Sadr aide denies Najaf Police at shrine-Al Jazeera

[Halliburton]

BAGHDAD, Aug 20 (Reuters) - A top aide to rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr denied a government announcement that Iraqi police took control of a holy shrine in Najaf on Friday, Al Jazeera television station reported.

It said Sheikh Ahmad al-Sheibani told it the reports that police were inside Imam Ali Mosque were not true. It gave no further details.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LAD054928.htm

[papau]

1. 500 maybe left - and maybe were arrested - details in a week

500 maybe left - and maybe were arrested - details in a week
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6D629FC1-D279-46C3-B539-74F98CCFB299.htm

<snip>The Iraqi Interior Ministry said on Friday that police had entered the revered site and taken about 500 al-Mahdi Army militiamen into custody.

There was no immediate word on whether the militiamen would receive an amnesty or remain in detention. The whereabouts of al-Sadr also remain uncertain.

But in an interview with Aljazeera, an al-Sadr aide, Ahmad al-Shaibani, denied police had entered the site.

Al-Shaibani told Aljazeera hours earlier that control of the religious site had been given to representatives of the country's most senior Shia figure.

"The keys of the Imam Ali shrine have been handed over to representatives of the Shia highest religious authority, Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani," said al-Shaibani.."This step means the administration of the Imam Ali mausoleum has been submitted to the religious authority in the city," he added. .<snip>

[Halliburton]

3. Its Baathist propaganda...

Anything these puppets say should be taken with a grain of salt. Why did shrub appoint members of Saddam's Political Party into this puppet regime?

[papau]

8. Iraq government cries victory in Najaf,but fighting rages on(Iraq Gov lied

Iraq government cries victory in Najaf,but fighting rages on(Iraq Gov lied


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1504&nc...

Iraq government cries victory in Najaf,but fighting rages on(Iraq Gov lied)

NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Iraq's US-backed caretaker government cried victory in its 16-day standoff with Shiite Muslim militiamen in Najaf, but on the ground rebels fighters remained firmly in control of their stronghold in the city's holiest shrine. Despite protestations from the interior ministry that police had taken control of the Imam Ali mausoleum and detained several hundred militiamen loyal to Shiite radical leader Moqtada Sadr, an AFP correspondent in the shrine said he had not seen a single policeman. On the contrary, he said fighting continued to rage on the south side of the Old City between the militiamen and US-backed forces that have surrounded the shrine compound.


"We went to Sistani's office this morning to agree on giving up the keys to the mausoleum. His office called Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in London, who agreed to take the keys," Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani told AFP. "The visitors, human shields and militiamen will then leave the shrine," he added. But the spokesman gave no timeframe for implementing the agreement so it was unclear why government officials in Baghdad had so wildly overstated the situation on the ground. <snip>

[Junkdrawer]

2. Or maybe there was a successful raid?

Journalists miles away said that there were explosions and intensive fighting in the area last night.

We also have reports of arrests.

Things are still as clear as mud right now.

Look at it this way: a raid was going to be a PR disaster, so... chase away the journalists, spread rumors of a negotiated surrender, then raid under cover of darkness and claim the rebels surrendered peacefully.

[Junkdrawer]

4. CNN reports US military denies rebels have left mosque..

Confusion surrounds Najaf mosque

Friday, August 20, 2004 Posted: 11:00 AM EDT (1500 GMT)

Supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr rally Thursday inside the Imam Ali Mosque.

NAJAF, Iraq (CNN) -- An Iraqi Interior Minister spokesman said Iraqi police had seized control of the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf, but the U.S. military said the claim is false.

U.S. and Iraqi forces had surrounded the mosque -- one of the holiest shrines in Shiite Islam -- in an effort to pressure fighters, loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who were holed up in the complex.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/08/20/iraq.main/index.html

Yep. Clear as mud.

[KoKo]

5. It's really hard to make sense of all these reports about what's going

on at the Shrine and in Najaf. Also the "on again, off again" negotiations with Al Sadr. :eyes: Without reporters there, and given the lack of reliable information filtered through our media even if reporters were still there, the truth of it may not come out for awhile.
:shrug:

[Junkdrawer]

6. Amen. As I've been saying: Clear as mud...

And if there were a raid, I would fully expect a first class, full press effort to hide the raid from public consumption.

[BlackJack8324]

7. BBC carried this story too

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3583772.stm