooge regime in Iraq are refuted by the events leading up to the clashes on August 5. The fighting now underway is the outcome of a calculated decision by the US military to provoke Sadr’s movement into a confrontation.

On July 31, leading members of Sadr’s organization were seized in late-night raids, led by US troops, in the city of Karbala. Two days later, on August 2, American and Iraqi interim government troops attempted to surround Sadr’s personal residence in Najaf, and only withdrew after hours of fighting with the Mahdi Army militia. The Mahdi Army then reestablished open control over the city and set up stronger defensive positions to repel the next attack.

In Sadr City and other areas, the militia did the same. These defensive actions by Sadr’s movement have since been used as the justification for the US assault.

The pretense that the decision to launch the US offensive was made by the “sovereign” Iraqi government headed by Allawi, a long-time CIA stooge, is yet another bald lie peddled by Washington and uncritically parroted by the American media.

Allawi and his government have no independence from the US government and military, which invaded the country, toppled the previous regime, and installed the interim government in order to do Washington’s bidding. Allawi and his fellow American puppets are performing the same function for US imperialism that the various regimes installed by the Nazis in occupied Europe performed for German imperialism: providing a fig leaf of local support for war crimes carried out against conquered peoples. World public opinion recognized the Nazi-installed regimes for the political obscenities they were. Allawi and company are no better.

 

[Barking_Mad]

US Helicopters Pound Najaf

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Fresh fighting broke out in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf on Tuesday, with explosions and gunfire echoing from the heart of holy sites where militiamen loyal to a radical Shi'ite Muslim cleric are dug in. A Reuters witness said U.S. helicopter gunships pounded positions near the city's ancient Shi'ite cemetery, a haven for fighters from Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army who have been battling American marines for six straight days..........

.........Citing the deterioration of security, the Polish-led multinational division that had been responsible for Najaf has handed command of the area to American forces. The latest Najaf clashes erupted just after 8 a.m. (0400 GMT) following a night of intermittent gunfire. Marines later broadcast messages through loudspeakers, urging militiamen to surrender. Battles in other cities have killed dozens in recent days..........

A roadside bomb aimed at a U.S. military convoy exploded near hotels used by foreigners in Baghdad early on Tuesday, wounding two soldiers, a military spokesman said. During the night, insurgents fired a dozen mortars or rockets in central Baghdad, mostly aimed at the Green Zone compound housing the Iraqi government and the U.S. embassy. Those blasts caused no casualties, the U.S. military said.

Insurgents have stepped up mortar and rocket attacks in Baghdad in the past week, appearing to take advantage of the lower U.S. military profile since the handover of sovereignty. In Kirkuk, the deputy governor of the northern city escaped an assassination attempt late on Monday when attackers opened fire as he left his house. Police said he was unhurt.

 

[Barking_Mad]

It would appear that the movement of Polish troops from certain provinces would clear the way for more US attacks....

[The US is] set to assume military authority over Najaf and Qadisiya provinces after a Polish-led multinational force announced it was leaving the provinces. The change was ordered by the senior US officer in Iraq, Gen George Casey, the Polish military said.

It added that the Americans would not be subject to the multinational mandate, which does not allow combat operations. The multinational force retains control of three other provinces in the area.

 

[Barking_Mad]

US calls for evacuation of Najaf

US troops are asking civilians to leave parts of Najaf, raising fears of a new assault on the holy Iraqi city. Clashes are raging for the sixth day running between forces loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Sadr and foreign troops. Announcements in Arabic warn residents near the front lines that there is no truce and asks them to evacuate.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Three Iraqi civilians killed

THREE Iraqi civilians were killed and several others injured when insurgents clashed with Danish soldiers in Al Qurnah north of Basra at the weekend, Danish daily Politiken reported today. The attacks on Saturday, which claimed no Danish lives, were the most bloody since the Scandinavian country's troops were deployed in Iraq 14 months ago, according to the Danish daily newspaper Politiken said.

Denmark's Army Operational Command, AOC, said that it was aware of "one Iraqi killed and five injured, among whom two were children". The military on Saturday said Danish soldiers patrolling southern Iraq had come under anti-tank fire. The troops fired back at their assailants before pulling back to the west of the town of Al Qurnah until reinforcements arrived, the army said. The subsequent firefight had lasted nearly two hours before the insurgents finally pulled back.

