Thousands of Shiites end Najaf siege

[bemildred]

Jean-Marc Mojon
Posted Thu, 26 Aug 2004

The gates of Najaf's Imam Ali shrine were forced open Thursday by a sea of weeping and chanting Shiite Muslims, ending a siege of the shrine which had lasted for days and weeks of fighting with US forces.

Yet as the camp of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr, who led a rebellion against the US-led forces and the new Iraqi government, went into talks with the country's highest Shiite authority, the military standoff appeared far from over.

Akir Hassan (63), woke up at 6am (0200 GMT) to heed a call by his spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to leave his village south of Kut to converge on the revered mausoleum.

Tears ran down his wrinkled face and his feet barely touched the ground as the elated crowd squeezed through the gates and into the shrine's courtyard.

iafrica.com

[leftchick]

1. "This is Democracy"!!

Take that US Occupiers....

<snip>

"God is great. This is democracy, this is the new Iraq, this is the greatest defeat we could have inflicted on the Americans. It's the most beautiful day in my life," he shouted, hurrying inside the main mausoleum to pray.

"We have been on the road since yesterday. When we reached the area, the national guard and the Iraqi police tried to prevent us from heading towards the shrine, but there was nothing they could do," said 20-year-old Hussein Noma, from the town of Amara.


Good Lord! Then there is this....

<snip>
A group of fighters who ventured into areas which they had lost to the Americans in recent days were shot at by US soldiers as they tried to retrieve dead and wounded they had been unable to reach for several days.

At least six bodies were brought to the makeshift clinic inside the shrine while the other wounded, including some who were in urgent need of medical care, were gradually being evacuated to Najaf hospital.

Bursts of automatic gunfire and sniper shots from the cemetery could still be heard two hours after the marchers broke the deadlock.



WTF? Can't the Marines call them off now?!? Isn't there supposed to be a fucking truce?! :grr:

[bemildred]

3. I'm wondering when this seemingly important development will

show up in the US media, or anywhere outside Africa.

[madrchsod]

2. time to pack up and leave

we have lost and no amount of wishful thinking or America munitions is going to change the fact. the deaths of all the people who have died rests on George Bush and all the supporters of this war. we are responsible as a nation for the death and destruction of another nation and it`s people.

[seventhson]

4. I pray this ends peacefully from here on out

But I do not think it is the end of this yet.

The Mahdi army is everywhere in Iraq. It almost IS Iraq now.

We will see.

[Dhalgren]

10. Sistani is now in a position to dictate to the

occupiers and their quisling stooges what will be done from here on out. He isn't political, so he will probably opt for real elections and a real constitution. He won't survive another week - Alawi will make sure of that.

[Barrett808]

5. I am so relieved there wasn't an all-out massacre

And this is another humiliating defeat for Bush. Delicious.

[seventhson]

7. It WAS pretty much an all out massacre - they just were unable to kill

EVERYONE.

Around 200 killed at LEAST in last few days by the Shrine - and those are just the ones counted.

27 killed at another mosque today

BUT - there is some light in this story so far. At least it APPEARS this battle is ending.

They did not merely kill everyone as they seemed bent on doing just a few hours ago.

But they maimed probably thousands forever. And many innocents and children are dead forever.

Hopefully this is the end of the death here for now...

[Pastiche423]

6. Bewildered

Further up the stream of at least 20 000 demonstrators, in the Al-Jadida neighbourhood outside the Old City, a surreal scene unfolded as bewildered American soldiers trapped in their tanks watched as posters of Sistani and Moqtada posters were waved in their faces.

Bewildered that 20,000 human beings would march, unarmed, because they believe in peace?

Bewildered that bombs, tanks and killing do not bring democracy?

[seventhson]

8. Relieved is probably a better word. I'll bet our troops are HAPPY Bushco

was beaten by peaceful protests STOPPING the fighting.

A people united will never be defeated!

[leftchick]

13. sadly no.....

read the whole article... the US Occupying troops are still firing at al-Sadr's people as they try to retrieve their corpses and wounded. Some truce, huh?

[annabanana]

9. Al Sadr & Sistani....."united, not divided"

And our feckless foreign policy scores another stunning defeat. We've united the warring Shi'ites, now lets reconcile them with the Sunni.

[Dhalgren]

12. I think it may already be done.

There has been unpresidented support between the Shi'ia and the Sunni since last Feb. or March. The fact that they all are sacreficing like true patriots, should stand them in good stead to work together after the "filth" has been cleaned from their country.

[maxsolomon]

11. yay sistani!

brilliant move.

can we get the fuck out now?

[Charles19]

14. Too bad the U.S. press will never report it

Instead from CNN we get:

The ayatollah is calling on demonstrators converging on Najaf to stay in their homes or stay where they are until further notice, he said. Al-Sistani earlier had called on Iraqis to march to Najaf to help put an end to the violence.

It is such a great story of the power of the people. Something we hold in such high esteem in the U.S. yet because this makes Bush look bad, the story will not be told.

Most people don't even know battles are going on in Iraq, depressing.

[Karenina]

15. Kick!

:kick: