|
US arims at najaf mosque { August 12 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0408120277aug12,1,5459903.story?coll=chi-news-hedhttp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0408120277aug12,1,5459903.story?coll=chi-news-hed
IRAQ IN TRANSITION
U.S. aims at Najaf mosque
Fighting flares; holy sites cordoned off
By Mike Dorning, Tribune correspondent. Tribune foreign correspondent Liz Sly and Tribune news services contributed to this report
Published August 12, 2004
BAGHDAD -- After daylong preparations for a major offensive in Najaf to crush an uprising led by radical cleric Moqtada Sadr, skirmishes broke out early Thursday in the holy city as intense gunfire and explosions were reported.
Thousands of U.S. troops were taking part in the operation, which began with the cordoning off of the revered Imam Ali mosque, its vast cemetery and Najaf's Old City.
It was unclear whether the developments indicated the start of a major assault against Sadr's militia or a continuation of the fighting that had been raging over the past week.
"Major operations to destroy the militia have begun," said U.S. Marine Maj. David Holahan told The Associated Press.
Before the reports of new fighting, Marine commanders had cited unspecified delays in preparations for the attack on the Imam Ali mosque, where Sadr and his al-Mahdi Army are believed to have taken refuge. According to military officials, intelligence indicated the militia may have wired the mosque with explosives, hoping to blame the Americans for the damage.
Marine commanders cited unspecified delays in preparations for the attack on the Imam Ali mosque, where Sadr and his al-Mahdi Army are believed to have taken refuge. According to military officials, intelligence indicated the militia may have wired the mosque with explosives, hoping to blame the Americans for the damage.
U.S. commanders planned to carry out the attack with Iraqi National Guardsmen in hopes of deflecting Iraqi anger over foreign troops entering the shrine.
But the American presence in the city has inflamed several of the country's most influential Shiite politicians. Vice President Ibrahim al-Jaafari, leader of the long-established Islamic Dawa Party, called on U.S. forces to leave Najaf immediately.
"Only Iraqi forces should stay in Najaf," al-Jaafari told Al Jazeera television. "These forces should be responsible for security and should save Najaf from this phenomenon of killing."
Sadr declared himself ready for whatever might come. "I hope that you keep fighting even if you see me detained or martyred," he said in a statement.
Commanders received intelligence reports indicating the insurgents planned to wait until the advancing U.S. forces came near the mosque, then detonate explosive charges and pin the blame on the Americans, The Washington Post reported.
There was no confirmation of the intelligence, officials said. "The fear is that the intelligence might not be right in fact, but in effect--that he [Sadr] has something catastrophic planned for the mosque that he will blame on the U.S.," one commander told the Post.
Five U.S. soldiers and about 20 members of the Iraqi security forces have been killed in the seven days of combat in Najaf. The U.S. military says hundreds of insurgents have died, though the militants dispute that.
Despite the losses, Sadr's al-Mahdi Army keeps sending fighters into the battle.
"I think they got a reproduction facility down there. I think they're cloning," Capt. Patrick McFall told The Associated Press.
Allawi says he is determined to crush Sadr's militia, but other Iraqi politicians expressed concern for the sanctity of the Imam Ali mosque, the burial site of the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad.
Similar concerns prompted U.S. commanders to negotiate an uneasy truce with Sadr in June after two months of fighting.
The governor of Najaf province, Adnan al-Zorfi, disputed American officials' contention that he granted them permission to attack the shrine.
"If we decide to go into the old city, this will be the job of Iraqi police and soldiers," al-Zorfi told Agence France-Presse.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, denounced U.S combat operations in Najaf as "one of the darkest crimes of humanity" in a speech broadcast on state television.
Though the use of Iraqi troops is seen as a way to defuse Shiite anger, the fledgling forces are widely regarded as unreliable and underequipped. Many units crumbled and fled when asked to fight insurgents in Fallujah in the spring.
Still, the U.S. command said in a statement that the Iraqi National Guard "leads the fight" in Najaf. The statement also noted that Iraqi forces were conducting drills with a Marine expeditionary unit and three U.S. Army battalions. In all, about 1,800 Iraqi troops are involved, along with 2,000 U.S. Marines and about 3,000 U.S. soldiers.
Sadr loyalists in the southern city of Basra threatened to blow up oil pipelines and port infrastructure there if coalition forces launch a major attack in Najaf. A similar threat Monday caused oil officials to halt pumping.
Though Najaf was quieter than in previous days, battles continued with Sadr supporters. In the south, militants attacked a police station in Kut, and protesters burned a headquarters of the prime minister's political party in Nasiriyah.
In the southern city of Amarah, fighting between insurgents and British forces killed 20 people and wounded 50, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry. The British reported two minor casualties among their troops.
Hospital officials in Fallujah, a hotbed of Sunni Muslim opposition, said U.S. jets bombed several houses, killing four people.
Also, gunmen killed the regional head of Iraq's largest Shiite political party, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, in Mahmoudiya, about 25 miles south of Baghdad.
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune
|
|