The three civilians who were killed in the battle were elderly, while four of the six people injured were in serious condition, according to the paper's reporter at the Al Tahreer hospital in Basra. Denmark has deployed 500 soldiers in the southern Basra region under British command, most of whom are stationed in Camp Eden. One Danish soldier has been killed in Iraq, shot by friendly fire in August 2003.

 

[bigfish]

Iraqi interim regime implements further police state measures

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/aug2004/alla-a10.shtml

By Peter Symonds
10 August 2004

The US-installed interim Iraqi government is abandoning any pretence of democracy and openly implementing police state measures in a bid to crush widespread armed resistance to the occupation of the country.

Prime Minister Ayad Allawi signalled a further toughening of his regime’s stance during a visit on Sunday to Najaf, where US and Iraqi forces are battling the Madhi Army militia of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Following a meeting with US Marine commanders, he declared: “All Mahdi Army fighters should abandon their weapons and leave the city... There will be absolutely no negotiations and no truce.”

Allawi’s visit has set the stage for a bloody showdown in the city centre. Al Sadr has responded by insisting he will remain in Najaf and continue to fight “until the last drop of my blood has been spilled.” According to the British-based Independent, local officials have now given the green light for US military operations “in and around” the Imam Ali shrine and other places regarded as holy by Shiites.

Such an offensive can only intensify opposition to the US occupation and the Allawi regime. Lacking any significant social base, Allawi’s only response is repression. On the same day that the prime minister was being ferried into Najaf by a US Black Hawk helicopter, his government announced the reintroduction of the death penalty for a wide range of crimes.

The purpose of the move is to intimidate and terrorise a population already deeply hostile to the US presence in Iraq. In announcing the measure, Minister of State Adnan al-Janabi declared that the death penalty was needed to deal with “the security situation in Iraq”. Obviously nervous about public reaction to the decision, Janabi said: “This is not an open door to execute anyone and everyone, or people that the government dislikes. This is not Saddam’s law.”
...
Taken together, the Allawi administration’s actions over the last few days confirm that Washington is setting out to construct a police state regime in Baghdad that is not fundamentally different to Saddam Hussein’s. In this case, however, Allawi is completely dependent on US patronage—economically, politically and militarily.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Tony is off on holiday soon, isn't that just lovely?

Tragedy of shot soldier

A British soldier killed in the latest violence in Iraq was due to return home to his family in London in days. Private Lee O'Callaghan, 20, from Walworth, had phoned his mother on Sunday to tell her how thrilled he was. But he was shot in the chest yesterday in fierce fighting with insurgents in the southern city of Basra. He had been in the Army for just a year.

The serviceman's aunt, Margaret Evans, 51, of Blackheath, said: "Lee was so excited about coming home to see his family. "Being in the Army was what he always wanted since he left school. He wanted to travel and to see the world but I do not think he necessarily thought about the risks. He just got on with it. He had had gone straight from basic training to Iraq."

Mrs Evans said that Pte O'Callaghan was sent to Iraq in April. He kept in regular touch by phone with his family, mother Shirley, father Eugene, brother Danny, 16, and two sisters Gemma, 12, and Kerry, 11.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Death Penalty Stops Hand over of Prisoners to British

The Danish contingent in Iraq has suspended handing over prisoners to British forces following the reinstatement of capital punishment by the Iraqi government. Danish soldiers, who operate under British command in Iraq, had previously handed over captured insurgents and suspected criminals to the custody of British forces, but have a preliminary agreement that the British will not hand them over to others without Danish consent.

“Until that loose agreement becomes more explicit, we’re making a suspension so we don’t risk ending up having the Iraqi government executing someone who was originally detained by Danish troops,” said defence spokesman Jakob Winther. An explicit agreement will most likely be sorted out soon, he said. Britain, like Denmark, is obliged under the European Convention on Human Rights not to extradite prisoners who could face the death penalty, which is banned in the European Union.

Iran wins Najaf weapons apology

Shia militias were at the heart of the row between Iran and Iraq
Iran says Iraq has expressed regret over comments from one of its ministers accusing Tehran of arming Shia militia groups in the holy city of Najaf.
Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said he had been reassured that the comments by Hazim al-Shalaan did not represent an official view of the Najaf situation. Followers of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr are battling US and Iraqi forces there. Iran's defence minister had slammed his Iraqi counterpart as an inexperienced political amateur for making the claim.

