Surge troops to stay as violence flares throughout Iraq: Iraqi and U.S. Forces Battle Shiite Militia

March 26, 2008

Iraqi and U.S. Forces Battle Shiite Militia

By MICHAEL KAMBER and JAMES GLANZ

BAGHDAD - Heavy fighting broke out Tuesday in two of Iraq's largest cities,

as Iraqi ground forces and helicopters mounted a huge operation to break the

grip of the Shiite militias controlling Basra, and Iraqi forces clashed with

militias in Baghdad. The fighting threatened to destabilize a long-term

truce that had helped reduce the level of violence in the five-year-old Iraq

war.

The battles, along with indications in recent weeks that militia and

insurgent attacks had already been creeping up, raised fears across Iraq

that Moktada al-Sadr, the renegade Shiite cleric, could pull out of a

cease-fire he declared last summer. If his Mahdi Army militia does step up

attacks, that could in turn slow American troop withdrawals.

There were also serious clashes in the southern cities of Kut and Hilla.

In Basra, American and British jets roared through the skies, providing air

support for the Iraqi military. A British Army spokesman for southern Iraq,

Maj. Tom Holloway, said that while Western forces had not entered Basra, the

operation already involved nearly 30,000 Iraqi troops and police forces,

with more arriving. "They are clearing the city block by block," Major

Holloway said.

The scale and intensity of the clashes in Baghdad kept many residents home.

Schools and shops were closed in many neighborhoods and hundreds of

checkpoints appeared; in some neighborhoods they were controlled by the

government and in others by militia members.

Barrages of rockets and mortar shells pounded the fortified Green Zone area

for the second time in three days. An American military spokesman said there

were two minor injuries to civilians in the Green Zone.

Even before the crackdown on militias began on Tuesday, Pentagon statistics

on the frequency of militia and insurgent attacks suggested that after major

security gains last fall, the conflict had drifted into something of a

stalemate. Over all, violence has remained fairly steady over the past

several months, but the streets have become tense and much more dangerous

again after a period of calm.

It is not clear how responsible the restive Mahdi militia commanders are for

stalling progress in the effort to reduce violence. In recent weeks,

commanders have protested continuing American and Iraqi raids and detentions

of militia members.

If the cease-fire were to unravel, there is little doubt about the mayhem

that could be stirred up by Mr. Sadr, who forced the United States military

to mount two bloody offensives against his fighters in 2004 as much of the

country exploded in violence.

Sadiq al-Rikabi, the prime minister's political adviser, and other Iraqi

officials said that just how the unrest in Baghdad was related to the

crackdown in Basra was unknown.

Sadr City, the Baghdad neighborhood that is the center of the Mahdi Army's

power, was sealed off by a cordon of Iraqi troops and what appeared to be

several American units. A New York Times photographer who was able to get

through the cordon found more layers of checkpoints, each one run by about

two dozen heavily armed Mahdi Army fighters clad in tracksuits and T-shirts.

Tires burned in the city center, gunfire echoed against shuttered stores,

and teams of fighters in pickup trucks moved about brandishing machine guns,

sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

"We are doing this in reaction to the unprovoked military operations against

the Mahdi Army," said a Mahdi commander who identified himself as Abu

Mortada. "The U.S., the Iraqi government and Sciri are against us," he said,

referring to a rival Shiite group whose name has changed several times, and

is now known as the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, which has an armed wing

called the Badr Organization.

"They are trying to finish us," the commander said. "They want power for the

Iraqi government and Sciri."

Basra, which until 2005 enjoyed relative peace, has since been riven by

power struggles among the Mahdi Army and local Shiite rivals, like the Badr

Organization and a militia controlled by the Fadhila political party, a

group that split from the Sadr party.

In the weeks leading up to the operation, Iraqi officials indicated that

part of the operation would be aimed at the Fadhila groups, which are widely

believed to be in control of Basra's lucrative port operations and other

parts of the city. The ports have been plagued by corruption, draining

revenue that could flow to the central and local governments. But the

operation also threatens the Mahdi Army's strongholds in Basra.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's government depends on support from the

Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq but is less dependent now on coalitions with

the Mahdi Army.

In Basra, Iraq's most important oil-exporting center, thousands of Iraqi

government soldiers and police officers moved into the city around 5 a.m.

and engaged in pitched battles with Shiite militia members who have taken

over big areas of that city.

The Basra operation, which senior Iraqi officials had been signaling for

weeks, is considered so important by the Iraqi government that Mr. Maliki

traveled to the city to direct the fighting, several officials said.

Although Sadr officials said the cease-fire was still in effect, on Monday

Mr. Sadr called for a nationwide civil disobedience campaign in response to

what his followers said was an unwarranted crackdown. Some Mahdi commanders

referred to an edict by Mr. Sadr saying their militias had the right of

self-defense.

A member of Mr. Sadr's political party in Basra, Sheik Abdul Sattar

al-Bahadli, complained bitterly about the enormous operation, claiming that

it was aimed at innocent people in Basra.

"We never witnessed such attacks even under the regime of Saddam Hussein,"

Mr. Bahadli said. "Maliki gave orders and said, 'Erase them.' "

But Mr. Maliki said in a statement that the operation was intended to root

out "outlaws" who, he said, were working with local confederates inside and

outside the government.

"The federal government, pressed by its obligations to support the local

government in Basra and support its officials, has decided to restore

security and stability and impose the law," the statement said

An American military official said the American-led coalition forces had

provided air transportation for the operation and were keeping "quick

reaction forces" on standby.

The official said coalition forces had supported Iraqi security forces in

clashes around Sadr City with "special groups" - a term reserved for what

American commanders say are Iranian-backed Shiite splinter groups, which

include portions of the Mahdi Army.

"A coalition forces helicopter also engaged targets north of Sadr City in

support of this operation," the official said, asserting that despite the

fighting, most of Baghdad had been peaceful and that there were still signs

of progress on security in most areas of Iraq and its capital.

"We feel that the cease-fire is being honored" by those loyal to Mr. Sadr,

the official said. The cease-fire, he said, "is in the best interest of all

Iraqis."

Many places in Baghdad were tense. At a checkpoint downtown, a policeman's

radio crackled with the news of the sniper shooting of a police officer in a

nearby neighborhood. "We've heard that Sadr has canceled the cease-fire, is

this true?" he asked motorists whose car he was searching.

In a statement issued late Tuesday, the military said an American soldier

was killed in Baghdad about 5.p.m. No other details were provided.

Witnesses in Basra said jets flew overhead as armored vehicles raced through

the city and machine gun and canon fire reverberated through the streets.

Civilians took refuge in their homes. Iraqi television showed images of

civilian gunmen with grenade launchers taking up positions and ambulances

ferrying the wounded to hospitals.

On Tuesday night, after about six hours of silence, armored vehicles and

helicopters could again be heard moving through the city, witnesses said.

Gunfire and shelling could be heard to the north.

In Baghdad, some areas were deserted as clashes broke out across the city.

In downtown Baghdad, checkpoints blocked sparse traffic every 100 yards.

Saeed Ammar, a government employee, said he was standing near policemen in

the Huriya neighborhood on Tuesday morning when he was approached by Mahdi

Army members. "They told me not to stand near checkpoints. They said, 'We

are waiting for the word from Moktada Sadr to attack the checkpoints - it

may come at any moment.' "

Despite the armed actions by many Sadr followers, members of Mr. Sadr's

party said the cease-fire was still in effect and called for peaceful civil

disobedience. In Najaf, hundreds of followers carrying Korans and olive

branches mounted a sit-in, chanting, "No to occupation, no to terrorism."

Sahar Gani, a teacher, was taking students home along a nearly deserted

Baghdad sidewalk. "The security situation is getting worse day by day," she

said. "The city is getting very bad now. We've been through this before, so

we find it natural. But we don't know what to do."

========================

Next few days will show more needless American casualties

jamezd wrote:

> On Mar 25, 10:57 pm, "Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names"

> <PopUlist...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>> On Mar 25, 10:53 pm, "Sid9" <s...@bellsouth.net> wrote:

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>> March 26, 2008

>>> Iraqi and U.S. Forces Battle Shiite Militia

>>> By MICHAEL KAMBER and JAMES GLANZ

>>> BAGHDAD - Heavy fighting broke out Tuesday in two of Iraq's largest cities,

>>> as Iraqi ground forces and helicopters mounted a huge operation to break the

>>> grip of the Shiite militias controlling Basra, and Iraqi forces clashed with

>>> militias in Baghdad. The fighting threatened to destabilize a long-term

>>> truce that had helped reduce the level of violence in the five-year-old Iraq

>>> war.

