U.S. launches offensive in Najaf

[cal04]

More than 50 Iraqis killed in clashes across country

The U.S. military Thursday launched a major offensive against Iraqi militants loyal to renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf, south of Baghdad. CNN's Matthew Chance, embedded with U.S. Marines, said the assault by the U.S. military includes tanks, heavy weapons and armored vehicles. According to Chance, the fighting is taking place in close proximity as members of al-Sadr's Mehdi Army jump out of buildings to fire rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at American forces.

The U.S. offensive comes a day after al-Sadr urged his armed followers to keep up their battle even if he is seized or killed.
Iraqi and U.S. troops have been fighting al-Sadr's Mehdi Army for a week. The cleric has many supporters in Baghdad, particularly in the Sadr City neighborhood, and in southern Iraqi cities.
U.S. military authorities warned Wednesday that a showdown was coming.

"Iraqi and U.S. forces are making final preparations as we get ready to finish this fight that the Muqtada militia started," Col. Anthony Haslam, commanding officer of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, said in a statement.Al-Sadr, in a statement Wednesday, was resolute about continuing the battle but thanked those people who he said worked to establish peace in the city. Over the weekend, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the the United Nations was "ready to extend its facilitating role to the current crisis." Al-Sadr had said Tuesday that he welcomed the help. Still, the violence continued into Wednesday. Over a 24-hour period that ended in the morning, 57 Iraqis in other al-Sadr strongholds were killed in clashes.

Of those, 29 died in the Meisan province in southeastern Iraq, a Ministry of Health official said. Fourteen people were killed in Baghdad, and 10 died in Diwaniya province. Basra reported four deaths, according to the official, who added 323 Iraqis were wounded.

On Tuesday, U.S. forces used loudspeakers to urge militants to surrender and residents to evacuate battle zones in the south-central city, which has an estimated population of about a half-million.
Members of the Mehdi Army militia are holed up in the city's Imam Ali Shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam, and in the Wadi al Salam cemetery.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/08/12/iraq.main/index.html

[David Dunham]

1. This attack will start a full rebellion and many US troops will die.

What a fool Bush is.

[madrchsod]

2. the day of the living dead---

fighting and dieing in the oldest graveyard in the world..this is one battle that will go down in history....

[wtmusic]

3. what are they thinking

I'm embarrassed to be an American

[Rowdyboy]

4. Totally unwinnable....The Golden Mosque, one of Islaam's holiest

sites will we destroyed. Whether we bomb it, or the Shia's booby-trap it, it will be destroyed and we will be blamed. Then, this war will get really nasty...

CNN ALERT: THE OFFENSIVE ON NAJAF HAS BEGUN!1:00 AM CENTRAL

[enigmatic]

5. This is bad....

Here comes the bloodbath..

[Dangerman]

6. Get ready for Vietnam all over again...

[Fleshdancer]

7. Is CNN now reporting from CNN International???

I'm watching CNN right now and it's showing the situation. It looks like helicopters are circling around and there's a lot of smoke rising from the ground. One of the newscasters has what sounds like a British accent and there's a red bar on the top of the screen with "breaking news" written on it...something I'm not use to seeing from domestic CNN coverage.

Now the caption says "US troops on the outskirts of Holy Mosque".

I don't know. I have a bad feeling about this.

On edit: Is this the mark of a Holy War?

[cal04]

8. You're not the only one having bad feelings about this

wishing there was something I could do.

Explosions and gunfire echoed across the holy city of Najaf on Thursday as the U.S. military and Iraqi forces launched a full-scale assault to crush a weeklong uprising by militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.


Thousands of U.S. troops were taking part in the offensive, which began with the cordoning off of the revered Imam Ali shrine, its vast cemetery and Najaf's Old City.

"Major operations to destroy the militia have begun," said U.S. Marine Maj. David Holahan, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines Regiment.

The assault was expected to be led by Iraqi forces — many of whom have only minimal training — in an effort to lessen the anger from Iraq (news - web sites)'s Shiite majority, should the offensive damage the shrine where many of the insurgents have taken refuge.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040812/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_najaf&cid=540&ncid=716

[wtmusic]

17. "wishing there was something I could do"

that kind of says it all, as my tax dollars go to destroying life and property on the other side of the world with no justification whatsoever.

