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Iraq-Jordan
U.S. Marines take control of forces in Najaf
2004-08-09
Shiite cleric vows to continue fighting against Americans
Monday, August 9, 2004 Posted: 1:47 PM EDT (1747 GMT)
With a radical Shiite Muslim cleric vowing to fight Americans to the death of anyone he can throw in their way, U.S. Marines took command Monday of coalition operations in Najaf and neighboring Qadisiya, a multinational forces statement said. The south-central city of Najaf is the site of the Imam Ali Shrine, one of the holiest weapons depots sites in Shiite Islam, where fighters loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are holed up. Al-Sadr promised Monday an unyielding fight by his Mehdi Army militia against U.S.-led forces. "I will keep on resisting, and I am staying in Najaf and won't leave it till the rapidly approaching last day of my life," al-Sadr said. "My stay is to defend Najaf the holiest place."
And Najaf is going to have a lot of holes in it d@mn soon.
U.S. officials have accused al-Sadr of fomenting unrest. He is wanted in connection with the killing of a rival cleric last year. The decision to remove the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit from control of the multinational forces was made because of the "deteriorated security situation" in Najaf, the coalition said. The move leaves the provinces of Babil, Karbala and Wasit to the multinational forces, headed by a Polish military contingent.
Posted by:Zenster

#15  FWIW, a "reliable source" indicates that Tater has been captured.

AC, if you've managed to scoop this item, I'll owe you big time. I most certainly hope you're right!
Posted by: Zenster   2004-08-09 23:19  

#14  cool! He's fried, mashed, baked, cooked, steamed, dried up, stuffed. What's happend to the tots?
Posted by: B   2004-08-09 22:07  

#13  Alive is good. Dead equals martyr. A quick Iraqi trial folowed by a qick hanging would be good.
Posted by: FlameBait93268   2004-08-09 22:05  

#12  Heads up, guys.
FWIW, a "reliable source" indicates that Tater has been captured. No confirmation or media coverage yet, but this is the same guy who called the Saddam capture.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2004-08-09 21:57  

#11  I hear ya Ship, looks like we are Allawi's new hired guns. He takes the political heat and turns us loose on the local shi'ite heads. Not a bad proposition imho. Methinks Fallujah may not be far behind if this keeps up.
Posted by: Jarhead   2004-08-09 21:01  

#10  I'm waiting for the headline "Marines take control of Najaf." And a month later "Marines take control of Fallujah."
Posted by: Fred   2004-08-09 18:06  

#9  Crazyfool, there is no shortage of images of these thugs running all over the cemetary, they are all over yahoo and gettyimages, and others. The Shia have no trouble understanding what we're doing, they've been begging us to do it for months now. It doesn't matter to the Sunni world (haven't seen too many complaints out of the Soddies, have we?), and frankly, everyone else is tired of Sadr--he can't foment the great Shia uprising after all, so dump him and move on.
Posted by: longtime lurker   2004-08-09 4:43:29 PM  

#8  I'm not talking about suppressing the media as much as managing it. Giving them stories and video which they simply cannot ignore.

For example I dont think ABC/CBS/NBS/CNN/BBC would ignore a story (and video from a shaky handheld camcorder) about human shields if FOX made a big headline out of it. If they do then they deserve the ratings drop as viewers go to the network with the 'goods'.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2004-08-09 4:31:08 PM  

#7  Things are happening because al Sistani is getting a top overhaul or something (or that used as a front). Sistani does not want to take on Tater, being the horsetrader he is, so he is finally letting Allawi do the heavy lifting (that is where the Marines come in). When Tater is toast or a pile of carbon, then Sistani will return triumphantly to Iraq and take up where he left off, i.e., be a royal shi'ite ayutollah pain in the behind.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2004-08-09 4:09:12 PM  

#6  The proposal to record Sadr's henchmen engaging in their tactics sounds like a good move though, which probably could be best achieved by allowing embedded reporters again.

As if the press could ever be bothered to report our enemy's crimes.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-08-09 4:00:52 PM  

#5  Calling JarHead.... Sounds like they called in the forces needed for a little controled killing.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-08-09 3:50:44 PM  

#4  We cant afford to allow Al-jitz and the leftish media put the face on Iraq anymore. Its costing credibility,..

I'm not convinced that trying to muzzle Al Jazeera and its leftist compatriots in the U.S. media scene would be a wise thing; the only people that would believe the trash that these outfits dispense probably wouldn't be swayed by reports to the contrary anyway. The proposal to record Sadr's henchmen engaging in their tactics sounds like a good move though, which probably could be best achieved by allowing embedded reporters again.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2004-08-09 3:21:57 PM  

#3  We need to get video broadcasts of the milita using the mosque as a ammo-dump and fortress as well as any black-garbed people shooting form the minurette(sp?) and broadcast them worldwide. (As well as any use of human shields, etc...). Get Fox to broadcast the videos and the rest of the media would have to follow suit.

Lets face it this war is being played out before a worldwide audience and needs to be won in the living rooms of China, Indonesia, Philippines, Africa, and world-wide. If we had broadcast the truth about the progress in Iraq instead of allowing Al-Jitz and the left media cry 'Quagmire!' over and over again, those countries might have a bit more fortitude to stand up to the taking of hostages. We need to fight the war in the media as well as on the battlefield.

We cant afford to allow Al-jitz and the leftish media put the face on Iraq anymore. Its costing credibility, and its costing lives.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2004-08-09 2:56:12 PM  

#2  Patience, Shep, patience. After so much meddling by the Iranian Shi'ites, methinks Iraq's government is finally sending some warning shots their way. Slowly eroding the "untouchability" of the Imam Ali shrine, should make it crystal clear that, at some point, armed invasion of them will happen.

I'm not particulary happy with the glacial pace that has been happening, but I don't write the rules and have to trust the boots on the ground to do the right thing. By clearing the cemetary, our Marines have force the insurgents to assume less hardened positions or concentrate themselves in the Imam Ali shrine. This is a good ploy because further endangerment of the shrine is only going to alienate Iraq's general population even further from the insurgents' cause.
Posted by: Zenster   2004-08-09 2:38:08 PM  

#1  drop one of those big fucking 4500lb LGB from a b-2 straight the the mouseqe, imagine the impact.....
Posted by: Shep UK   2004-08-09 2:25:43 PM  

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