>>> The battles, along with indications in recent weeks that militia and

>>> insurgent attacks had already been creeping up, raised fears across Iraq

>>> that Moktada al-Sadr, the renegade Shiite cleric, could pull out of a

>>> cease-fire he declared last summer. If his Mahdi Army militia does step up

>>> attacks, that could in turn slow American troop withdrawals.

>>> There were also serious clashes in the southern cities of Kut and Hilla.

>>> In Basra, American and British jets roared through the skies, providing air

>>> support for the Iraqi military. A British Army spokesman for southern Iraq,

>>> Maj. Tom Holloway, said that while Western forces had not entered Basra, the

>>> operation already involved nearly 30,000 Iraqi troops and police forces,

>>> with more arriving. "They are clearing the city block by block," Major

>>> Holloway said.

>>> The scale and intensity of the clashes in Baghdad kept many residents home.

>>> Schools and shops were closed in many neighborhoods and hundreds of

>>> checkpoints appeared; in some neighborhoods they were controlled by the

>>> government and in others by militia members.

>>> Barrages of rockets and mortar shells pounded the fortified Green Zone area

>>> for the second time in three days. An American military spokesman said there

>>> were two minor injuries to civilians in the Green Zone.

>>> Even before the crackdown on militias began on Tuesday, Pentagon statistics

>>> on the frequency of militia and insurgent attacks suggested that after major

>>> security gains last fall, the conflict had drifted into something of a

>>> stalemate. Over all, violence has remained fairly steady over the past

>>> several months, but the streets have become tense and much more dangerous

>>> again after a period of calm.

>>> It is not clear how responsible the restive Mahdi militia commanders are for

>>> stalling progress in the effort to reduce violence. In recent weeks,

>>> commanders have protested continuing American and Iraqi raids and detentions

>>> of militia members.

>>> If the cease-fire were to unravel, there is little doubt about the mayhem

>>> that could be stirred up by Mr. Sadr, who forced the United States military

>>> to mount two bloody offensives against his fighters in 2004 as much of the

>>> country exploded in violence.

>>> Sadiq al-Rikabi, the prime minister's political adviser, and other Iraqi

>>> officials said that just how the unrest in Baghdad was related to the

>>> crackdown in Basra was unknown.

>>> Sadr City, the Baghdad neighborhood that is the center of the Mahdi Army's

>>> power, was sealed off by a cordon of Iraqi troops and what appeared to be

>>> several American units. A New York Times photographer who was able to get

>>> through the cordon found more layers of checkpoints, each one run by about

>>> two dozen heavily armed Mahdi Army fighters clad in tracksuits and T-shirts.

>>> Tires burned in the city center, gunfire echoed against shuttered stores,

>>> and teams of fighters in pickup trucks moved about brandishing machine guns,

>>> sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

>>> "We are doing this in reaction to the unprovoked military operations against

>>> the Mahdi Army," said a Mahdi commander who identified himself as Abu

>>> Mortada. "The U.S., the Iraqi government and Sciri are against us," he said,

>>> referring to a rival Shiite group whose name has changed several times, and

>>> is now known as the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, which has an armed wing

>>> called the Badr Organization.

>>> "They are trying to finish us," the commander said. "They want power for the

>>> Iraqi government and Sciri."

>>> Basra, which until 2005 enjoyed relative peace, has since been riven by

>>> power struggles among the Mahdi Army and local Shiite rivals, like the Badr

>>> Organization and a militia controlled by the Fadhila political party, a

>>> group that split from the Sadr party.

>>> In the weeks leading up to the operation, Iraqi officials indicated that

>>> part of the operation would be aimed at the Fadhila groups, which are widely

>>> believed to be in control of Basra's lucrative port operations and other

>>> parts of the city. The ports have been plagued by corruption, draining

>>> revenue that could flow to the central and local governments. But the

>>> operation also threatens the Mahdi Army's strongholds in Basra.