The BBC's Miranda Eeles in Tehran says the row highlights a growing mistrust between the neighbours, which fought an eight-year war in the 1980s. She adds that since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's Sunni Muslim regime, Iran has been seeking to build its influence over Iraq's Shia majority, but both sides are still working out how best to engage each other.

 

[Barking_Mad]

US launches air strikes on Najaf

US forces in Iraq have launched air strikes on positions held by supporters of radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr in the holy city of Najaf. Plumes of smoke rose from the city's massive cemetery as the aircraft opened fire, witnesses said.

The air raids came after US troops urged civilians to evacuate Najaf. Using loudspeakers and speaking in Arabic, they warned residents near the front lines that there was no truce as clashes raged for the sixth day. The BBC's Alastair Leithead in Baghdad says the Najaf stand-off is the biggest test for Iraq's interim government, also challenged by violence elsewhere. In the capital itself, mortar rounds and rockets were fired at parts of the city where the interim government is based.

 

[bigfish]

Hundreds Of Armed Young Men Control Baghdad's Sadr Cit

http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=24171

by Jay Deshmukh

SADR CITY, Iraq, Aug 10 (AFP) - Hundreds of gun-toting young men controlled the streets of Baghdad's Sadr City on Tuesday as an aide to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr urged Iraqis to join their war against the Americans.

Clad in black and armed with Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenades, these youthful militiamen policed Sadr's slum stronghold as the cleric's aides stepped up their rhetoric for a showdown against the US troops.

"This is a jihad (holy war) for us and we are going to fight till the Americans go away," said 18-year-old Jabbar, one of many youths guarding the main al-Falah street, which runs through Sadr's bastion in the capital.

"The (Prime Minister Iyad) Allawi government and Americans should understand what we want. They are getting killed in Najaf, they will get killed here too if they come in front of us."

As Jabbar surveyed the streets, gunshots and explosions ricocheted through the slum, virtually devoid of an Iraqi police or US military presence.

"They have left. They thought the curfew will control us. But we are not afraid of death. Let them (the Americans) come, we will fight them," said a young boy, a rifle slung across his thin shoulders.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Bomb explosion hits Iraqi market

At least four Iraqis were killed and 10 more were injured when a bomb was detonated at a market in a village north of Baghdad, officials say. The blast happened at about 1100 local time (0700 GMT) in Khan Bani Saad, 40km (25 miles) from the capital. Details remain sketchy but health officials say paramedics are still treating wounded at the scene. Renewed violence across Iraq this week has reportedly included fighters from both Sunni and Shia Muslim factions.

Black Hawks Scramble to Save U.S. Troops in Iraq

TAJI, Iraq (Reuters) - Roaring rotor blades drown out the young man's cry as the Black Hawk lurches upwards, its wheels seeming to brush the flat roofs of central Baghdad in a full-throttle race to hospital. For U.S. medics riding to the airborne rescue of the wounded, a surge in fighting in Iraq since Aug. 5 has shattered weeks of relative calm at their base. Working round the clock, crews have tripled their missions since the clashes erupted between U.S. forces and militia loyal to Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad and Najaf. The leap in activity not only points to a sharp increase in U.S. casualties, but provides an insight into the cost in life and limb to the men doing the fighting.

"It's not like anything in the movies," said Major Christopher Knapp, 40, a pilot and commander of the 45th Medical Company based at Taji, just north of Baghdad. "There's torn flesh, blood everywhere. There's no way to be able to describe it, it's just horrific," he said on Tuesday at the base housing Black Hawk transports and Apache gunships.

On the stretcher stacked beneath him lay an Iraqi man who had been working alongside the soldier as a translator, his knees bandaged to cover less serious shrapnel wounds.
For medics used to dealing with limbs torn off by explosions and torsos burst by gunshots, the American was in good shape. "Compared to the other things that we've seen, that guy was outstanding," said Specialist Todd Foxworth, 34, the medic who treated him during the flight. "I've literally seen it all."

On bad days, the metal deck of the helicopter is slick with blood. There are often surprisingly few screams -- the wounded have already been doped with morphine by soldiers on the ground. The company has evacuated more than 85 wounded so far in August -- mostly American soldiers, but the figure also includes some Iraqi security personnel and civilians.

