*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[Barking_Mad]

Residents flee 'major offensive' by US in Najaf

Residents in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf began fleeing their homes today as US and Iraqi forces sealed off entrances leading to the Imam Ali shrine, according to witnesses. The sound of heavy gun battles resonated throughout the city, signalling the beginning of a major offensive against Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army which had been promised in recent days.

"Major operations to destroy the militia have begun," said Major David Holahan, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines Regiment. Bradley fighting vehicles were seen at the southern entrance to the shrine, one of the most revered sites for Shia Muslims, urging citizens on loudspeakers to leave the old city.

"Leave the city. Help coalition forces and do not fire at them," the announcement said in Arabic. "We are here to liberate the city." The other main entrances leading to the shrine could not be approached amid fierce fighting, but residents said that they saw a large contingent of US forces closing in on the area. Fighters from the al-Mahdi Army have used the shrine as a base for the battle in Najaf, confident that US forces would not attack the area for fear of inflaming Shia Muslims around the world.

 

[Barking_Mad]

BBC speaking to an AFP reporter on Radio 5 this morning and he said that electricity and water supplies have been cut in the city, conditions are very poor.

 

[Barking_Mad]

This report was from Tuesday

The CSM also reported that doctors at Al-Hakim told relatives of wounded residents that US and Iraqi forces had taken over the city’s best-equipped hospital, turning it into a temporary military base and making if off limits to civilians. The use of civilian hospitals for combat operations and the prevention of civilian access to emergency facilities are both strictly forbidden by the Fourth Geneva Convention.

On Friday afternoon, US Marines moved closer to the sprawling cemetery and the Imam Ali Shrine in what is called Najaf’s "Old City." There, Mehdi fighters, who engaged in a series of fierce, running battles with the Marines, said they were committed to holding their ground near the holy sites.

A cleric close to Al-Sadr suggested, however, that a truce could be worked out if US troops pulled out of the city. "We can stop fighting if the Americans stop fighting, but right now, we’re defending, not attacking," Sheikh Mushtaq Al-Khaffarji told the CSM.

Residents in Najaf expressed both outrage and weariness over the continued fighting in their city. Amad Kamal, an unemployed auto mechanic who supported the US when it ousted Saddam Hussein, told the CSM that he and many of his neighbors are now angry with the United States for both the fighting and the lack of jobs.

But Kamal also said Al-Sadr’s militia deserves some of the blame for the recent fighting. "There are not really that many people who support Al-Sadr," he said. "People are tired. We might support the uprising mentally, but we are tired."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Kurdish authorities seize UN equipment, claiming national ownership

Aug 11 - Under the premise that UN equipment bought with Iraq's oil money belongs to the Iraqi people and not the United Nations, Kurdish officials have ordered agents to seize millions of dollars worth of UN assets in the city of Irbil in Northern Iraq.

"They seized 40 vehicles, 400 to 500 communications items, everything from walkie-talkies to satellite units," Fred Eckhard, spokesperson for UN Secretary General Kofi Anna told the Washington Post. According to Eckhard, "200 computers, printers, copiers, air conditioners" and other items were also taken. "In addition," he continued, "they went to the UN storehouse, broke the padlocks, replaced them with their own locks and said these are now their assets."

During its administration of Iraq's former oil-for-food program, which ran between December 1996 and May 2003, the United Nations used Iraqi oil revenues to employ 900 international aid workers and 2,500 Iraqis as well as purchase much of the equipment now appropriated by Kurdish authorities, reports the Post. While UN officials insist United Nations is still the legal owner of the property, Kurdish officials said the UN and US-led occupation authorities gave the assets to local Iraqi authorities in June, only to change their minds later. The seizures, which began in late June, follow similar actions by Kurdish authorities in the city Sulaymaniyah.

 

[Barking_Mad]

A few photos on the BBC site of life inside Najaf

 

[Barking_Mad]

BBC speaks to some 'experts' on whether the Najaf strategy will work and the security elsewhere in Iraq.

Analysis: Will Najaf strategy work?

DR TOBY DODGE,
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES, UK
The US military in Iraq today are in an unenviable position. In the aftermath of the transfer of sovereignty on 28 June 2004, their official role is to act in support of the new Iraqi security services. This matches the political imperative in Washington of keeping US casualties in Iraq to a minimum in the run-up to the US presidential election in November 2004.