>>> Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's government depends on support from the

>>> Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq but is less dependent now on coalitions with

>>> the Mahdi Army.

>>> In Basra, Iraq's most important oil-exporting center, thousands of Iraqi

>>> government soldiers and police officers moved into the city around 5 a.m.

>>> and engaged in pitched battles with Shiite militia members who have taken

>>> over big areas of that city.

>>> The Basra operation, which senior Iraqi officials had been signaling for

>>> weeks, is considered so important by the Iraqi government that Mr. Maliki

>>> traveled to the city to direct the fighting, several officials said.

>>> Although Sadr officials said the cease-fire was still in effect, on Monday

>>> Mr. Sadr called for a nationwide civil disobedience campaign in response to

>>> what his followers said was an unwarranted crackdown. Some Mahdi commanders

>>> referred to an edict by Mr. Sadr saying their militias had the right of

>>> self-defense.

>>> A member of Mr. Sadr's political party in Basra, Sheik Abdul Sattar

>>> al-Bahadli, complained bitterly about the enormous operation, claiming that

>>> it was aimed at innocent people in Basra.

>>> "We never witnessed such attacks even under the regime of Saddam Hussein,"

>>> Mr. Bahadli said. "Maliki gave orders and said, 'Erase them.' "

>>> But Mr. Maliki said in a statement that the operation was intended to root

>>> out "outlaws" who, he said, were working with local confederates inside and

>>> outside the government.

>>> "The federal government, pressed by its obligations to support the local

>>> government in Basra and support its officials, has decided to restore

>>> security and stability and impose the law," the statement said

>>> An American military official said the American-led coalition forces had

>>> provided air transportation for the operation and were keeping "quick

>>> reaction forces" on standby.

>>> The official said coalition forces had supported Iraqi security forces in

>>> clashes around Sadr City with "special groups" - a term reserved for what

>>> American commanders say are Iranian-backed Shiite splinter groups, which

>>> include portions of the Mahdi Army.

>>> "A coalition forces helicopter also engaged targets north of Sadr City in

>>> support of this operation," the official said, asserting that despite the

>>> fighting, most of Baghdad had been peaceful and that there were still signs

>>> of progress on security in most areas of Iraq and its capital.

>>> "We feel that the cease-fire is being honored" by those loyal to Mr. Sadr,

>>> the official said. The cease-fire, he said, "is in the best interest of all

>>> Iraqis."

>>> Many places in Baghdad were tense. At a checkpoint downtown, a policeman's

>>> radio crackled with the news of the sniper shooting of a police officer in a

>>> nearby neighborhood. "We've heard that Sadr has canceled the cease-fire, is

>>> this true?" he asked motorists whose car he was searching.

>>> In a statement issued late Tuesday, the military said an American soldier

>>> was killed in Baghdad about 5.p.m. No other details were provided.

>>> Witnesses in Basra said jets flew overhead as armored vehicles raced through

>>> the city and machine gun and canon fire reverberated through the streets.

>>> Civilians took refuge in their homes. Iraqi television showed images of

>>> civilian gunmen with grenade launchers taking up positions and ambulances

>>> ferrying the wounded to hospitals.

>>> On Tuesday night, after about six hours of silence, armored vehicles and

>>> helicopters could again be heard moving through the city, witnesses said.

>>> Gunfire and shelling could be heard to the north.

>>> In Baghdad, some areas were deserted as clashes broke out across the city.

>>> In downtown Baghdad, checkpoints blocked sparse traffic every 100 yards.

>>> Saeed Ammar, a government employee, said he was standing near policemen in

>>> the Huriya neighborhood on Tuesday morning when he was approached by Mahdi

>>> Army members. "They told me not to stand near checkpoints. They said, 'We

>>> are waiting for the word from Moktada Sadr to attack the checkpoints - it

>>> may come at any moment.' "

>>> Despite the armed actions by many Sadr followers, members of Mr. Sadr's

>>> party said the cease-fire was still in effect and called for peaceful civil

>>> disobedience. In Najaf, hundreds of followers carrying Korans and olive

>>> branches mounted a sit-in, chanting, "No to occupation, no to terrorism."

