Al-Sadr Blames U.S. For Iraq's Woes
Militant Shiite Cleric Calls For Nationwide Protest; 20 Militants Reportedly Killed In Air Strike
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Play CBS Video Video War Of Words Over Iraq The Senate is determined to pull troops out of Iraq by April 2008, while the President refuses to abide by a timetable. The question now is which side will blink. Sharyl Attkisson reports.
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Video Congress, Bush Spar Over Iraq Democrats and some Republicans want to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq and they have attached this to a troop spending bill, which Bush intends to veto. Bill Plante reports.
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Video Bush Renews Veto Promise Speaking at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, President Bush reminded lawmakers he won't accept a timetable for a troop withdrawal from Iraq. Susan Roberts reports.
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A man stands by a car bomb wreck in Baghdad's southwestern neighborhood of Bayaa on March 29, 2007. (AP Photo/Asaad Mouhsin)
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An Iraqi policeman cleans debris around a car bomb wreck in the southwestern neighborhood of Bayaa in Baghdad on March 29, 2007. (AP Photo/Asaad Mouhsin)
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A wounded man rests in Imam Ali hospital, in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 30, 2007. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
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An Iraqi woman walks past the wreckage of a car at the site where a car bomb exploded at Baghdad's al-Bayaa neighborhood, March 28, 2007. (Getty Images/Ali Yussef)
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An Iraqi police commando secures the site where a car bomb exploded in Baghdad's al-Bayaa neighborhood, March 28, 2007. (Getty Images/Ali Yussef)
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Interactive Iraq: 4 Years Later The conflict wears on as the nation struggles to rebuild.
As al-Sadr's remarks were read in a mosque, Shiites in Baghdad loaded wooden coffins into vans and shoveled broken glass and other debris into wheelbarrows in the aftermath of a double suicide bombing at a marketplace. At least 181 people were killed or found dead Thursday as Sunni insurgents apparently stepped up their campaign of bombings to derail the seven-week-old security sweep in Baghdad.
Violence has increasingly erupted outside the capital in recent weeks, as insurgent fighters take their fight to regions where U.S. and Iraqi forces are thinly deployed.
“There is a race between the government and the terrorists who are trying to make people reach the level of despair,” said Sami al-Askari, an aide to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. “But the government is doing its best to defeat terrorists and it definitely will not be affected by these bombings.”
The U.S. military and its diplomats have voiced cautious optimism about the sweep that began Feb. 14 and emphasized that the full American surge force would not be in place until June.
But sectarian tensions also were heightened earlier this week by a devastating bombing followed by a shooting rampage by Shiite militiamen and police seeking revenge in Tal Afar.
In other developments:
The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, said the carnage showed al Qaeda was continuing to display “their total disregard for human life, carrying out barbaric actions against innocent Iraqi citizens in an effort to reignite sectarian violence and to undermine recent Iraqi and coalition successes in improving security in Baghdad.”
Al-Sadr's statement was his first since March 14, when he urged his supporters to resist U.S. forces in Iraq through peaceful means. Al-Sadr has been said by U.S. and Iraqi officials to be in neighboring Iran, but his aides insist he is still in Iraq.
The latest statement was read to worshippers during Friday prayers at a mosque in Kufa, a Shiite holy city south of Baghdad where al-Sadr frequently led the ritual.
“I renew my call for the occupier (the United States) to leave our land,” he said in the statement, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. “The departure of the occupier will mean stability for Iraq, victory for Islam and peace and defeat for terrorism and infidels.”
© MMVII, CBS Interactive 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 21 CommentsPosted by mh4cbs1
I see your brilliant plan, 'When all else fails, 'obfuscate' or in other words "If you can't dazzle them with daring-do, baffle them with B.S. Read my entire post (both of them) and use 'that' to show my erroneous thought processes.
Posted by mh4cbs1 at 01:21 AM : Mar 31, 2007
Like we are doing with Musharraf in Pakistan right now. One more country on it's way to becoming a hater of America because of the right wing stupidity of those like Bush and Cheney.
The US supports brutal dictators (like we supported and armed Saddam) all overthe world. Americans have such short memories, and are so easily duped by the likes of this fascist Cheney and Bush.
Well DUH! Of course the bulk of the problems going on in Iraq right now are the US's fault! Or rather more on point, Bush and Cheney's fault. When these two idiotic world conquer want to be's launched this war of choice for profit, they tore open a centuries old wound and poured dirt on it. They've done nothing more then create one huge infection in a very dangerous part of the world! Because of their greed (Cheney) and stupidity (Bush) they've opened the entire region to the very real possibility of an out of control wildfire of a civil war. One that could cost millions of lives. To say nothing about that it will drive up oil so high the average American will need to work three jobs just to pay for the $20 a gallon gas.
Say what?!? It is butchery ever since Bush Invaded based on his LIES (fake WMDs, fake aluminum tubes, fake uranium from Niger, fake Al Quaeda links to Saddam, fake bio-mobile labs, fake NEI suammary reports, fake "intelligence sources" like curveball...)
3,200 US troops have been "butchered". a few hundred thousand Iraqis have been "butchered" by Bush's needless horrific War.
We butchered a few million in Vietnam - and when we left, guess what, the butchering in Vietnam ended. And it was the US that destabalized the region allowing Pol Pot to murder a few more million (which the Vietnamese finally stopped).
fact that 95% of the conflicts going on right now are fueled by poverty fired by religious zealots and inflicted anywhere free thought has a foothold. I was born prior to WWII and know that there is a God. I am now seeing the prophecies unfold and there is not a thing anyone can do to stop them. The only thing we can do is mitigate the effects.
They say don't wake up a sleeping Giant and let sleeping dogs lie, 911 woke the U.S. up, Saddam splashed cold water in its face, your militia threw sand in its face and Iran has made the Giant angry, deal with the consequences! Like the British say, who is going to tie down Gulliver?!! Gulliver is wide awake and running loose! LOL
Posted by tbweb at 06:24 PM : Mar 30, 2007
Easter Island.... they have giants too.
It's amazing anyone is still supporting Bush, with all the news... How on Earth can anyone with any honor can still support him ??
They say don't wake up a sleeping Giant and let sleeping dogs lie, 911 woke the U.S. up, Saddam splashed cold water in its face, your militia threw sand in its face and Iran has made the Giant angry, deal with the consequences! Like the British say, who is going to tie down Gulliver?!! Gulliver is wide awake and running loose! LOL
Posted by j-whitman
The king must have forgotten about Bandahar giving all that advice.
the resumption of hostilities was only a matter of time since iraq broke the ceasefire agreement.....
blame saddam for iraq%u2026%u2026. Even clintoon and the dems wanted the resumption of hostilities back in 1998
"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." - Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998
"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line." - President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998
"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program." - President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998
The real %u201Coccupation%u201D
1400 years of muslim occupation
muslims, whose home is Arabia, have occupied and brutalized for centuries.
During that time, non muslims have...
been murdered en masse
had their land stolen
their holy places destroyed and desecrated
been sold into slavery
their women raped
their children butchered
and the arabs have the nerve to whine about "occupation" when non muslims fight back
I NO LONGER SUPPORT MUSLIM OCCUPATION
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