Since they began work on Feb. 1, the unit has airlifted more than 2,120 casualties in their UH-60 choppers.........Ground fire has brought down helicopters in Iraq and the 45th Medical Company has had its fill of heart-stopping near misses -- like the two surface-to-air missiles that exploded near Knapp's helicopter, so close the fuselage shuddered.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Basra leader escapes assassination

Basra's deputy governor, a key lieutenant to a radical Shiite cleric battling US troops, escaped an assassination attempt today. A group of gunmen followed Salam al-Maliky from the local office of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's movement to Basra's City Hall. One man followed al-Maliky into the building and shot at him, an official said. Police arrested the gunman, whose identity was not immediately known.

Al-Maliky was the firebrand cleric's representative in the southern province, where the main British military contingent is based. He had previously threatened to blow up oil pipelines and ports if a coalition offensive on al-Sadr's militia did not stop. He also warned that he would lead a drive for Basra and other southern areas to secede from Iraq.

20 People Killed at British Air-force Attack in Amara

At least 20 people have been killed at British Air-Force attack against militants in Iraqi city Amara on early Wednesday morning, announced Basler Zeitung. According to the information 50 people have been injured.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Fighting spreads across Shia Iraq

Fighting has spread beyond the Shia Iraqi holy city of Najaf where US forces have been battling insurgents for the past week. Clashes in Baghdad, Amara, Kut and other towns left at least 30 dead and 219 wounded on Tuesday alone, the Iraqi health ministry said. The figures do not include Najaf, the stronghold of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr who has vowed to keep fighting. An aid worker there told the BBC that hospitals were struggling to cope.

The unnamed official from the Red Crescent said Najaf's main surgical hospital had not been functioning since April while the general hospital was hoping to receive "special kits for... war-wounded people". Wednesday dawned with an apparent lull in the fighting in Najaf, a city of nearly 600,000, where the US has been using warplanes to bomb Mr Sadr's Mehdi Army (MA) militants.

One of Iraq's deputy presidents, Ibrahim Jaafari, has called for the US-led foreign forces to withdraw and allow Iraqi security forces to take over. "Iraqi forces can administer Najaf to end this phenomenon of violence in this city that is holy to all Muslims," he said on Arabic TV channel al-Jazeera. The presence of US-led multinational forces had been requested earlier by the Najaf governor to support the Iraqi police and national guard.

Moqtada Sadr issued a statement on Wednesday calling on his followers to keep fighting even if he himself was captured or killed. "I thank the dear fighters all over Iraq for what they have done to set back injustice," he added........ "We keep pushing... and they just keep coming," Capt Patrick McFall, a US cavalry officer in Najaf, was quoted as saying by AP news agency. Another officer, Maj David Holahan of the marines, described the use of air strikes in the city: "We've pretty much just been patrolling and flying helicopters all over the place, and when we see something bad, we blow it up."

The Iraqi health ministry has not given details of its new casualty figures but medical sources in Amara said at least 15 people had been killed since Tuesday. The report was not confirmed by British forces patrolling the area - and there were also unconfirmed reports of Iraqi casualties in Basra. In Baghdad, the Iraqi government accused Shia gunmen of killing 14 people and wounding 67 in recent days in the city's mainly Shia district of Sadr City. Shia gunmen wounded five members of the Iraqi security forces in Kut on Wednesday morning, a correspondent for AFP news agency reports from the city.

 

[Barking_Mad]

British troops launch offensive

AMARA, Iraq (Reuters) - British troops backed by aircraft have launched an offensive against rebel Shi'ite fighters in a southern Iraqi town overnight and the militia say 10 of their men have been killed in the fighting.A British military spokesmen said on Wednesday two British soldiers were wounded during the operation, launched to stop insurgents from firing mortars at troops in the town of Amara.

"The operation took place in Amara last night with the intent of clearing the militiamen from their fortified positions in the town," Major Ian Clooney, division spokesman for British forces, said from Iraq's second biggest city Basra. "The operation was fairly robust."

A spokesman for the Mehdi militia of radical Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Amara, 365 km (230 miles) southeast of Baghdad, said three civilians were also killed and 30 Mehdi fighters wounded. Another British spokesmen said there was no indication civilians were killed. He had no information on militia casualties, adding it was not clear the insurgents were from the Mehdi Army. Hundreds of people have been killed and wounded in the uprising by Sadr's militia in several Iraqi cities in the past week.

