In Najaf House for the Dead, a First Taste of War

[seemslikeadream]

.........

But the fight with Mr. Sadr's guerrillas has left the men of C Company with a different perspective. The marines remain confident in their abilities, proud of the fight, and many are eager to finish off Mr. Sadr.

But others say they would be satisfied with a peaceful solution, acknowledging that the risk of damage to the shrine of Imam Ali means that American forces cannot bring the full power of their heaviest weapons to bear on Mr. Sadr's guerrillas.

On Wednesday, the Army battalion at this dusty base on the northern edge of Najaf held a funeral for two soldiers killed in fighting in the cemetery. But the marines have not yet held funerals for five marines who died, including four in the first two days of fighting.

While fighting here has slowed in the last two days, the men here do not delude themselves about the reason for the delay. Until Mr. Sadr and the interim Iraqi government agree to a truce, the battle is not over, and they must be prepared for the reality that more men may die. They would rather see one joint funeral than a succession of individual services, they say.

more
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/22/international/middleeast/22troops.html

[jmcgowanjm]

1. dusty base on the northern edge of Najaf

Kufa is no doubt a sensible place for one of Muqtada
al-Sadr's militants to convalesce. To visit this second holy city
six miles to the north is to see what Najaf might be like if
there were no American Abrams tanks or Bradley
armoured vehicles surrounding and exchanging fire with
the 1,000 or so Mehdi gunmen in the streets around the
Imam Ali Shrine. Najaf is where the prophet's son-in-law
was buried; Kufa is where he lived and was stabbed in
AD661 as he prayed in the mosque, martyred in the schism
that created Shia Islam.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=553855


So, to do some geography. The cemetary stretches to
Al Kufa. The Mahdi control Al Kufa, but the Marines and the
NYT give the impression that they control the cemetary
and the northern edge of Najaf.

Aljazeera learned that a rapid deployment police station north
of the city of Najaf on Saturday came under rocket
-propelled grenade attack.

Flames were seen rising from the station, Aljazeera
reported.

[demgrrrll]

2. They have destroyed part of a mosque in Al Kufa, the damage is

being reported in their newspapers but not US newspapers.
{http://juancole.com/] Serious business.