BAGHDAD, Feb. 20, 2008
Al-Sadr May End Iraq Cease-Fire
Deadly Attacks Against U.S. Targets Up Around Baghdad As Cease-Fire In Doubt
-
Iraqi police inspect the scene where a truck loaded with rockets exploded as policemen were defusing it, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008. Fourteen Iraqi policemen responding to an attack against U.S. bases in Baghdad Tuesday were killed and 27 wounded when rockets set to be launched exploded before they could be defused, officials said. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
-
Photo Essay Week In Iraq Photos A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
-
Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
The cease-fire is due to expire Saturday, and there were fears, especially among minority Sunni Arabs, that the re-emergence of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia could return Iraq to where it was just a year ago - with sectarian death squads prowling the streets of a country on the brink of civil war.
Splinter groups of the Mahdi Army have been blamed for much of the violence that still plagues some parts of Iraq. Called "special groups" by the U.S. military, they are thought to have been behind a series of rocket attacks in Baghdad over the past few days that have killed more than a dozen people and wounded scores, reports CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey from Baghdad.
A surge of violence would also make it all the more difficult for Iraq's Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds to reach agreements on sharing power and wealth, and greatly complicate the debate in the United States on whether and how quickly to withdraw troops.
Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a U.S. military spokesman, on Wednesday blamed Iranian-backed Shiite extremists for a flurry of rocket attacks - including one Monday against an Iraqi housing complex near the country's main U.S. military base that killed at least five people and wounded 16, including two U.S. soldiers.
Smith also said one American civilian was killed and a number of U.S. troops and civilian personnel were wounded in a rocket attack in the southeastern area of Rustamiyah Tuesday night. He did not elaborate, but there is a U.S. base in the predominantly Shiite area.
He said those attacks and another on Tuesday were carried out by "Iranian-backed Special Group criminals," a term the military uses to describe groups that broke away from the Mahdi Army militia or refused to respect the cease-fire al-Sadr declared last August.
The U.S. military has angered some Sadrists by carrying out raids against breakaway factions. There have been calls from within the militia and its political wing to call off the cease-fire.
The cease-fire has been a key element in a three-piece puzzle that has come together to help reduce violence since mid-2007. The two other factors are the influx of thousands of U.S. troops last summer, and creation of Sunni-dominated groups funded by the U.S. military to fight al Qaeda in Iraq, the most extremist of the Sunni insurgents.
"Al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr's cease-fire has been helpful in reducing violence and has led to improved security in Iraq. We would welcome the extension of the cease-fire as a positive step," Smith told The Associated Press, using an honorific reserved for descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.
Sheik Salah al-Obeidi, a spokesman for al-Sadr in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, said that if the cleric failed to issue a statement by Saturday saying the cease-fire was extended, "then that means the freeze is over."
On an Internet site representing al-Sadr, al-Obeidi said that al-Sadr "either will announce the extension or will stay silent and not announce anything. If he stays silent, that means that the freeze is over."
Al-Obeidi told the AP that message "has been conveyed to all Mahdi Army members nationwide."
The ambiguity left many Iraqis uneasy.
"The drop in violence and the quiet which Baghdad witnesses is a clear evidence that this militia was behind all the chaos in the past," Sunni parliament member Asmaa al-Dulaimi told the AP.
She said ending the cease-fire "will affect national reconciliation and will further deteriorate the security situation nationwide. Resuming their activities, whether against the government or civilians, will lead to a new confrontation with them."
Smith said that under current conditions, violence was still dropping. He said the number of civilian deaths in Baghdad had fallen from 1,087 men, women and children killed in February 2007 to 178 in the first month of this year.
According to an AP count, at least 238 Iraqi civilians and security forces died in Baghdad last month, compared to 1,148 killed in February 2007.
Smith also said the number of execution-style killings carried out by so-called sectarian death squads had dropped some 95 percent, from 800 in February 2007 to below 40 this month.
The AP accounted for at least 640 bodies found on Iraq streets or in mass graves in February 2007, compared with at least 184 so far in February 2008.
But there has been a recent surge of attacks attributed to al Qaeda in Iraq.
On Wednesday, a U.S. soldier was killed and three were wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in the northwestern city of Mosul, the military said. The military has described Mosul as the last urban stronghold of al Qaeda in Iraq.
In other developments:
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 475 Comments
- Americans are ready to leave Iraq, if Muqtada al-Sadr starts issuing orders to kill Americans even the most die hard politician trying to bring Americans home will find it hard to do so! Muqtada al-Sadr should just continue to be quiet and chill and let Americans come home on their own. Americans will never let Muqtada al-Sadr appear to be chasing Americans out of Iraq.