The Mehdi militia spokesman said the British forces had used tanks and U.S. warplanes had bombed targets. The British spokesmen said the troops had had air cover, but gave no details. Iraq's Health Ministry earlier said 15 people had been killed and 78 wounded in fighting in Amara in the past 24 hours, but did not say how many militiamen were among the casualties. British troops have responsibility for most of southern Iraq.

 

[Barking_Mad]

This was from yesterday afternoon. Not seen anything else about it, so can't back it up with any further reports, but it makes for v. interesting reading....

Iraqi south threatens secession

Basra Deputy Governor Salam Uda al-Maliki has said he is to announce the separation of some Iraqi southern governorates from the central Baghdad government. Informed sources told Aljazeera that al-Maliki said the breakaway province would include Basra, Misan and Dhi Qar governorates.

He also wants to shut Basra's port and in effect stop oil exports. Al-Maliki said the decision was taken because the Iraqi interim government was "responsible for the Najaf clashes". He has not outlined the steps for the implementation of his proposal. Ali Hamud al-Musawi, head of the Misan governorate council, told Aljazeera al-Malki's decision was a normal and a logical reaction. "The feelings of Iraqi southerners in particular and Iraqis in general had been contempt," al-Musawi said.

"This reaction comes in response to the crimes committed against Iraqis by an illegal and unelected government, and occupation forces who claimed they came to liberate Iraq, but it turned out that they have come to kill Iraqis," he added. Al-Musawi expressed support for what he described as "our brothers in Basra" and announced that negotiations were going on regarding the activation of the breakup. "Nothing would shock me, we heard of the break-up scenario a long time ago, and it seems that the atmosphere in Iraq nowadays is suitable to carry out any pending agendas"

"We are discussing the decision and we will stop Misan's oil flow, until Baghdad's government restores its logic and realises that millions of Iraqis care for the people of Najaf and Karbala," he said. "Iyad Allawi should not expect us to support him," he said. "We expected this government to give us justice, democracy and freedom," he added.

.

 

[Barking_Mad]

It's beginning to sounds like a near carbon copy of Fallujah.

Iraq official urges Najaf pullout

A senior official in Iraq's interim administration has urged US-led foreign forces to leave Najaf and let Iraqi security forces take their place. Vice-President Ibrahim Jaafari, a respected figure within Iraq's Shia majority, spoke out after nearly a week of fighting in the Shia holy city. A BBC analyst says it is unclear if he was speaking for the whole government. Fighting between Shia militants and US-led forces in the holy city has entered a seventh day. Confirmed casualty figures are unavailable for Najaf but clashes in Baghdad, Amara, Kut and other towns left at least 30 dead and 219 wounded on Tuesday alone, the Iraqi health ministry said. Mr Jaafari said Iraq's own forces could end the violence in the holy city.

"I call for multinational forces to leave Najaf and for only Iraqi forces to remain there," he said in remarks broadcast by Arabic TV channel al-Jazeera. Earlier, he also called on Mehdi Army (MA) militants loyal to radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr to pull back. The US military said on Monday that Najaf's own governor, Adnan al-Zorfi, had given its troops permission to enter the Imam Ali mausoleum in their battle with the militants..............

...........The BBC's Middle East analyst, Roger Hardy, says that Mr Jaafari is calling on both sides to pull back from the brink out of concern that the crisis in Najaf could spin out of control. He adds that Mr Jaafari's Dawa Party is actively mediating with Mr Sadr, but there are signs that the vice-president's forceful remarks have taken some members of the administration by surprise, and the Americans will be wary of any solution which Mr Sadr would be able to present as a victory.....

The city's leading health official, Falah al-Mahani, said the continuing violence was causing a "real catastrophe" for the health services in this city of nearly 600,000. "Ambulances are prevented from reaching the injured people by the clashing parties," he was quoted as saying by AP news agency. "Our staff are not able to reach their hospitals. We are paralysed."

Dutch forces involved in gun battle in southern Iraq

Dutch military forces were engaged in a gun battle with an armed group Tuesday night in Rumaythah near the southern Iraqi city of Samawah, where Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force troops are stationed. An Iraqi citizen was reportedly injured near the scene of the fighting, which was about 30 kilometers northwest of Samawah.