This goal of returning US troops to barracks has left large areas of the country without a visible security force. US and Iraqi government forces have been forced out of Falluja, with the fighters of the insurgency now dominating Ramadi and Samarra and both sides fighting for control of Mosul.


In the south of the country, the government of Iraq and the US army have clearly decided to make a stand in Najaf, the spiritual home of Iraq's majority Shia population. However, Moqtada Sadr's main base of support is not the Shia holy cities, but instead the Baghdad suburb of al-Tharwa (Sadr City).

This slum of up to two million people will become the battleground against Mr Sadr and his Mehdi Army. US forces have had great difficulty operating here, fighting in crowded and narrow streets, with a lack of local knowledge. Against the background of a two-front revolt, the security situation in Iraq is steadily deteriorating, with the insurgency's geographic areas of operations growing steadily each day. There is a real danger that if this situation is not quickly turned around then Iraq's new Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, will become little more than the mayor of Baghdad.

 

[nino_savatte]

Sterling work as ever Barking!

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi National Guard, Rebels Clash In Southern Iraq: Polish Army

WARSAW, Aug 11 (AFP) - Iraqi national guards and rebels clashed in the southern Iraqi city of Kut Wednesday, killing and injuring several people on both sides, a spokesman for the Polish multinational force said. "Groups of armed rebels attacked city hall, as well as police and national guard posts. There are deaths and injuries on both sides," Artur Domanski said according to Polish news agency PAP.

"How many deaths and injuries occurred is unknown," the spokesman said, adding that Ukrainian troops stationed in the area as part of the force were on alert. But he said that troops belonging to the multinational force under Polish command would not be used to defend public buildings in the city. Earlier in the day, two Iraqi national guards were killed in Kut when militias blocked city roads and besieged the regional governor's building, according to an AFP correspondent.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Clashes Resume In Sadr City

BAGHDAD, Aug 11 (AFP) - A series of loud explosions was heard here late Wednesday as a spokesman for Moqtada Sadr said clashes had resumed in the Iraqi capital between the radical cleric's militia and US troops. The explosions started at about 10:00 pm (1800 GMT) and appeared to come from the northeastern part of the capital in the direction of Sadr City, a stronghold of the young cleric.

"Clashes are going on right now," Sheikh Abdul Hadi al-Darraji told AFP by telephone from Sadr City without providing further details. The US military was not immediately available for comment. The Iraqi government imposed Monday a 4:00 pm (1200 GMT) to 8:00 am (0400 GMT) curfew in Sadr City.

Fighting raged Wednesday in the Shiite holy city of Najaf in central Iraq for a seventh day between Sadr's militia and US and Iraqi forces, with the violence spreading to the south as well as Baghdad.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi Militia Vows No Surrender in Najaf

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Shi'ite militia loyal to radical Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr vowed on Thursday to defend their positions in the holy city of Najaf despite a major offensive by U.S. marines. "We have been fighting U.S. forces for 8 days. We are going to continue fighting them for another 8 days. We are fully prepared to repulse any attack on our positions," Ahmed al-Shibani, a senior spokesman for Sadr in the city, told Reuters.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Kut seems to be seeing lots of fighting but the mainstream news services are generally ignoring it, or only making a brief mention, and instead treating everyone to the same recycled Najaf stories

At least 72 killed in fighting in Iraq's Kut

BAGHDAD, Aug. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- At least 72 people were killed and nearly 150 wounded overnight in fighting between Iraqi police backed by US airstrike and Shiite militia in the southern Iraqi city of Kut, Health Ministry said on Thursday. According to the ministry, most victims were killed when US forces launched air raid to the southern city, some 170 km south of Baghdad. Kut was one of the cities which have witnessed over the past week a bloody Shiite uprising against US forces and Iraqi national guardsmen and police.

 

[Barking_Mad]

More demonstrations around Iraq. Allawi seem to be running a real risk if the US doesnt get its way pretty quickly.

Demonstrations

As news of the offensive filtered in, thousands of Shi'ites took to the streets in Basra and a Baghdad district to protest. "Long live Sadr, America and Allawi are infidels," thousands of protesters in Basra chanted. A similar protest took place in Baghdad's Shi'ite neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah.

