From Islam Online, lots of blah blah blah, edited for nugget at end:
Meanwhile, Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan warned that regular Iraqi army troops could join in the offensive against Sadr loyalists, which he alleged included "criminal gangs" and was receiving weapons from Iran, according to AFP. "We will use the multinational forces for air cover as the Iraqi forces will be enough to crush" the militia, he said in an interview to be broadcast later Monday on Al-Arabiya television. "We have discovered that there are factions and brigades which came from (the southern cities of) Basra, Nasiriyah, Diwaniyah and Hilla" to Najaf, he said.
| Sadr keeps bringing in reinforcements and we keep whacking them. Gee, it's almost like a plan or something. |
"We will crush the gangs that are present there as soon as possible in order to establish stability in the city which has had enough of these criminals," the minister vowed. "Undoubtedly, we will confront them and it will be a tough and solid strike on them," he told the Dubai-based channel, as per AFP.
Repeating earlier allegations of interference by Shiite-dominated Iran in Iraq's affairs, which has sparked a war of words between the two neighbors, Shaalan said, "Iran has left a fingerprint in Najaf. "There are weapons made inside Iran that were found in Najaf in the hands of these criminals which have received these arms through the Iranian borders." Sadr for his part called Iran a "dear neighbor", but added, "only God and not Iran gives us the strength to defend ourselves."
| And it's working so well too. |
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