Meanwhile, sources among Samawah security authorities reported an apparent mortar shell attack near the Dutch military camp in Samawah early Wednesday. According to the sources, two shells were fired, causing one car to burst into flames. According to local police, the Rumaythah attack took place at 11 p.m. Tuesday local time. The gunfight was started by a group of three militants who fired shots from the roof of a school near the Dutch camp, the police said. The Dutch forces returned fire, injuring a truck driver who was passing by in the leg.

 

[Barking_Mad]

The ticker on Al Jazeera has a report that US and Iraqi forces are ready to storm Najaf.

http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage

 

[Barking_Mad]

U.S. preparing assault on Najaf
Wed 11 August, 2004 13:20

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraq forces are preparing a final assault on Shi'ite militia positions in the holy town of Najaf, U.S. military has said. "Iraqi and U.S. forces are making final preparations as we get ready to finish this fight that the Moqtada (al-Sadr) militia started, " Col. Anthony M. Haslam, commanding officer of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Najaf, said in a statement on Wednesday. "The desired end state is one of stability and security, where the citizens of Najaf do not live in fear of violence or kidnappings, and where the city of Najaf can once again return to peace and prosperity," the statement quoted the officer as saying.

It said U.S. marines, army soldiers and Iraqi National Guards "continue joint training exercises in preparation for major assaults against enemy forces in the city of Najaf". Militiamen loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr battled U.S. and Iraqi government forces for a seventh day on Wednesday in fighting that has claimed hundreds of killed or wounded.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Sadr Militia Goes on Attack in Baghdad Neighborhoods

Supporters of the militant Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr challenged authorities in Baghdad on Tuesday by setting up makeshift checkpoints and attacking police stations in a bid to widen a confrontation centered in the southern city of Najaf. An official at the Health Ministry said 10 people were killed here and more than 100 wounded.

Gunmen briefly asserted control of some Baghdad neighborhoods and called for a curfew over the entire city. Authorities rejected the demand and said the city remained securely under government control, despite scattered reports that some policemen had chosen to hide rather than fight. Residents of several neighborhoods said streets emptied when members of the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to Sadr, came through, apparently unchallenged by the police.

"They send small groups to the streets to set up checkpoints and terrify people," said a police official in Zayouna, an upper-class neighborhood of Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It is difficult to fight them in the residential neighborhoods and narrow alleys because the Mahdi Army controls these places." But Sabah Kadhim, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, dismissed the accounts of roving Mahdi Army patrols as "rumors and lies. They are cowards, and they use a hit-and-run method to create chaos to confuse the police. We will not give them a chance to control the streets."

The Mahdi Army appeared to control Sadr City, a Shiite stronghold in northeast Baghdad, flouting a government-imposed curfew in the area. U.S. troops remain largely outside Sadr City, and Iraqi police and security forces have not challenged Sadr's forces there. A resident of Sadr City said Tuesday that it was quiet there until evening, when clashes resumed. Heavy clashes were reported in Baghdad's Mansour district, and there were numerous mortar strikes in Baghdad on Tuesday morning, many of them targeting police stations and government buildings. The ministries of oil and information both were struck, but they sustained minimal damage.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Interesting article about US troops facing temperatures of up to 150F (jesus christ) during the fighting in Najaf.

Heat of Battle Takes Toll on U.S. Forces

......But nothing prepared the Camp Pendleton-based Marines for the Iraqi summer. In battle, troops can sweat about 2 quarts of water an hour, but the body can absorb only a bit more than half that amount in the same time, regardless of how much is consumed. "So when you're out there fighting, you can never get enough water," said Capt. Sudip Bose, an Army emergency physician who has been treating heat-exhaustion victims in Najaf.

Body armor and equipment weigh up to 40 pounds and can raise body temperature by 5 degrees. M-16 rifles can heat up so much, they become literally too hot to handle. In the cemetery where much of the fighting has occurred, the only place for soldiers to escape the sun is in sweltering Humvees and tanks or in some of the hundreds of large crypts and mausoleums, where photographs of the dead stare back at them.