>>> Sahar Gani, a teacher, was taking students home along a nearly deserted

>>> Baghdad sidewalk. "The security situation is getting worse day by day," she

>>> said. "The city is getting very bad now. We've been through this before, so

>>> we find it natural. But we don't know what to do."

>>> ========================

>>> Next few days will show more needless American casualties

>> But I thought Bush-Cheney-Petreaus told us that violence was down, the

>> surge is working, we are winning, Al Qaeda is on the run, and we are

>> being greeted with sweets and dancing in the streets. Did they lie to

>> us?- Hide quoted text -

>>

>> - Show quoted text -

>

>

> From recent ABC interview with Darth Cheny:

> When asked how that assessment comports with recent polls that show

> about two-thirds of Americans say the fight in Iraq is not worth it,

> Cheney replied, "So?"

>

> BUT, what he was really thinking was 'anyone who doesn't agree with

> the retard and me, can piss off.'

He knows he has enough dullards willing to swallow his swill that he

doesn't have a whole bunch to be concerned about.

There was never a truce. The US and Iraqi forces eliminated sadr's ability

to fight so sadr declared a truce and went into hiding to rearm. As soon as

he built up a little cache of weapons and a few handfuls of slobs willing to

die for sadrs dream of running Iraq he started taking pot shots at civillians

again. This spat of violence won't last long and with luck sadr will be killed

soon.

In alt.politics.usa.republican Sid9 <sid9@bellsouth.net> wrote:

: March 26, 2008

: Iraqi and U.S. Forces Battle Shiite Militia

: By MICHAEL KAMBER and JAMES GLANZ

: BAGHDAD - Heavy fighting broke out Tuesday in two of Iraq's largest cities,

: as Iraqi ground forces and helicopters mounted a huge operation to break the

: grip of the Shiite militias controlling Basra, and Iraqi forces clashed with

: militias in Baghdad. The fighting threatened to destabilize a long-term

: truce that had helped reduce the level of violence in the five-year-old Iraq

: war.

: The battles, along with indications in recent weeks that militia and

: insurgent attacks had already been creeping up, raised fears across Iraq

: that Moktada al-Sadr, the renegade Shiite cleric, could pull out of a

: cease-fire he declared last summer. If his Mahdi Army militia does step up

: attacks, that could in turn slow American troop withdrawals.

: There were also serious clashes in the southern cities of Kut and Hilla.

: In Basra, American and British jets roared through the skies, providing air

: support for the Iraqi military. A British Army spokesman for southern Iraq,

: Maj. Tom Holloway, said that while Western forces had not entered Basra, the

: operation already involved nearly 30,000 Iraqi troops and police forces,

: with more arriving. "They are clearing the city block by block," Major

: Holloway said.

: The scale and intensity of the clashes in Baghdad kept many residents home.

: Schools and shops were closed in many neighborhoods and hundreds of

: checkpoints appeared; in some neighborhoods they were controlled by the

: government and in others by militia members.

: Barrages of rockets and mortar shells pounded the fortified Green Zone area

: for the second time in three days. An American military spokesman said there

: were two minor injuries to civilians in the Green Zone.

: Even before the crackdown on militias began on Tuesday, Pentagon statistics

: on the frequency of militia and insurgent attacks suggested that after major

: security gains last fall, the conflict had drifted into something of a

: stalemate. Over all, violence has remained fairly steady over the past

: several months, but the streets have become tense and much more dangerous

: again after a period of calm.

: It is not clear how responsible the restive Mahdi militia commanders are for

: stalling progress in the effort to reduce violence. In recent weeks,

: commanders have protested continuing American and Iraqi raids and detentions

: of militia members.

: If the cease-fire were to unravel, there is little doubt about the mayhem

: that could be stirred up by Mr. Sadr, who forced the United States military

: to mount two bloody offensives against his fighters in 2004 as much of the

: country exploded in violence.

: Sadiq al-Rikabi, the prime minister's political adviser, and other Iraqi

: officials said that just how the unrest in Baghdad was related to the

: crackdown in Basra was unknown.

: Sadr City, the Baghdad neighborhood that is the center of the Mahdi Army's

: power, was sealed off by a cordon of Iraqi troops and what appeared to be

: several American units. A New York Times photographer who was able to get

: through the cordon found more layers of checkpoints, each one run by about

: two dozen heavily armed Mahdi Army fighters clad in tracksuits and T-shirts.