"Allawi is the enemy of God," they chanted. The demonstrations follow big protests in the streets of Nassiriya and several other cities on Wednesday. There were no figures for casualties in Najaf but a Reuters photographer said he had seen dozens of dead militiamen in civilian houses. He said the bodies had been taken from the battle zone and covered in ice to preserve them before burial.

It was unclear when they had been killed. In the city of Kut, smoke rose from the police headquarters as explosions rattled the city and gunfire crackled. Despite the tightening military noose in Najaf, Sadr has ordered his men to keep fighting if he is killed or captured. The latest fighting has shattered a two-month truce between U.S. forces and their most vocal critic in Iraq.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Najaf's No. 2 Resigns In Protest At US 'Terrorist' Acts

BAGHDAD, August 12 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The deputy governor of the restive Iraqi city of An-Najaf resigned on Thursday, August 12, in protest at the 'terrorist' acts of the US occupation forces as deadly raids into the holy city has left hundreds of Shiite fighters and civilians killed. Jawdat Kazem Al-Kurashi said in a statement carried by Aljazeera satellite channel that he could not wait and see his homeland and Shiite holy shrines being desecrated by US forces.

"I strongly condemn such terrorist acts [of the US forces], which badly damaged our holy city and killed hundreds of civilians," he said. Thousands of US forces stormed An-Najaf early on Thursday in a full-scale assault against Mahdi Army of Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr, whose followers have been battling occupation forces for eight consecutive days. An-Najaf fighting is part of a Shiite uprising in several cities across central and southern Iraq. It is the second rebellion from the Mahdi Army in four months. An-Najaf Governor Adnan Al-Zofri said on August 6 that US occupation forces killed 400 Iraqis and detained 1,000 others in the bloody clashes that erupted a day earlier.

The bloodbath in the holy city seemed to have pit Iraqi officials against one another, who differed on how to end the crisis in An-Najaf. Iraq's interim deputy president Ibrahim Al-Jaafari urged Wednesday US troops to leave An-Najaf. "I call for multinational forces to leave An-Najaf and for only Iraqi forces to remain there," Jaafari said in remarks broadcast on Al-Jazeera television. "Iraqi forces can administer An-Najaf to end this phenomenon of violence in this city that is holy to all Muslims." Sadr renewed Wednesday his call for his supporters to keep fighting US occupation forces even if he was killed or captured.
The Iraqi health ministry said on Thursday that clashes across war-torn Iraq have left 165 people dead and nearly 600 wounded in the last 24 hours.

A ministry spokeswoman said 75 people were killed and 148 wounded from US bombing in the Shiite dominated Al-Sharkiya district of Kut, while 44 died and 164 were wounded in Baghdad clashes, mostly in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP). She said the fighting at An-Najaf left 25 dead and 153 wounded, while 14 were killed and 77 wounded in Amara, and clashes in Diwaniya left seven dead and 52 wounded.

Sunni and Shiite leaders have slammed the bloodbath and called upon the international community to rein in the Americans. "Such incidents are similar to the days of the former regime when Saddam Hussein used to commit mass killings, while they [the Americans] make public funerals," Spokesman for the Sunni Muslim Scholars Association Bashar Al-Faidi.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Stryker brigade slammed by insurgents

August 10, 2004

It didn't get much media coverage, but troops from the Stryker brigade say fighting last Wednesday in Mosul was the heaviest and most sustained combat they've seen in their nine months in Iraq. Insurgents with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, AK-47s and improvised bombs fought a series of coordinated, running attacks against Stryker and Iraqi troops. One estimate put the number of attackers at 30 to 40, another at more than 100.

Either way, U.S. and Iraqi forces killed an undetermined number of them - the official estimate is at least a dozen - while suffering no losses themselves.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Roadside blast kills UK soldier

A British soldier has died after an improvised explosive detonated at the side of a road in the Iraqi city of Basra, the Ministry of Defence said. Another soldier was seriously injured in the attack on Thursday, Major Tim Smith confirmed.

Details about the dead soldier would not be released until next of kin had been informed, he added. It is the second death of a British soldier this week, bringing the total toll to 64 since the Iraq war began. Pte Lee O'Callaghan, 20, was killed on 9 August when British troops came under fire in Basra.