"It's eerie," said Capt. Patrick McFall, standing inside a mint-green concrete tomb. "This is someone's sanctuary." In the summer sun, Bradley fighting vehicles can turn into virtual ovens, with temperatures surpassing 150 degrees. Most of the serious heat-exhaustion cases so far have involved soldiers who fought on foot, then climbed back inside tanks, Humble said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Snippet from a Reuters report

In a sign of the growing anger against Allawi and the military action in Najaf, thousands of demonstrators in the southern city of Nassiriya called for him to step down and set fire to the local office of his political party.

Most of Sadr's men and the young cleric himself are holed up around Najaf's ancient Shi'ite cemetery or the adjoining Imam Ali Shrine. Storming such holy symbols could touch off a firestorm among Iraq's majority Shi'ite community.

The fighting between U.S. forces and Sadr's Mehdi Army in Najaf is part of a broader Shi'ite uprising in at least seven southern and central cities.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Another US airstrike on Fallujah

Two killed in airstrike on Fallujah

FALLUJAH, Iraq - Two people were killed and four wounded on Wednesday in what appeared to be a US airstrike on the Sunni Muslim insurgent bastion of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, police said. An AFP correspondent saw a house and car on fire after hearing a massive explosion at around 5:00 pm (1300 GMT) and seeing US planes roaring overhead.

"Two people were killed and four injured," said a police official at the hospital in Fallujah. The blast occurred in the southern neighbourhood of al-Shuhada. In April, hundreds of people were killed during heavy fighting between US marines and insurgents in the city, before US troops withdrew from Fallujah.

BBC Radio 5 Live also reporting that Shia Militia are threateneing to blow up pipelines in Basra if the US continues attacking Najaf. Also that a Arabic website is reportedly showing the beheading of a CIA agent.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Times reporter from inside Najaf

(Here in Najaf) it is quiet here, but it is a tense quiet, an uneasy quiet.

"So far there has been little sign of mass panic and evacuations by the civilian population of Najaf. Today I drove into the town centre and I did see some civilians leaving, piling the goods from their shops high into pick-up trucks and lorries so that they would not be destroyed in the fighting.

"What I did not see today was any sign of people loading up their furniture and moving out. Some have definitely left the city because they are scared, but others are staying indoors. "This is not precisely a siege, and the city is not completely cut off. The US troops have surrounded the city on three sides and is trying to hem al-Mahdi army into the centre.

"The fighters are concentrated in the shrine itself and in the streets a few hundred yards around it in each direction. But they have free access to the town and can still get supplies in and out from the south. "Today I saw bunches of grapes in buckets chilled with ice being brought into the marketplace from the countryside, so there are no problems getting in fresh fruit. The fighters have no shortage of food, ammunition and guns.

"I have been inside the shrine this morning, into the headquarters of al-Mahdi army. The shrine is ringed by men with guns. There are blood-stained stretchers leaning against the walls. "I am allowed to wander around freely, just strolling in and out and chatting to the army. They are being totally relaxed with us. They are proud of the two British men who have come to fight with them, and think that it shows that their cause is just."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Electricity Riots in Najaf - Amara Council Dissolved

Al-Zaman: For the second straight day on Sunday, angry crowds attacked the Electricity Office in downtown Najaf, protesting interruptions in the electricity supply that stretched to as many as 18 hours straight in recent days. The lack of electricity hurts local industry and agriculture, and leaves the population without air conditioning or fans at a time when highs are 50 C./ 122 F.

Employees fled from the Electricity Office in fear of their lives, and were protected from attack by the Mahdi Army militiamen of Muqtada al-Sadr, who still patrol the Old City. (The role of the Sadrist militia in providing law and order (albeit of an often somewhat fascist coloration) in the past two months has been noted by Awadh al-Taie and Aqil Jabbar.)

One of the protesters said that the electricity situation was something people could no longer remain silent about.

Protesters and the members of the provincial council of Amara, who had been at loggerheads, have agreed that the council would be suspended temporarily. Thousands of followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, members of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and other religious Shiites protested Sunday in front of the governor's office, demanding the election of a new provincial council. The Amara provincial council has been cooperating with the US and the British, even though many of its members say they follow Muqtada al-Sadr.

In Ninevah province, where a new governor was "elected" last week, 8 members of the Provincial Council have resigned in protest. These signs of continued civil instability in Iraq, which in many respects are more telling than the daily bombings, do not appear to be being reported in the American press any longer.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqis protest as US plans assault on Najaf

As US occupation forces announce they are preparing a final assault on Najaf, thousands of Iraqis have been protesting against the interim Iraqi government and the joint US-Iraqi forces' actions. Thousands of protesters in the southern city of Nasiriya called for the fall of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and set fire to the local office of his political party on Wednesday.