I'ma have a drink and go to bed. x(

[Bush was AWOL]

9. Are we trying to provoke Iran?

This is not good news.

[Sparkly]

10. CNN's own online poll today showed 70-some-odd percent support

for attacking the mosques.

Smooooth move, huh?

What the HELL are people thinking?! This whole endeavor has been "strong" when it needed to be smart, and weak when it had painted itself into corners where backing down would obviously lead only to greater problems in the long run.

And they just keep painting, and attacking, and painting, and attacking, and the corners get smaller and smaller.

[Fleshdancer]

15. For some, a Mosque in the ME and a Black church in Birmingham are okay...

...to destroy. Bigotry. Racism. Ignorance. Hate.

70%, eh? Scary.

[DrWeird]

11. Everybody realizes it's about the polls.

Right?

[wtmusic]

14. Not today, not tomorrow, but

the mentality is this is a rebellion we can put down if we kick ass now. They don't want lingering violence near the election (they're going to get plenty).

Really fucking stupid.

[jdonaldball]

12. So, has Osama sent flowers to W yet, to thank him for this?

This is exactly what Al Qaeda want to see.

[Sparkly]

13. Is there any news source reporting on this live?!

CNN and MSNBC cut away to their usual irrelevance...

[Bluebear]

16. No, sorry, Amber Frey testified today

Much more important, you know.

[wtmusic]

19. Killing 56 civs in Kut doesn't even get a mention

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x744567

[gauguin57]

18. I'm looking at ABC middle-of-the-night news,

and trying to tune in CNN headline news on the half-hour (but our cable system switches to local-yokel cable access programming on that channel, periodically pre-empting CNN Headlines).

On edit: Yeah, what in the hell is with the 24-hour-Amber-Frey channel? Right in the middle of Bush's escalating war crimes? WHO IN THE HELL CARES ABOUT SCOTT PETERSON? Cheating skank ... what's so unusual about that? Husband/boyfriend who probably killed his wife/girlfriend, after lying about "she went jogging," "she went to the store" ... what's so unusual about that? Happens all over this country all the time! My hometown has a missing new mom, a recently-murdered pregnant woman (done in by her married lover), and a couple of other long-time missing moms. Why doesn't CNN want to ask about them?

[Fleshdancer]

20. CNN did for a few minutes

Nothing is more disturbing than watching US forces bomb a city then suddenly Paula Zahn pops up on the screen looking at me with her fake smile and botoxed forehead talking about something I don't care about. Not exactly a cure for insomnia.

[wtmusic]

21. Hey, let's check Al-Jazeerah! Oh yeah...

they've been democratized.

[robcon]

22. This sounds like an important battle...

in the fight against Islamofascism.

[DrWeird]

23. Or againt christofascism.

Call me an American, but I tend to root for the ragtag militiamen fighting overwhelming odds against evil, abusive overseas superpowers that have the largest, most powerful military in the worl. Superpowers that do things like rape, torture, and block freedom of the press.

[cal04]

24. Najaf official resigns as fighting continues

Thursday 12 August 2004, 8:21 Makka Time, 5:21 GMT

The deputy governor of Najaf has resigned in protest against the US offensive on the city while a series of explosions rocked Najaf as fighting between US marines and Al-Mahdi fighters enters a second week.

"I resign from my post denouncing all the US terrorist operations that they are doing against this holy city," Jawdat Kadam Najim al-Kuraishi, deputy governor of Najaf said on Thursday.



The resignation came as the crackle of machine-gun fire echoed from the southern parts of the city. Smoke could be seen from the area early on Thursday, witnesses said. The US occupation military had earlier threatened an offensive against Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr's Al-Mahdi army.

In turn, al-Sadr's fighters have threatened to blow up oil pipelines in southern Iraq if the US and Iraqi government forces storm the city



http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A646F7AC-8DA0-44AA-B590-22EB944522D9.htm

[Sparkly]

25. while the US slept, literally.

[daleo]

26. I think someday Allawi will come to a very bad end

Think of what happened to the Soviet puppet in Afghanistan, Najibullah (sp) if memory serves correct. It is amazing that the U.S. could find Iraqis who would sanction or participate in this.