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March 28, 2008
Thousands in Baghdad Protest Basra Assault
By JAMES GLANZ and GRAHAM BOWLEY
BAGHDAD - In direct confrontation with the American-backed government in
Iraq, thousands of supporters of the powerful Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr
and his Mahdi Army militia took to the streets of Baghdad on Thursday to
protest the Iraqi Army's assault on the southern port city of Basra, as
intense fighting continued there for a third day.
In Basra, there seemed to be no breakthrough in the fighting by either side.
As much as half of the city remained under militia control, hospitals in
some parts of the city were reported full, and the violence continued to
spread. Clashes were reported all over the city and in locations 12 miles
south of Basra.
The Iraqi Army's offensive in Basra is an important political test for the
government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and for American forces
eager to demonstrate that the Iraqi units they have trained can fight
effectively on their own. President Bush sought to portray the fighting in a
positive light on Thursday, declaring the offensive by Mr. Maliki's
government a "bold decision."
But if the assault in Basra leads the Mahdi Army to break completely with
its current cease-fire, which has helped to tamp down attacks in Iraq during
the past year, there is a risk of escalating violence and of replaying 2004.
That year, the militia fought intense battles with American forces that
destabilized the entire country.
The assault has already touched off violent reprisals by some outraged Mahdi
supporters in other cities, including in Baghdad, where the boom of rocket
fire rattled the city all day Wednesday and continued Thursday with reports
of a rocket strike on the fortified Green Zone near the United States
Embassy.
One American was killed in Thursday's attacks, a government employee whose
identity was being withheld pending notification of the person's relatives,
according to a United States Embassy spokeswoman, Mirembe Nantongo, The
Associated Press reported. The A.P. also published a report saying that an
American financial analyst had been killed Sunday in attacks on the Green
Zone, but gave no source.
As a possible sign of the rising instability in the region, saboteurs blew
up one of Iraq's two main oil export pipelines from Basra, Reuters reported.
The oil pipelines were regular targets for insurgents earlier in the Iraqi
conflict, but Thursday's sabotage was the first time in several years that
the southern oil supply route had been disrupted, and oil prices rose
briefly after the attack.
In a speech at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, Mr. Bush said Mr.
Maliki's decision to wage the offensive "shows his leadership and his
commitment to enforce the law in an evenhanded manner."
"Iraqi forces planned this operation, and they deployed substantial extra
forces for it," the president said. He said the offensive "builds on the
security gains of the surge and demonstrates to the Iraqi people that their
government is committed to protecting them."
Mr. Bush predicted that the operation would last for some time.
In Baghdad, close-packed crowds numbering perhaps 5,000 demonstrated in Sadr
City, the focal point of the capital's protests, taking over the main
street, chanting, dancing, holding up banners, and declaring their readiness
to continue to oppose the Iraqi Army's attempt to wrest control of Basra
from Mr. Sadr's Shiite militiamen, a major onslaught that began on Tuesday.
"It is unfair," said one of the protesters, Jabbar Azem Hassan, 65. "They
are killing our sons and they are harming innocent people. We need to reform
the national government from all parts of the Iraqi populace."
Some of the protesters criticized the United States - Mr. Sadr considers the
Americans occupiers - but most of their criticism was aimed at Mr. Maliki
and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. Mr. Hakim leads the Islamic Supreme Council of
Iraq, which has emerged as a rival political force to Mr. Sadr's Mahdi Army
and also commands a rival militia, the Badr Organization.
The protesters criticized what they said was a strengthening alliance
between Mr. Hakim's political group and the Iraqi government to squeeze Mr.
Sadr from power. Mr. Maliki's government depends on support from Mr. Hakim's
party, reducing the need for alliances with the Mahdi Army and making it
easier for Mr. Maliki to move against it.
"Moktada is above our heads and Maliki is under our shoes," said one slogan.
There were other, smaller demonstrations in Baghdad. Many people had come
from all over Iraq to take part, according to witnesses.
Some of the signs and chants called for Mr. Hakim's execution, a measure of
the animosity that has grown up between the Mahdi Army and Mr. Hakim's
loyalists.
American officials have presented the attempts by the Iraqi Army to secure
Basra as an example of its ability to carry out a major operation on its
own. But a failure there would be a serious embarrassment for the Iraqi
government and for the army, as well as for American forces eager to
demonstrate that the Iraqi units they have trained can fight effectively on
their own.
During a briefing in Baghdad on Wednesday, a British military official said
that of the nearly 30,000 Iraqi security forces involved in the assault,
almost 16,000 were Basra police forces, which have long been suspected of
being infiltrated by the same militias the assault was intended to root out.
In a sign of the significance of the political test for Mr. Maliki, he
traveled to Basra to oversee the beginning of the assault and in a speech
broadcast Thursday on Iraqi television said the assault would continue "to
the end."
"We entered this battle with determination and we will continue to the end,"
he said, Reuters reported. "No retreat. No talks. No negotiations."
Any break by the Mahdi Army with its current cease-fire would make it harder
to begin sending home large numbers of American troops.
