|
Phone calls risky at besieged Iraq base
Hunkering down in a military base in Najaf as hostile Shiâite militiamen control the streets outside, the head of the U.S.-led administration in the Iraqi shrine city says even making a phone call is dangerous. "If you watch the movies you would think that life as a diplomat is all cocktail parties and receptions," Phil Kosnett said on Saturday in the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) headquarters inside a base defended by Salvadoran soldiers that has come under frequent mortar and sniper attack. "That is not what it is about," he said. "I have people who are civilian information technology or administrative contractors who have been out lugging machine gun ammunition at forward fighting positions. My people have exposed themselves to sniper fire so that they could make a satellite phone call."The base has been virtually under siege ever since militiamen loyal to rebel Shiâite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr launched an uprising earlier this month. One Salvadoran soldier based in the city has been killed and several wounded. Sadr is holed up in Najaf protected by his militiamen and a 2,500-strong U.S. force has been sent to the outskirts of the city to confront him if talks on a peaceful solution fail. But even moderate Shiâite clerics have declared that if there is bloodshed in Najaf, there will be fury across Iraq. The Imam Ali shrine in Najaf and the nearby Kufa mosque are among the holiest sites in Shiâite Islam. "People are weary and anxious in anticipating the restoration of peace in the city. The great majority of Najafees were furious when Sadrâs militia took control of the city. They desperately want to see him gone," Kosnett said. "However, there is a great concern -- that coalition forces and the CPA share -- that Kufa mosque and the Shrine of Ali are not destroyed in the process." Colonel Dana Pittard, head of the 3rd Brigade Task Force that has assembled just outside the city, went in to Najaf in a Spanish military convoy on Saturday to visit the beleaguered CPA base. Kosnett told him the situation in Najaf was explosive, and that Sadrâs militiamen were not in full control. "They are gunmen and thugs and many of them have come to town to take advantage of the situation. One of the most complicated elements of the situation is that Sadr does not have total control over all gunmen and thugs who are running around the streets of Najaf," he said. "If Sadr could be trusted to peaceful resolution of the crisis that would be one thing. Now it is very difficult to say what is going to happen." This doesnât look like a situation that can easily be solved.
Posted by: Phil B 2004-04-18 |
|
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=30830 |