The single 20-year-old from London was serving with the 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment based at Tidworth. UK troops were earlier involved in clashes with Shia militiamen in the southern Iraqi city of Amara, which left 10 insurgents dead. Another 50 Iraqis and two British soldiers were wounded in the operation overnight on Wednesday, launched to stop insurgents from firing mortars at troops in the city.

Shadowy Iraqi Shiite group warns all those working with British troops

BASRA, Iraq (AFP) - A shadowy Shiite militant group in the southern Iraqi city of Basra warned that it will kill all those working with British troops controlling the region. "We will kill everyone working with British troops including contractors, interpreters and others," said a statement from the Abu al-Abbas Islamic group received by AFP Thursday.

It was not immediately clear if the group had any direct links with the Mehdi Army militia of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr which is clashing with US and Iraqi forces in Najaf further north. Local deputy governor for administrative affairs Salam al-Maliky, a staunch Sadr supporter, warned late Wednesday to transform Basra into "another Najaf" if US troops did not end their assault on the holy city. Iraq (news - web sites)'s oil exports from Basra, the only outleft, have been slashed in half since Monday after Maliky called for all exports and production to halt in protest against the Najaf fighting.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Fighting Escalates in Central Iraq

Fighting escalated in central Iraq Thursday between U.S. forces and Shiite gunmen loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Sadr, amid reports of dozens of casualties. The battles intensified before dawn Thursday in the holy city of Najaf as U.S. forces opened tank fire, to which the gunmen belonging to Sadr's al-Mehdi Army responded with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and automatic fire.

Security sources said dozens of Shiite gunmen were killed or wounded in Najaf and nearby Kout on Wednesday and Thursday. They said the battles gained momentum after the al-Mehdi Army launched a mortar attack on a main U.S. military base between Najaf and adjacent Koufa. Najaf governor Adnan al-Zarfi denied Thursday that the Iraqi government intended to liquidate Moqtada Sadr, saying the military operation was aimed at pacifying Shiite gunmen involved in security violations in Najaf, including attacks on police stations and government centers.

He said Najaf's prominent religious and political figures were preparing an initiative to halt the violence.

 

[Barking_Mad]

At last, a very brave and excellent report from inside Najaf by The Times journalist, Stephen Farrell. Definately worth the read given the general crap being reported elsewhere........

Inside the besieged city of Najaf

Stephen Farrell, left, of The Times, relays this dramatic account of what he found in the centre of Iraq's holy city of Najaf, which is beseiged by US and Iraqi forces today. "We reached the golden-domed shrine of Imam Ali this morning after a tortuous journey through lines of American tanks and Mahdi army checkpoints on the outskirts of the city. "Inside we found a scattering of Mahdi fighters and commanders in alcoves and rooms off the giant, white courtyard. But most fighters remain dug in to the snipers' nests and ambush points in the streets around. "At 11am a jet fighter flew over the shrine, to shouts of Tayaara! (aircraft) from the fighters as pigeons scattered in panic. "We found Sheikh Ahmed Shaibahni, a senior Mahdi army commander, sat with his men in a tiny, carpeted alcove, with bullets and prayer stones lying beside vases of artificial yellow flowers.

"On the walls were countless images of Hojetoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr against varying backgrounds portraying him as fighter, preacher, nationalist, scion of a revered Shia family of Ayatollahs, and as the inheritor of Thu al-Fiqar, the double-headed sword of Imam Ali, the son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed, who is adored by Shia Muslims. "Sheikh Shaibhani received frequent updates from the front line just a few hundred metres away, by telephone and text message on his tiny Nokia phone.

"Wearing aviator shades and a dish-dash (Arabic tunic), he told The Times: 'At 7am this morning there was an attack along three different axis from the Sea of Najaf (the desert to the west of the city). I saw ten US tanks myself. "'They came in from the west and the south. There were also some helicopters attacking the cemetery to the north, and fighting is still ongoing. "'We have been shelling their positions from the green roundabout in the town centre, using mortars. Our intelligence has been giving us reports that they have been evacuating their wounded.' "He insisted that the US had not penetrated the vast cemetery to the north, which has been the seat of fierce fighting for the last week, although junior, sweat-stained Mahdi fighters later confirmed that they had.