Mahdi Army commanders said Thursday that the cease-fire was still intact,
but that if the Basra assault continued and their grievances were not
addressed, they would follow the protests with a period of civil
disobedience and after that would take "appropriate next steps," without
saying what those steps would be.
Mr. Maliki issued an ultimatum on Wednesday for Shiite militias in Basra to
put down their weapons within 72 hours. Yet battles have continued, killing
at least 40 people by Wednesday and wounding 200 others, hospital officials
said.
Though American and Iraqi officials have insisted that the operation was not
singling out a particular group, fighting has appeared to focus on
Mahdi-controlled neighborhoods. In fact, some witnesses said Wednesday,
neighborhoods controlled by rival political groups seemed to be giving
government forces safe passage, as if they were helping them to strike at
the Mahdi Army.
Even so, the Mahdi fighters seemed to hold their ground on Wednesday.
Witnesses said that from the worn, closely packed brick buildings of one
Mahdi stronghold, the Hayaniya neighborhood, Mahdi fighters fired mortars,
rocket-propelled grenades, automatic weapons and sniper rifles at seemingly
helpless Iraqi Army units pinned on a main road outside, their armored
vehicles unable to enter the narrow streets.
The assault has also touched off continuing violence by outraged Mahdi
commanders in other major cities, including Baghdad, where the sprawling
urban slum of Sadr City forms the militia's power center in Iraq.
Most casualties in Basra have been civilians caught in the cross-fire,
hospital officials have said. The heaviest fighting outside Basra on
Wednesday appeared to be taking place in Kut, where officials said 10 people
had been killed by Wednesday and 31 wounded, mostly by mortar shells.
There were also deadly clashes in Diwaniya, Hilla and Amara, and the booms
of rocket fire rattled Baghdad all day Wednesday and continued Thursday,
with reports of a rocket strike on the Green Zone. The American military
said in a statement on Wednesday that 16 rockets had been fired into the
fortified Green Zone alone, wounding one American soldier, two American
civilians and an Iraqi Army soldier.
But it was in Basra where the fighting has been by far the most intense, and
terrified residents have huddled inside their houses because of a curfew and
because anyone on the streets risked being killed.
A Basra newspaper editor who asked that his name not be used for fear of
reprisals said most residents despised the Mahdi Army and welcomed the
assault. But he said it was obvious that the central government had not
consulted with local commanders in planning the assault, citing the
inability of the armored vehicles to fit through city streets.
Support for the assault already seemed to be eroding in several
neighborhoods, as militiamen retained control of their strongholds and
residents were confined in their homes. "The Mahdi Army is still controlling
most of these places," the editor said. "The result is negative."
Thousands in Baghdad Protest Basra Assault
By JAMES GLANZ and GRAHAM BOWLEY
BAGHDAD - In direct confrontation with the American-backed government in
Iraq, thousands of supporters of the powerful Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr
and his Mahdi Army militia took to the streets of Baghdad on Thursday to
protest the Iraqi Army's assault on the southern port city of Basra, as
intense fighting continued there for a third day.
In Basra, there seemed to be no breakthrough in the fighting by either side.
As much as half of the city remained under militia control, hospitals in
some parts of the city were reported full, and the violence continued to
spread. Clashes were reported all over the city and in locations 12 miles
south of Basra.
The Iraqi Army's offensive in Basra is an important political test for the
government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and for American forces
eager to demonstrate that the Iraqi units they have trained can fight
effectively on their own. President Bush sought to portray the fighting in a
positive light on Thursday, declaring the offensive by Mr. Maliki's
government a "bold decision."
But if the assault in Basra leads the Mahdi Army to break completely with
its current cease-fire, which has helped to tamp down attacks in Iraq during
the past year, there is a risk of escalating violence and of replaying 2004.
That year, the militia fought intense battles with American forces that
destabilized the entire country.
The assault has already touched off violent reprisals by some outraged Mahdi
supporters in other cities, including in Baghdad, where the boom of rocket
fire rattled the city all day Wednesday and continued Thursday with reports
of a rocket strike on the fortified Green Zone near the United States
Embassy.
One American was killed in Thursday's attacks, a government employee whose
identity was being withheld pending notification of the person's relatives,
according to a United States Embassy spokeswoman, Mirembe Nantongo, The
Associated Press reported. The A.P. also published a report saying that an
American financial analyst had been killed Sunday in attacks on the Green
Zone, but gave no source.
As a possible sign of the rising instability in the region, saboteurs blew
up one of Iraq's two main oil export pipelines from Basra, Reuters reported.
The oil pipelines were regular targets for insurgents earlier in the Iraqi
conflict, but Thursday's sabotage was the first time in several years that
the southern oil supply route had been disrupted, and oil prices rose
briefly after the attack.
In a speech at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, Mr. Bush said Mr.
Maliki's decision to wage the offensive "shows his leadership and his
commitment to enforce the law in an evenhanded manner."
"Iraqi forces planned this operation, and they deployed substantial extra
forces for it," the president said. He said the offensive "builds on the
security gains of the surge and demonstrates to the Iraqi people that their
government is committed to protecting them."
Mr. Bush predicted that the operation would last for some time.