: Tires burned in the city center, gunfire echoed against shuttered stores,

: and teams of fighters in pickup trucks moved about brandishing machine guns,

: sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

: "We are doing this in reaction to the unprovoked military operations against

: the Mahdi Army," said a Mahdi commander who identified himself as Abu

: Mortada. "The U.S., the Iraqi government and Sciri are against us," he said,

: referring to a rival Shiite group whose name has changed several times, and

: is now known as the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, which has an armed wing

: called the Badr Organization.

: "They are trying to finish us," the commander said. "They want power for the

: Iraqi government and Sciri."

: Basra, which until 2005 enjoyed relative peace, has since been riven by

: power struggles among the Mahdi Army and local Shiite rivals, like the Badr

: Organization and a militia controlled by the Fadhila political party, a

: group that split from the Sadr party.

: In the weeks leading up to the operation, Iraqi officials indicated that

: part of the operation would be aimed at the Fadhila groups, which are widely

: believed to be in control of Basra's lucrative port operations and other

: parts of the city. The ports have been plagued by corruption, draining

: revenue that could flow to the central and local governments. But the

: operation also threatens the Mahdi Army's strongholds in Basra.

: Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's government depends on support from the

: Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq but is less dependent now on coalitions with

: the Mahdi Army.

: In Basra, Iraq's most important oil-exporting center, thousands of Iraqi

: government soldiers and police officers moved into the city around 5 a.m.

: and engaged in pitched battles with Shiite militia members who have taken

: over big areas of that city.

: The Basra operation, which senior Iraqi officials had been signaling for

: weeks, is considered so important by the Iraqi government that Mr. Maliki

: traveled to the city to direct the fighting, several officials said.

: Although Sadr officials said the cease-fire was still in effect, on Monday

: Mr. Sadr called for a nationwide civil disobedience campaign in response to

: what his followers said was an unwarranted crackdown. Some Mahdi commanders

: referred to an edict by Mr. Sadr saying their militias had the right of

: self-defense.

: A member of Mr. Sadr's political party in Basra, Sheik Abdul Sattar

: al-Bahadli, complained bitterly about the enormous operation, claiming that

: it was aimed at innocent people in Basra.

: "We never witnessed such attacks even under the regime of Saddam Hussein,"

: Mr. Bahadli said. "Maliki gave orders and said, 'Erase them.' "

: But Mr. Maliki said in a statement that the operation was intended to root

: out "outlaws" who, he said, were working with local confederates inside and

: outside the government.

: "The federal government, pressed by its obligations to support the local

: government in Basra and support its officials, has decided to restore

: security and stability and impose the law," the statement said

: An American military official said the American-led coalition forces had

: provided air transportation for the operation and were keeping "quick

: reaction forces" on standby.

: The official said coalition forces had supported Iraqi security forces in

: clashes around Sadr City with "special groups" - a term reserved for what

: American commanders say are Iranian-backed Shiite splinter groups, which

: include portions of the Mahdi Army.

: "A coalition forces helicopter also engaged targets north of Sadr City in

: support of this operation," the official said, asserting that despite the

: fighting, most of Baghdad had been peaceful and that there were still signs

: of progress on security in most areas of Iraq and its capital.

: "We feel that the cease-fire is being honored" by those loyal to Mr. Sadr,

: the official said. The cease-fire, he said, "is in the best interest of all

: Iraqis."

: Many places in Baghdad were tense. At a checkpoint downtown, a policeman's

: radio crackled with the news of the sniper shooting of a police officer in a

: nearby neighborhood. "We've heard that Sadr has canceled the cease-fire, is

: this true?" he asked motorists whose car he was searching.

: In a statement issued late Tuesday, the military said an American soldier

: was killed in Baghdad about 5.p.m. No other details were provided.

: Witnesses in Basra said jets flew overhead as armored vehicles raced through

: the city and machine gun and canon fire reverberated through the streets.

: Civilians took refuge in their homes. Iraqi television showed images of

: civilian gunmen with grenade launchers taking up positions and ambulances

: ferrying the wounded to hospitals.

: On Tuesday night, after about six hours of silence, armored vehicles and

: helicopters could again be heard moving through the city, witnesses said.