"Sheikh Shaibahni insisted that al-Mahdi army had been expecting the assault. He said: 'We have been expecting that every day. It is either a massive attack or a massive withdrawal, and we expect the second, because there are lots of political pressure in Baghdad.' "Even as he spoke, the black smoke rose from the old city behind him, where one photographer said that a pocket of Mahdi fighters he had left just a minute earlier appeared to have been killed by a direct hit on the building in which they were hiding.

"The explosions were also punctuated by apparent attempts to negotiate. Sheikh Ali Smaisin, a senior al-Sadr aide, shouted into a mobile telephone: 'Just tell them to withdraw the American forces from the old city until negotiations are finished - then they can do what they want.' It was unclear to whom he was talking. "Throughout the day a stream of injured Mahdi fighters filed into and out of the one emergency medical station inside the shrine, receiving bandages and dressings for their wounds. There was no sign of heavy casualties.

"We walked to the edge of the cemetery, with the incongruous name Valley of Peace. The Times saw numerous electrical wires stretching from Mahdi implacements into the vast sprawl of tombs, mausoleums and shrines, indicating that al-Sadr's forces had had plenty of time to lay booby traps. "'The Americans and al-Mahdi army are now both in the cemetery together,' said one Mahdi fighter, with a Kalashnikov and the green bandanna showing his readiness to be a martyr.

"From the loudspeakers on the Imam Ali shrine, preachers proclaimed 'God bless you' and other rousing messages to Hojetoleslam al-Sadr's forces. "Mahdi officials told us that the US cordon extends around the south and west of the city, and the vast cemetery to the north. But the forces of Hojetoleslam al-Sadr are not entirely hemmed in because the approach routes to the west - the Sea of Najaf - are still open.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi Rebel Leader Warns of Attack on Bulgarian Troops

SOFIA (bnn)- An Iraqi rebel leader said Thursday followers of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr would attack Bulgarian troops in Kerbala unless Sofia condemns a U.S. offensive against Sadr's militaiamen in Najaf. "They will be hit," Sheikh Muhammad al Musal, one of Sadr's aides in Kerbala said referring to the Bulgarian troops. Speaking in a telephone interview for the Sofia-based Darik Radio he said "nobody will attack them if they come forward with a declaration condemning the action of the American forces in Najaf."

U.S. warplanes bombed targets near the house of radical Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf as U.S. marines battled militiamen in the area. Bulgaria, a staunch U.S. ally, has a 470-soldier infantry battalion in Kerbala, another holy Shi'ite city north of Najaf.

Portugal Undecided on Withdrawing Troops from Iraq

Portugal’s government has not yet decided whether to withdraw its 128-strong military contingent from Iraq at the end of its one-year mandate in November, Interior Minister Daniel Sanchez said Aug. 12. “No policy decision on maintaining the national guard unit (in Iraq) has yet been made,” Sanchez said at Figo Maduro military airport near Lisbon, where he met with soldiers returning on rotation. A replacement unit was sent to Iraq this week. “This decision will be made before next Nov. 12,” when the current mandate expires, the minister said. A poll in early June revealed that 70 percent of Portuguese want their troops brought home.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi Sunnis Warn Security Forces Against Supporting U.S. Forces In Najaf

BAGHDAD, Aug 12 (AFP) - Iraq's top Sunni Muslim body on Thursday warned the security forces against supporting the US military in the fight at the holy city of Najaf. The Association of Muslim Scholars issued a fatwa, or religious edict, forbidding Muslims from offering any support to the forces of "occupation."

"It is forbidden for any Muslim to cooperate with the occupation forces and killing their own brothers and fellow citizens," it said. "Iraqi police and members of civil defence (national guards) should fear God's punishment and wrath of the people as they battle with the occupation and participate in the shedding of their brothers' blood."

Calling the Najaf fight as an act of "genocide" by the US forces, the association said the clashes in the holy city were against both sharia Islamic law and civil laws. "What is going in Najaf at the hands of American forces is nothing but genocide and criminal acts forbidden by sharia and civil laws as it is affecting everyone who rejects the occupation," it said.

"It is affecting the holy Muslim values and the shrines. It makes thousands of women and children leave the city." US troops backed by Iraqi forces sealed off all approaches to the heart of Najaf, which includes the revered Imam Ali shrine, as US warplanes pounded militia positions and residents fled the fifth day of fighting. The unprecedented intensity of the fighting in Najaf raised fears of a high casualty toll.