In Baghdad, close-packed crowds numbering perhaps 5,000 demonstrated in Sadr
City, the focal point of the capital's protests, taking over the main
street, chanting, dancing, holding up banners, and declaring their readiness
to continue to oppose the Iraqi Army's attempt to wrest control of Basra
from Mr. Sadr's Shiite militiamen, a major onslaught that began on Tuesday.
"It is unfair," said one of the protesters, Jabbar Azem Hassan, 65. "They
are killing our sons and they are harming innocent people. We need to reform
the national government from all parts of the Iraqi populace."
Some of the protesters criticized the United States - Mr. Sadr considers the
Americans occupiers - but most of their criticism was aimed at Mr. Maliki
and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. Mr. Hakim leads the Islamic Supreme Council of
Iraq, which has emerged as a rival political force to Mr. Sadr's Mahdi Army
and also commands a rival militia, the Badr Organization.
The protesters criticized what they said was a strengthening alliance
between Mr. Hakim's political group and the Iraqi government to squeeze Mr.
Sadr from power. Mr. Maliki's government depends on support from Mr. Hakim's
party, reducing the need for alliances with the Mahdi Army and making it
easier for Mr. Maliki to move against it.
"Moktada is above our heads and Maliki is under our shoes," said one slogan.
There were other, smaller demonstrations in Baghdad. Many people had come
from all over Iraq to take part, according to witnesses.
Some of the signs and chants called for Mr. Hakim's execution, a measure of
the animosity that has grown up between the Mahdi Army and Mr. Hakim's
loyalists.
American officials have presented the attempts by the Iraqi Army to secure
Basra as an example of its ability to carry out a major operation on its
own. But a failure there would be a serious embarrassment for the Iraqi
government and for the army, as well as for American forces eager to
demonstrate that the Iraqi units they have trained can fight effectively on
their own.
During a briefing in Baghdad on Wednesday, a British military official said
that of the nearly 30,000 Iraqi security forces involved in the assault,
almost 16,000 were Basra police forces, which have long been suspected of
being infiltrated by the same militias the assault was intended to root out.
In a sign of the significance of the political test for Mr. Maliki, he
traveled to Basra to oversee the beginning of the assault and in a speech
broadcast Thursday on Iraqi television said the assault would continue "to
the end."
"We entered this battle with determination and we will continue to the end,"
he said, Reuters reported. "No retreat. No talks. No negotiations."
Any break by the Mahdi Army with its current cease-fire would make it harder
to begin sending home large numbers of American troops.
Mahdi Army commanders said Thursday that the cease-fire was still intact,
but that if the Basra assault continued and their grievances were not
addressed, they would follow the protests with a period of civil
disobedience and after that would take "appropriate next steps," without
saying what those steps would be.
Mr. Maliki issued an ultimatum on Wednesday for Shiite militias in Basra to
put down their weapons within 72 hours. Yet battles have continued, killing
at least 40 people by Wednesday and wounding 200 others, hospital officials
said.
Though American and Iraqi officials have insisted that the operation was not
singling out a particular group, fighting has appeared to focus on
Mahdi-controlled neighborhoods. In fact, some witnesses said Wednesday,
neighborhoods controlled by rival political groups seemed to be giving
government forces safe passage, as if they were helping them to strike at
the Mahdi Army.
Even so, the Mahdi fighters seemed to hold their ground on Wednesday.
Witnesses said that from the worn, closely packed brick buildings of one
Mahdi stronghold, the Hayaniya neighborhood, Mahdi fighters fired mortars,
rocket-propelled grenades, automatic weapons and sniper rifles at seemingly
helpless Iraqi Army units pinned on a main road outside, their armored
vehicles unable to enter the narrow streets.
The assault has also touched off continuing violence by outraged Mahdi
commanders in other major cities, including Baghdad, where the sprawling
urban slum of Sadr City forms the militia's power center in Iraq.
Most casualties in Basra have been civilians caught in the cross-fire,
hospital officials have said. The heaviest fighting outside Basra on
Wednesday appeared to be taking place in Kut, where officials said 10 people
had been killed by Wednesday and 31 wounded, mostly by mortar shells.
There were also deadly clashes in Diwaniya, Hilla and Amara, and the booms
of rocket fire rattled Baghdad all day Wednesday and continued Thursday,
with reports of a rocket strike on the Green Zone. The American military
said in a statement on Wednesday that 16 rockets had been fired into the
fortified Green Zone alone, wounding one American soldier, two American
civilians and an Iraqi Army soldier.
But it was in Basra where the fighting has been by far the most intense, and
terrified residents have huddled inside their houses because of a curfew and
because anyone on the streets risked being killed.
A Basra newspaper editor who asked that his name not be used for fear of
reprisals said most residents despised the Mahdi Army and welcomed the
assault. But he said it was obvious that the central government had not
consulted with local commanders in planning the assault, citing the
inability of the armored vehicles to fit through city streets.
Support for the assault already seemed to be eroding in several
neighborhoods, as militiamen retained control of their strongholds and
residents were confined in their homes. "The Mahdi Army is still controlling
most of these places," the editor said. "The result is negative."
