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| Iraq-Jordan |
| US forces battle Iraqi militiamen |
| 2004-08-07 |
| US-led forces in Iraq have clashed with Shia militiamen in several cities, in a second day of fighting that has shattered a truce agreed in June. A US military spokesman said 300 supporters of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr had been killed in Najaf - a claim denied by Mr Sadr's Mehdi militia. There has also been fighting in a Shia area of the capital Baghdad, and in a number of southern cities. Mr Sadr's aides have called on Muslims to take up arms against "occupiers". The latest violence in Najaf, home to Shia Islam's holiest shrine, is being described as the worst there since June's truce agreement. The June deal ended a two-month uprising by Mr Sadr's Mehdi militia against the coalition across central and southern Iraq. Lieutenant Colonel Gary Johnston of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Baghdad put the number of pro-Sadr militiamen killed in Najaf during Thursday and Friday at 300. But a spokesman for the militia denied this, saying just 36 fighters had been killed across Iraq over the past two days. The two sides blame each other for starting the latest outbreak of fighting. The US military reports that at least two American troops have been killed in Najaf during the fighting, and a US helicopter has been shot down, injuring two. "The marines are here and I think you know how they operate," said Lt Col Johnston. "If you kill a marine, the marines are going to fight back." Friday saw US helicopter gunships fire rockets at Najaf's vast Valley of Peace cemetery, where militiamen are based. Mr Sadr's aides called on the interim government to "intervene to stop the American attacks". But the governor of Najaf province, Adnan al-Zorfi, on Friday urged the Mehdi militia to leave the area within 24 hours or face a continuing offensive. "There is no compromise or room for another truce," he said. Mr Sadr's aides have accused US troops of damaging a minaret of Najaf's holiest shrine, the mausoleum of Imam Ali. They are calling on local Muslims to "take up arms to defend your holy places against the occupiers". The cleric, meanwhile, in a message read out by an aide in the city of Kufa, near Najaf, declared the US his "enemy". "The Iraqi president said 'America is our friend', but I say 'America is our enemy'," Sheikh Jaber al-Khafaji quoted Mr Sadr as saying. In the Shia suburb of Sadr City in Baghdad, at least 19 people were killed and more than 110 wounded during clashes between Mehdi militiamen and US troops on Thursday and Friday. Another two Iraqis were reported killed in clashes between US forces and insurgents in the city of Samarra. Further south, British troops on Friday clashed with Mehdi militiamen for a second consecutive day in Basra. Reuters news agency said residents took shelter as street battles raged in the city centre. At least two militiamen died in a gunfight with UK soldiers on Thursday. Multinational troops also came under fire in the southern cities of Amara and Nasiriya on Friday. The health ministry said six Iraqis had been killed and 13 others wounded in Nasiriya since Thursday. Italian soldiers exchanged fire with assailants who attacked their positions and a police station overnight, an Italian military spokesman said. "It has been an extremely tense night and we are maintaining maximum alert," Captain Ettore Sarli, chief spokesman for Italian forces in Nasiriya, told Reuters news agency early on Friday. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #14 Ask the 300 dead ragheads how well we learned that lesson Helen........bwhahahaha. Lock & Load baby. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-08-08 12:37:39 AM |
| #13 Hellen, are you willing to spell out what you think the Beirut lesson is? This gloating about past "victories" is a common practice for terror apologists, who ignore that the whining, pleading, and begging by their own side on behalf of "innocents" and "peaceful resolution" was a major reason that we abandoned these conflicts. The invited inference of the gloating, that we were defeated by superior will or superior force, is simply a lie. It is an important lie, though, for its constant repetition by vile propagandists like Fisk, Pilger and Raven is one of the reasons that these thousands of naive jihadis actually believed that they would have a chance in a direct confrontation with American forces. During the initial invasion of Iraq last year, for instance, American troops expressed amazement at the suicidal jihadi practice of driving cars straight at American tanks. The Arab and western collaborator (hard left) media, it turns out, had been full of heroic fantasies about such tactics destroying the invading tanks in wholesale lots. I am not without pity---- and, therefore, I believe that the blood of the slaughtered jihadis is at least partly on the hands of lying leftists who incited and encouraged them. That includes you. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-08-07 8:11:24 PM |
| #12 Helen, on the contrary, what you are seeing now is because the US finally understands the lesson of Beirut. The only way to deal with terrorists is to implacably, inexorably kill them all and NEVER retreat. When we pulled out of Beirut, we encouraged these animals and Beirut began a long sad decline. I'd say Tater's Tots are going to be deep fried. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-08-07 3:06:08 PM |
| #11 Didn't Sadr's militia lose something like 4000 dead in May? Marine B. Gen Kelly said it best, "We shoot them down like the morons they are." |
| Posted by: ed 2004-08-07 12:03:56 PM |
| #10 I like my baked Tater covered in bacon bits [smirk] |
| Posted by: Oldspook 2004-08-07 11:07:53 AM |
| #9 UMMMMM! Baked tater with sour cream and butter. I can hardly wait. |
| Posted by: Craig 2004-08-07 10:08:29 AM |
| #8 Could be the last peel for the tater. |
| Posted by: Mr. Davis 2004-08-07 9:03:20 AM |
| #7 Got it backwards Ellen, Beriut hasn't learned it's American lesson yet. Sit down and have a cookie. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-08-07 8:50:08 AM |
| #6 On rereading my comment: Apollogies for not making much sense, I blame sleep-deprivation so I'll just shut up and hed for the hay now. |
| Posted by: Heisenbergmayhavebeenhere 2004-08-07 7:37:57 AM |
| #5 #4, I agree with you. Apparently the US did not learn the Beirut lesson well yet ! |
| Posted by: Hellen 2004-08-07 6:33:45 AM |
| #4 Good point SH I was wondering about that to, one would think that the Mahdi""Army"" would have learned something from the previous rounds by now. |
| Posted by: Heisenbergmayhavebeenhere 2004-08-07 3:24:39 AM |
| #3 The 300 number is unusual in two respects: it is a very high figure and it is one of the few times that US forces are claiming a body count. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-08-07 2:24:59 AM |
| #2 So how long does the fighting have to go on before the idiot reporters stop mentioning the "shattered truce agreed in June"? Weeks? Months? Years? |
| Posted by: PBMcL 2004-08-07 2:23:11 AM |
| #1 I'd like to know more about those minarets. If they were harmed, shame, no? But of bigger concern is how big is this uprising. Does it signal Iranian involvelment. Is there a large shiite backing? Is it all going to shit? I'd be surprized if it didn't! |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-08-07 1:50:45 AM |