: Gunfire and shelling could be heard to the north.

: In Baghdad, some areas were deserted as clashes broke out across the city.

: In downtown Baghdad, checkpoints blocked sparse traffic every 100 yards.

: Saeed Ammar, a government employee, said he was standing near policemen in

: the Huriya neighborhood on Tuesday morning when he was approached by Mahdi

: Army members. "They told me not to stand near checkpoints. They said, 'We

: are waiting for the word from Moktada Sadr to attack the checkpoints - it

: may come at any moment.' "

: Despite the armed actions by many Sadr followers, members of Mr. Sadr's

: party said the cease-fire was still in effect and called for peaceful civil

: disobedience. In Najaf, hundreds of followers carrying Korans and olive

: branches mounted a sit-in, chanting, "No to occupation, no to terrorism."

: Sahar Gani, a teacher, was taking students home along a nearly deserted

: Baghdad sidewalk. "The security situation is getting worse day by day," she

: said. "The city is getting very bad now. We've been through this before, so

: we find it natural. But we don't know what to do."

: ========================

: Next few days will show more needless American casualties

:

--

-------------------

Keep working millions on welfare depend on you

On Mar 26, 12:41 pm, Jerry Kraus <jkraus_1...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> On Mar 25, 9:53 pm, "Sid9" <s...@bellsouth.net> wrote:

>

> > March 26, 2008

>

> > Iraqi and U.S. Forces Battle Shiite Militia

>

> Not for long. Congress is about to send Bush a zero-funding Bill. No

> money. No interest. No War.

"Few of us can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow

make sense. The thought that The State has lost its mind and is

punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence

has to be internally denied."

-- Arthur Miller

playwright

Frank Pittel wrote:

>

> There was never a truce. The US and Iraqi forces eliminated sadr's ability

> to fight so sadr declared a truce and went into hiding to rearm. As soon as

> he built up a little cache of weapons and a few handfuls of slobs willing to

> die for sadrs dream of running Iraq he started taking pot shots at civillians

> again. This spat of violence won't last long and with luck sadr will be killed

> soon.

Piddle Piddle Piddle. The US had nothing to do with it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/aug/30/iraq.ewenmacaskill

Thursday August 30 2007

The Iraqi militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, called a six-month truce yesterday after

fighting with a rival Shia Muslim group in the holy city of Kerbala left more than

50 dead.

A spokesman for the Mahdi army claimed they would lay down their weapons for six

months and, during this time, would attack neither other Shia groups nor the US

army.

...

> In alt.politics.usa.republican Sid9 <sid9@bellsouth.net> wrote:

> : March 26, 2008

>

> : Iraqi and U.S. Forces Battle Shiite Militia

>

> : By MICHAEL KAMBER and JAMES GLANZ

>

> : BAGHDAD - Heavy fighting broke out Tuesday in two of Iraq's largest cities,

> : as Iraqi ground forces and helicopters mounted a huge operation to break the

> : grip of the Shiite militias controlling Basra, and Iraqi forces clashed with

> : militias in Baghdad. The fighting threatened to destabilize a long-term

> : truce that had helped reduce the level of violence in the five-year-old Iraq

> : war.

Upon reflection, I'm convinced there are only two possibilities.

Either Al-Maliki is incredibly stupid or he is operating under Dubya's

orders who is operating under Cheney's orders with the intention of

escalating the war into Iran as quickly as possible. There is some

evidence in favor of Al-Maliki's stupidity, but I think it's the other

way around--and it is NOT a coincidence that this is the time of

year to do it.

Of course the problem is that we don't have the military force in

place to win against the Iranians. We can certainly give them a very

bloody nose, but we can't fight ANOTHER war, and a much more serious

one without big changes. Most obviously, we need more troops which

equals a draft--and the only way they can get it is if there is a

major provocation.

Conclusion? Could Dubya fail badly enough to allow a second Pearl

Harbor? Hard to imagine even for such a miserable failure--but he's

trying so hard to fail...

--

The truth alone will not make you free. However, it is one of the

prerequisites. Unless you know the truths underlying your options, you

cannot choose in freedom, whether you're buying laundry soap or a war.

Bushevik deadenders are simply slaves to the neo-GOP lies.