The demonstrators, enraged by military action against Iraqi Shia Muslim fighters in Najaf, screamed, "Down, down Allawi" and "Allawi, you coward, you American agent".

They held up posters of Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Muslim leader whose fighters have been challenging US and Iraqi forces in Najaf for seven straight days. Nasiriya is one of the seven cities where the Shia uprising has erupted in the past week - the biggest challenge to Allawi's interim government since it took over from the US occupation authority in late June. The bloodiest fighting is taking place in Najaf, where US helicopter gunships and warplanes have pounded al-Sadr's Al-Mahdi Army positions.

Workers at an oil-pumping station in southern Iraq said on Wednesday they have stopped operations in protest against the government's backing of the US offensive against followers of a-Sadr. The station in the southern Arab Shia town of Nasiriya cut supplies of refined products and liquefied natural gas to Baghdad, a statement by the workers said.

"We stopped pumping in protest of the inhuman conduct of the interim government and its cooperation with the occupation forces to ransack the holy city of Najaf and insult the Shia, their symbols and holy places," the statement said. Iraqi oil officials declined to comment. Clashes between US forces and the Al-Mahdi Army since last week have disrupted fuel and other supplies to Baghdad as roads became more hazardous and petrol stations were looted.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Video Purportedly Shows Killing of Iraq 'CIA Agent'

DUBAI (Reuters) - A Web site used by Islamic militants carried a video on Wednesday purporting to show militants beheading a "CIA agent" in Iraq. The four-minute long footage showed a Western-looking man sitting on a chair surrounded by armed masked men. One of the men struck the captive's neck repeatedly with a sword, severing his head amid shouts of "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest).

A militant later held up the severed head for the camera.

An Arabic sign placed around the man's neck identified him as a "CIA agent." The video, which could not be immediately authenticated, showed what seemed to be the captive's picture identification card with the caption "visitor." The Web site did not say which group issued the video, nor did the masked men identify themselves or make any political statements as previous kidnappers in Iraq had.

The men could be heard speaking in the background but the audio quality was too poor to understand. The tired-looking captive was wearing a plain shirt and trousers.

 

[Barking_Mad]

U.S. Troops Postpone Offensive in Najaf

U.S. troops postponed a planned offensive to root out Shiite militiamen they have been battling for a week in the holy city of Najaf, as the militants' leader, cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, urged his followers to battle on even if he is killed. Fighting persisted in the vast cemetery near Najaf's holiest site, the Imam Ali Shrine, where U.S. commanders say Mahdi Army militiamen have been holed up. Gunbattles between militants and coalition forces in two other southern cities killed 18 people.

Earlier Wednesday, the Marines said they were training Iraqi security forces in preparation to launch a major assault to root out the fighters. But later, a Marine commander said the offensive was postponed. No timeframe was given. "Preparations to do the offensive are taking longer than initially anticipated," U.S. Marine Maj. David Holahan. "It doesn't matter now, they know we're coming." It was not known whether commanders were planning a raid into the Imam Ali Shrine, an action that could enrage Iraq's Shiite majority and Shiites worldwide. Najaf's governor has given U.S. troops permission to enter the shrine compound.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Two U.S. Marines Killed in Helicopter Crash in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two U.S. marines were killed and three people wounded when a helicopter crashed in a volatile region west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Thursday. It said the helicopter was flying in support of "security and stabilization operations" in al-Anbar province on Wednesday night when it came down. No "enemy fire" was observed in the vicinity of the aircraft, it added. "The cause of the mishap is currently under investigation," the military said in a statement.

Bush: I know what I'm doing on Iraq

US president George Bush has hit back at Democratic rival John Kerry's criticism of his handling of Iraq, saying: "I know what I'm doing when it comes to winning this war."Bush used a re-election rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to sharply reject Kerry's proposal to begin to withdraw troops from Iraq within six months of taking office. "We all want the mission to be completed as quickly as possible. But we want the mission completed," the president said. "The mission is not going to be completed as quickly as possible if the enemy thinks we will be removing a substantial number of troops in six months."