BAGHDAD, Oct. 31, 2006
Iraqi P.M. Lifts 2 U.S. Military Blockades
Al-Maliki Flexes Political Muscle By Winning U.S. Agreement To End Checkpoints
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Play CBS Video Video Tension Between Iraq and U.S. The growing tension between the Iraqi and U.S. governments seems to be coming from a radical cleric's demands. Lara Logan reports.
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Video U.S. Troops May Stay Longer Donald Rumsfeld said he is comfortable with U.S. forces having to stay longer in Iraq to make sure Iraqis can handle their own security. David Martin reports.
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Video Deaths Continue In Iraq It was another deadly day for Iraqis - more than 80 were killed across the country. U.S. soldiers inevitably get caught in the war between the two ethnic groups. Lara Logan reports.
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Jubilant Iraqis carry poster of radical anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr after U.S. troops dismantled checkpoints around Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006. (AP)
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A U.S. soldier operates a checkpoint set up around the Karrada neighbourhood in central Baghdad, October 31, 2006. (Getty Images/Sabah Afar)
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Iraqi civilians run for cover as smoke rises in the distance from a car bomb blast in central Baghdad, October 31, 2006. (Getty Images/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
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Saddam Hussein listens to a testimony during his trial Oct. 31, 2006. (AP Photo/Scott Nelson)
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
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Interactive Religion In Iraq An interactive guide to Iraq's religious, ethnic and ideological mix.
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Who's Who Iraq Insurgency More on the militant groups behind the insurgency in Iraq and their motivations.
U.S. forces, who had set up the checkpoints in Baghdad last week as part of an unsuccessful search for the soldier, drove away in Humvees and armored personnel carriers at the 5 p.m. deadline set by al-Maliki.
The American checkpoints disappeared within hours of Malikis order, reports CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan, and along with them, American hopes of stopping their missing soldier being transported out of Baghdad — if he is even still alive.
The U.S forces' departure set off celebrations among civilians and armed men in Sadr City, the sprawling Shiite district controlled by the Mahdi Army militia loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Small groups of men and children danced in circles chanting slogans praising and declaring victory for al-Sadr, whose political support is crucial to the prime minister's governing coalition.
Prime Minister al-Maliki is desperate to show he's not America's man in Iraq, after what he sees as undue pressure form the United States in recent weeks, reports Logan.
Al-Maliki finds himself in a maze of conflicting political pressures. After the Bush administration unveiled a plan last week for Iraq's government to adopt timelines for progress, especially in curbing violence, al-Maliki accused Washington of infringing on national sovereignty. There was no doubt he was talking tough to show both the Americans and his political base that he would not be pushed around.
The prime minister has further said that he feels stanching bloodshed might be better handled by Iraqi forces, although the argument does not wash given the present state of his military.
Sen. Jack Reed, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said al-Maliki was yielding to sectarian pressure and undermining U.S. efforts to curb attacks. "Today, the critical issue in Iraq is whether the Maliki government can muster the political will to confront those who use violence to destabilize Iraq," Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, said in a statement.
Al-Maliki's move Tuesday came three days after his closest aide, Hassan al-Suneid, said unabashedly that the prime minister was trying to capitalize on American voter discontent with the war and White House reluctance to open a public fight with the Iraqi leader just before the midterm election. Much of the discontent is fueled by soaring death tolls among U.S. troops and their inability to contain raging sectarian violence 3 ½ years after the ouster of Saddam Hussein.
The U.S. military announced the deaths of two soldiers in fighting in the Baghdad area Monday, one from small arms fire, the other from a roadside bomb. The October death toll stood at 103, the fourth highest monthly figure of the war.
More than 40 Iraqis were killed or found dead across the country Tuesday, including 11 Shiites who perished in a suicide car bombing at a wedding on the north side of the capital. Four of those killed at the bride's home were children, and among the 21 wounded were several youngsters with burns over much of their bodies.
In other developments:
(AP Photo/Scott Nelson)
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 68 CommentsThank you so much.I highly appreciate this important point you raised.Saudi Arabia is the country of which 15 out of 19 hijackers were from and is the country which has been benifited the most as a result of IRAQ WAR in the form of high OIL PRICES.We don't have to forget that BIN LADEN is also from SAUDI ARABIA.We don't know whether SAUDI govt which acts like it has no relation with BIN LADEN is trust worthy or not.
2days before the last PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION,Bin Laden had released a video tape in which he was talking against BUSH.It was obvoius,when the worst enemy of USA was talking against BUSH,people of USA were supposed to vote BUSH which BIN LADEN actually wanted.
I don't know if BIN-LADEN had wanted BUSH to win the election because he know how bad BUSH is for USA or they also have some business ties.
Iraqi PM is an EXTREMIST ISLAMIC RADICAL with close ties to ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN.What was the purpose of removing SECULAR SADDAM from power and to bring a RADICAL ISLAMIC EXTREMIST into power .If we leave his country on him,don't forget the geography of Iraq.On it's EASTERN BORDER is IRAN and it's WESTERN BORDER is SYRIA.From Iran on east to Lebanon on west,it will be like one big OIL RICH COUNTRY,ruled under those AYATOLLAHs who call us GREATEST SATAN.
The only sensible people I see in United States are some OPEN-MINDED,INTELLIGENT people in HOLLYWOOD like ROSIE O'DONNEL,MARTIN SHEEN,etc.If we would have listened to what JEANINE GORAFALLO had warned us in the begining,UNITED STATES would not have be on the track of getting DOOMED.
And we never will......
one-american so liberals are cowards then you must be saying bush and cheney are liberals because they both turned their backs on their country during vietnam
This is a significant development, because Maliki was able to call off an intense search for a captured American soldier without Bush making a peep (the irony is Bush now criticizing Kerry over a careless remark that pales in comparison to abandoning a missing soldier on the battlefield). The Mahdi Army, who has been taking potshots at our troops, is now in full control of Sadr City (2.5 million).
If this isn't hoisting the white flag, then I don't know what is.
Easy enough, muster your troops to take over then. Don't ask them to stop in the middle of an operation.
Let them finish, then complain about them doing it.
www.gosyro.com
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See all 68 Comments