Iraqi PM Calls On Militia To Surrender In Najaf

BAGHDAD, Aug 12 (AFP) - Iraq`s interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi on Thursday demanded Shiite Muslim militiamen surrender and evacuate the shrine in the holy city of Najaf, after eight days of heavy fighting. "Our government calls on all armed groups to drop weapons and return to civil society. The political process is open to everyone and all are invited to take part," said a statement from Allawi read out by the interior minister.

"We also call on armed men to evacuate the holy shrine and not to violate their holiness," added Falah al-Naqib at the press conference. The shutdown of a vital oil pipeline in southern Iraq following the threat of militia attacks has led to losses of about 60 million dollars, the statement added.

 

[Barking_Mad]

U.S. tactics seen raising Iraqi cleric's support

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Shiites, Sunnis denounce fighting in holy city of Najaf - The Shiite merchants around Baghdad's Kazimain Mosque have historically opposed the ways of Moqtada al-Sadr and his father, but they condemned the U.S. offensive against the cleric and his followers Thursday.

Iraqis are becoming appalled by the U.S. use of bombers, tanks, helicopters, thousands of Marines and the surrounding of the Imam Ali shrine in a battle to dislodge Moqtada's lightly armed militiamen from the holy city of Najaf. They say such tactics will not help stabilize Iraq. "If the United States kills Moqtada it will be a tragedy for Iraq and the whole of Shiism. I do not particularly like some of his criminal followers, but bloodletting should stop," said Mohammad Aziz, who imports textiles from Asia. "The Americans do not realize that the Iraqis they are massacring are our cousins and relatives. They must use their brains. Sadr also has to realize that even Saddam could not fight them (the United States)."..........

..........Even Sistani's followers have expressed support for the young Sadr, who has sworn not to surrender. Followers of Rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr continue to fight with U.S. and Iraqi forces in the holy city of Najaf. Click "Launch" to see images of the clashes. The Americans will not crush us by killing Moqtada. We have given them until January to hold elections and then they must leave. Moqtada's problem is that he is not patient as Sistani," said jewelry shop owner Faleh Kawthar.

Down the street, hundreds of students from the Sadr Seminary marched quietly, holding pictures of Sadr and asking about news of their leader. "We will triumph even if we are defeated militarily in Najaf. It is already clear that the U.S. installed government of (Prime Minister) Iyad Allawi has effectively fallen," said head preacher Hazem al-Araji. Across the Tigris, at the Imam Abu Hanifah Mosque in the staunch Sunni district of Adhamiya, worshippers expressed support for Sadr, saying he was a nationalist whose "anti-occupation" campaign found resonance among Sunni and Shiite Muslims....

....."Moqtada dispelled the American myth that resistance is confined to what they call the Sunni triangle," said Imam Moyad al-Adhami. "The Americans are also having to deal with a 'Shiite triangle' in Amara-Nassiriya-Basra and elsewhere. You will not see an end to resistance."

 

[Barking_Mad]

BBC Radio 5 just carried out an interview with a US Sergeant who went to great lengths to say how this was an Iraqi Army led attack on Sadr's forces and that the US were playing a definiate secondary role and how they were invite there by the 'Governor of Najaf'.

Several minutes lates they interviewed a US reporter who was in Najaf and he could barely disguise his amusement at the idea and said that there were hardly any Iraqis involved and those that were, were only providing back-up to the US. He went on to say that in private many US troops would admit the Iraqi military is woefully underprepared to carry out or take part in such an operation.

That puts that myth to bed then.

 

[Barking_Mad]

US Forces Storm Home of Iraq Rebel Cleric in Najaf

Aug. 12, 2004 — NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. forces stormed the home of rebel Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the holy city of Najaf on Thursday, witnesses said. They said servicemen went into the house in the center of the city after warplanes bombed nearby targets and battled militiamen loyal to Sadr.

The cleric was thought to be at Imam Ali shrine, about one mile away.

Coalition Forces Seize Weapons, Rebels in Najaf, Ministers Say

Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition forces in Najaf have captured weapons and about 1,200 militiamen as they battle with insurgents loyal to Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al- Sadr for an eighth day, Iraqi defense and interior ministers said in a televised press conference in Baghdad.

