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Mahdi Army attacks on two fronts
American troops fought simultaneous battles on Tuesday with rebel Shiite militiamen in Najaf and the Baghdad slum of Sadr City. But American commanders, preparing new battle orders, appeared to have deferred for the time being any decision to mount full-scale assaults on the rebels, weighing the consequences for their wider aim of bringing stability to Iraq.On the sixth day since fighters loyal to the rebel Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr renewed their challenge to the American presence here, American units showed signs of rising impatience. In Najaf, loudspeakers atop patrolling Humvees urged residents to evacuate the city and warned Mr. Sadr's fighters to "leave the city, or you will die." As night fell in Sadr City, tanks and attack helicopters moved into militia-controlled neighborhoods, and American attack jets and pilotless Predator drones patrolled overhead. With elections planned by the end of January, many Americans and Iraqis here say that Mr. Sadr's challenge offers a difficult choice. Either it will have to be answered with force now, at the risk of igniting an explosion of anger among Iraq's majority Shiite population, or with negotiation as it was at the time of Mr. Sadr's last lengthy uprising in the spring, with consequences that could cause the election plans and much that lies beyond them to unravel. Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-08-11 |
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