Iraq PM Orders Fighters Out of Najaf; Toll Climbs

[Nambe]

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters)

Iraq's interim prime minister Sunday ordered Shi'ite fighters loyal to a radical cleric to leave the holy city of Najaf but the militiamen were digging in and the death toll from days of clashes mounted. ..

Allawi went straight into talks with the governor of Najaf, the holiest Shi'ite city in Iraq. He was accompanied by his interior and defense ministers and other top officials.

Despite the order from Allawi, fighters roamed the streets of Najaf and fortified their positions with mines around the crypts and mausoleums of the city's ancient cemetery, one of the oldest in the Middle East and scene of the worst fighting. ..

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[tlcandie]

1. Rather hard when surrounded on all sides by US military who will

shoot to kill. The US won't let ambulances in or any supplies. Seems to me to be a scorched earth policy.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x735783

[Aidoneus]

2. `Alawi should order the end of the crusader offensive

an end to their occupation, and swift movements towards the Door Marked Exit (some call it "Kuwait", and then the sea beyond it).. provided that he fails to do so, nobody in Iraq will give a flying fuck what he orders, Jaysh-i al-Mahdi resistance fighters least of all. Saddam-sans-mustache and his fascist Interior Minister, those below them and others standing beside, are just digging their graves and passing the time before they crawl into them in so zealously being the errandboys of the invaders.

[shockingelk]

3. Doesn't Allawi understand?!?!?!

TERRORISTS do not listen to REASON! The ONLY thing they UNDERSTAND is FORCE! You CANNOT REASON WITH TERRORISTS!!!!!!

/ sarcasm

[0007]

4. This makes as much sense as Mickey Rooney selling life Insurance

[Aidoneus]

5. A prompt reply from Sayyid Muqtada as-Sadr, by way of a spokesmen

Al-Sadr rejects Allawi call on Najaf
Sunday 08 August 2004

Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr has dismissed Iraq interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's call to his al-Mahdi Army fighters to quit the city of Najaf "quickly".

Al-Sadr spokesman Hazim al-Aaraji dismissed Allawi's call and said the fighters would never leave Najaf. He told Aljazeera that on the contrary, tens of thousands of Iraqis were headed to Najaf.

--snip--

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CAD4E243-1C50-45FF-B5C6-B6769B05B29E.htm

There are more statements from the both, but this quick retort was the most relevant.

[MaryH]

6. On CBS last nite

It is a real possiblility that alSadr will lose control of his army - and it won't matter what he wants any more. It will just become a Shiia uprising.

[daleo]

7. I did not see the CBS report, but I doubt the U.S. media can tell us much

Between their tendency to go to bat for White House propaganda, and their inability to even go out into most areas of Iraq to pursue a story due to safety concerns, it just seems unlikely that their information is of much value. No offense.

[tlcandie]

8. I think it may have already hit that point ... as some stories have

pointed out...it seems that the status has become somewhat similar to, "REMEMBER THE ALAMO!"

[Calico Jack Rackham]

9. Hate to break it to CBS

but they're wrong. The core belief in Shia Islam is devotion and obedience to the clerics, mullahs, and Ayatollahs. There is no such thing as a popular uprising by the individual Shiites without the leadership of their clerics. These people show extreme loyalty to their individual religious leaders.