Al-Sadr's militia, known as the Mahdi Army, last Thursday began an insurgency against Iraqi and coalition forces in southern cities including Najaf, where they occupy the Imam Ali Mosque, the holiest Shiite Muslim site in Iraq. Insurgents earlier fired 25 mortars from within the courtyard of the mosque, according to an e-mailed statement from the U.S. military in Baghdad.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Interesting opinion piece.

Iraq's phase II: Deadlier than ever

GulfNews - Dubai - 10 August 2004 - Iraq entered a deadlier and murkier second phase of fighting and bloodshed this past week. This is certain to deepen the American quagmire, threaten the longevity of Prime Minister Eyad Allawi's government and, unfortunately for Iraqis, usher in a new phase of internecine killing via suicide and car bombings, such as the hideous attacks in Mosul and Baghdad against Christian worshippers.

By far the most ominous new development could be a widening of the conflict that draws Iran into it. Allawi has officially named his giant neighbour, Iran, as trouble-maker-in-chief last week, accusing it of standing behind the rebellious cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and the fighting that left more than 300 dead in the holy city of Najaf.

This is a serious charge as grievous damage was done to innocent people, their commerce, their homes and some of the holiest Shiite sites there.

From Iran's perspective, there is little question what happens in Najaf is its business. Any damage there cannot leave a single Iranian ruler the option of remaining neutral, regardless of whether they are among moderates or hard-liners. The Shiite religious heritage is a shared one between Iraq and Iran.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Najaf council in disarray

SIXTEEN of Najaf's 30-member provincial council resigned today in protest at the US-led assault on the central Iraqi city.

"We have decided to resign due to what has befallen Najaf and all of Iraq from the hasty US invasion and bombardment of Najaf," the council said in a statement received by AFP.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Intelligence analyst questions U.S. efforts in Iraq

When Army Intelligence analyst Tucker McGerald gets out of the service, he wants to be a “civilian burger flipper.” The Nashua native returned from Iraq last week after being deployed for 14 months. He came back to his wife and family looking exactly the same, they say, but his views on life have definitely changed. “I had my romantic vision about humanity torn down,” McGerald said. “It got reduced to quivering hunks of meat.”

According to McGerald, he often saw fellow soldiers and Iraqis die for frivolous reasons. He recounted a time when an Iraqi car was shot at, killing the driver, because it was driving toward soldiers past curfew.

“I studied and obsessed over the enemy,” McGerald said. “That was my job.” McGerald went on to say he is often at odds with himself because at times he does not believe in the necessity of the war in Iraq. “We have a big mess,” he said. “Some of our efforts are just going in the wrong direction.” McGerald said the United States’ intentions in the war are “ignorant.” He said he doesn’t think it’s possible for a democracy to be built in Iraq.

......McGerald said he often feels sympathy for the Iraqi people. “A good 90 percent of the guys we were fighting were guys that just wanted us out of their country,” McGerald said. “If we had a foreign army here, it would be the same.”

 

[Barking_Mad]

Bechtel, sewage, fat contracts and a waste of fucking money

"Bechtel got angry at me when I talked to Azzaman," he says, referring to a major Iraqi newspaper. "We were supposed to be back on line in June, then September. Now it's January. Every day we send untreated sewage into the river, thousands of people downstream become sick." He pauses. "This work is more important than schools. It's more important than hospitals. This is about preventing problems."

Will Rustimiyah South be on line by New Year's? For a moment it seems like Numan won't answer the question, then, looking in the pit below, he says, "No, this will not get done. The parts aren't even here yet." Asked about these problems, Bechtel spokesman Francis Canavan acknowledged the regrettable delays in the sewage rehab work but attributed them to the complicated nature of the task: Many old machines have to be custom rebuilt in Europe. And then there is the abysmal security. Looting and ambushes on all the main highways have held up the arrival of crucial parts.

But Iraqi engineers and engineering professors I interviewed at water-treatment plants and power stations and at Baghdad University all claim that the work could be going much faster if the "accumulated knowledge" of Iraqi engineers were put to better use.

"These systems, their repairs, they are not all on some blueprint somewhere," says Gazwan Muktar, a rather intense, highly intellectual retired electrical engineer. "You need to have the people who spent twenty years running these irrigation canals or power plants to be there. They know the tricks; they know the quirks. But the foreign contracts ignore Iraqis, and as a result they get nowhere!"

