Sadr vows to fight to 'last drop of blood'

[floda]

Shiite cleric says democratic process cannot start in Iraq until occupiers go as clashes rock Najaf for fifth day.


By Sammy Ketz - NAJAF, Iraq

Radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr vowed to fight on until his "last drop of blood" as intense clashes engulfed Najaf for a fifth day, while six people were killed in a suicide bombing Monday.

"I will defend Najaf until my last drop of blood," Sadr told a news conference in Imam Ali shrine, as mortar and machine-gun fire rocked this Shiite holy city in central Iraq.

"Do not call them fighters of the Mehdi Army any longer, call them defenders of the city," he said.

"The occupiers must go, and then the democratic process can start" in Iraq, said Sadr, a day after Prime Minister Iyad Allawi visited Najaf to call on the cleric's Medhi Army to withdraw.

more..

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=10893

[SoCalDem]

1. Our pres has really messed that place up..:(

A masked Iraqi Sh'ite militiaman dashes across a street carrying a rocket propelled grenade launcher near a graffiti reading in Arabic "No Bush" in the east Baghdad suburb of Sadr city. Iraq's prime minister has announced a limited amnesty for Iraqi insurgents and extended an olive branch to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose loyalists have staged an uprising in several cities. REUTERS/Ali Jasim

[G_j]

2. a mess is right!

AP story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4402819,00.html

Iraq Cleric Vows Fight to Death Vs. U.S.

Monday August 9, 2004 1:46 PM


By ABDUL HUSSEIN AL-OBEIDI

Associated Press Writer

NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - A radical cleric whose loyalists battled U.S. troops for the fifth straight day vowed Monday to fight to the death, and a suicide attacker detonated a car bomb northeast of the capital, killing six people and wounding the deputy governor who was the intended target, officials said.

Explosions and gunfire were heard throughout Najaf and U.S. helicopters hovered overhead as U.S. forces tried to drive Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militiamen from a vast cemetery they have repeatedly used as a base. A U.S. tank rolled within 400 yards of Najaf's holiest site, the Imam Ali Shrine, also held by militiamen.

A Najaf hospital spokesman said three were killed, including two policemen, and 19 wounded. The U.S. military says hundreds of militants have been killed in the violence in recent days; the militiamen put the number far lower.

Al-Sadr vowed to keep up the battle.

..more..

[0007]

3. When the last drop of oil is gone, the fighting will stop.

[JNelson6563]

4. You are correct

Apparently Sadr didn't get the memo. He must be "out of the loop", like Richard Clarke.

Ugh.

Julie

[0007]

5. I like your signature line

[Rose Siding]

6. here's some more on this from Knight Ridder

snip>
On Monday, al-Sadr sought to drive a wedge between the Iraqi security forces under the command of the Marines in Najaf.

"I wish that America would hit me with an atomic bomb, but not a bullet from the Iraqi police," he said, wearing a cleric's robes.

A senior spokesman and official for al-Sadr, Ahmed Sheybani, dismissed talk of a 24-hour truce brokered by the governor of Najaf.

"The governor made a one-sided truce," he said. "It has nothing to do with us."

Another spokesman, Hazem al-Araji, though, acknowledged the truce, and said the Mahdi Army would take a wait-and-see approach.

The Iraqi minister of the interior announced a curfew in Sadr City, to start at 4 p.m. But two hours later, the neighborhood was filled with al-Sadr's militiamen toting AK-47s and rocket- propelled grenades. Heavy gunfights broke out in the middle of the street.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/9358250.htm