 

[Barking_Mad]

Not found this anywhere else, but it comes from the AFP.

Basra Official Wants Iraqis To Replace Us Troops In Najaf

BASRA, Aug 12 (AFP) - An official from the southern province of Basra offered to send 1,000 Iraqi forces to Najaf to replace US forces, threatening to take matters into his own hands if the government did not respond. Basra's deputy governor for administrative affairs and a staunch supporter of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr offered to send 1,000 Iraqi police, special security and national guardsmen to help restore order in the holy city.

Their deployment would allow US troops to withdraw, Hajj Salam Awdeh al-Maliky said, as a joint US-Iraqi offensive against Sadr's Mehdi Army entered its second week. If the government failed to respond within a couple of hours, he pledged to take action. Some national guardsmen in Basra had even said they would not hesitate to join Sadr's militia if Maliky's offer was rejected.

Late Wednesday, Maliky warned that Basra would turn into a battlefield if the US military stormed the inner sanctum of Najaf. "Basra will become another Najaf," he said. US and Iraqi forces were closing in Thursday on the old city of Najaf where Sadr's Mehdi Army militia were holed up around a sacred Shiite shrine amid continuing heavy fighting. US marines raided Sadr's home in an eastern sector of Najaf but found it empty, the cleric's spokesman Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani told AFP.

 

[Barking_Mad]

UK journalist kidnapped in Basra

A British journalist has been abducted from his hotel in the city of Basra. James Brandon, a freelance reporter for the Sunday Telegraph, was kidnapped after 30 masked gunman stormed into his hotel at 2300 (1900GMT) on Thursday. Hours later a video tape was released showing a hooded militant standing next to a barechested Mr Brandon, threatening to kill him.

Iraqi militants have been waging a kidnapping campaign against westerners in recent months.

It's also been reported he may have been shot twice.

edit: more from the same link:

A hotel employee said the gunmen burst into the hotel and demanded the receptionist show them the guest book, according to the AFP news agency. "One of them then said 'how dare you have foreigners in your hotel' and then they stormed upstairs," the employee reportedly said.

"We then heard two shots and minutes later they were dragging the British journalist down and he was bleeding." The British Foreign Office said it had unconfirmed reports that a British national had been kidnapped in Basra. A spokesman said: "We're trying to establish the facts and are working with the local authorities and trying to contact the next of kin."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Sadr wounded in Najaf

Shia militiamen are using the Imam Ali shrine as a refuge. The radical Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has been wounded in fighting in the holy city of Najaf, according to his spokesmen. Mr Sadr is believed to have suffered three separate injuries, but an aide has said his condition is stable.

The news came hours after Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi urged fighters loyal to Mr Sadr to lay down their arms in the fight with US-led troops. Mr Allawi said the insurgents should leave the revered Imam Ali shrine. The BBC's Matthew Price reports from Najaf that a temporary truce appears to have been negotiated for some of the wounded to be brought out of the city.

A spokesman for Mr Sadr said talks with the Iraq-US force had so far failed to reach agreement but would continue. Mr Sadr is said to be holed up in the sacred compound housing the shrine with his followers.

 

[Barking_Mad]

When reality televison is about as far from reality as possible........

Iraq's Prime Minister suppresses media - New media regulations may help feed Iraqis 'reality TV' instead of actual reality

Al Sharqiya -- "The Eastern One" -- is a satellite network staking its future on soap operas, music videos and reality TV, including "Labor and Materials," Iraq's first effort at "reality" television. "In 15-minute episodes," the Christian Science Monitor reported, "broken windows are made whole again. Blasted walls slowly rise again. Fancy furniture and luxurious carpets appear without warning in the living rooms of poor families. Over six weeks, houses blasted by US bombs regenerate in a home-improvement show for a war-torn country.

"The idea is simple: Take Iraqi families whose houses were destroyed. Rebuild their houses, filling them with new goods, all donated by viewers who respond to the message flashed at the end of the show. (Donations count as zakat, the one-fifth of yearly income all Muslims must give to charity.)"

Al Sharqiya, Iraq's first privately owned satellite channel, is owned by the London-based Iraqi media tycoon Saad Bazzaz, who also owns the Arabic-language daily Azzaman and "is reputed to have political ambitions," the CSM reported.