- Reply to this comment
- Muqtada al-Sadr is an extremist that has caused our military to be killed. Why did Bush & Friends allow this man to come to power in the first place? They should have killed him years ago. Yes, there would have been back some lash but that would have died down. Since he was allowed to live and come to more power our military is at greater risk. Bush & Friends have caused the problem.
- Reply to this comment
- Posted by excelsior9
Hello, where did you go? - Reply to this comment
- What do you do for a living?
Posted by Jerkeedoodle
Primarily a musician, but also a producer, event organizer, and also design, build, and train for the operation of custom audio video production systems. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by excelsior9
As it seems you are new here, let me introduce myself. I am a "Black" American, born and raised in Detroit. For 40 of my 51 years I was a professional musician, working with Motown artists, later moved to New York, playing with Jazz and R&B groups along the eastern seaboard, then I moves to LA, where I fulfilled most of me dreams.
Because of a hit album, moved to Holland, touring between Europe and SE Asia, finally in 1985, decided to base myself in Bali.
My views are those of a person who has lived amongst many different cultures, I speak Nederlandse, Deutsch, Francois, Spanish, can read Russian Cyrillic, but am grossly out of practice speaking it, also Ipik, Indo-Malay, Javanese, Sundanese, Batak, a little Chinese, and a tiny bit of Mongolian.
And yourself? - Reply to this comment
- You''re exactly halfway around the world from me,if it''s a little after noon there.It''s 12:20am here.
- Reply to this comment
- What do you do for a living?
- Reply to this comment
- Posted by Jerkeedoodle
Yep, we''re here, lunch just finished, so I have to get all these full and sleepy people working again, this is a daily ritual for anyone who runs their own business has to deal with, these people eat a very big meal for midday, then everyone gets full and sleepy. - Reply to this comment
- Been readin'' your posts all over the place,but i was always one step behind you.
- Reply to this comment
- Posted by excelsior9
I forgot to include your sig, so you would know that my reply was for you.
Anyone outside the reach of the pervasive US media knows that Iran can no better control Iraq security than can the US, and that such meetings are of no relevant significance to the problems in Iraq.
Ask yourself, would you trust a country that calls for a meeting to discuss anything, if one of their leadership candidates was singing and making jokes about bombing your people, and what would be the point of talking to people who lied to start a war next door to you?
Again, google the Saddam hanging, you will see that the US did indeed give Saddam to Al Sadr, if that isn''t working together, then what is? - Reply to this comment
- Brian,you there?been tryin'' to catch you "live"for a few days now.
- Reply to this comment
- excelsior9,Brian''s telling the truth,moron.He lives in Bali,and I wish to God I could join him!
- Reply to this comment
- If you can access some of my past posts, you will see that I have been posting from Singapore and Bali for the past Year. I have been living in S.E. Asia now for the better part of 30 years, except for a brief period in 96-97 when I went back to San Diego to finish my degree in computer science.
Google "Media Corps, Singapore" and access any of the local news papers, especially "Today" and you will see that I do know what I am talking about. It is 2 p.m. here, so I am about to finish my lunch break.
It is happening, the world cannot remain pegged to a declining dollar, as the local populations will destabilize, and that is not good for, or in the interests of anyone to subsidize US corruption. - Reply to this comment
- Al Sadr was paid off by someone and he knowingly is funded by Iran. Either the US paid him off to stop the violence or Iran yanked his leash. My guess is since Iran has postponed the meeting with the US on Iraq security, violence will start up again pretty soon.
- Reply to this comment
- brianbwb you had me going for a moment until I realized you were just trying to make a political statement. A friend emailing you about the goings on overseas? And if McCain gets in office then things will get worse? Very funny attempt to make people think that was for real. My suggestion is for you to write fictional novels and leave politics.
- Reply to this comment
- "Brian,you there?Talk to me son.Tell me about the beach again.It''''s me,Lex" Posted by Jerkeedoodle
I am in Singapore this week, and since this is one of the world''s biggest shipping ports, you can understand how I am not too keen on going in the water around here. It is warm, about 90 degrees here, very humid, about to rain.
The main story here is $101+ per barrel gas, and economists here and around Asia are saying it is better to combat inflation by de-pegging to the dollar, allowing it to fall. As I predicted, these are the first stages of the US $''s collapse, depends on how much and how fast it falls, the Fed''s cut will push it even further. The US $ dumping is beginning, and I''m sure that if McCain gets anywhere close to office, the dumping will accelerate.
Next week, I''ll be back in Bali, there is a new discount flight for about $30., and I have a new apt. in Ubud, inland. It is like my childhood visions of Shangri La, incredibly lush and green, quiet, peaceful artists community. Google "Tjokorda family, Bali", and meet my landlords. Not everyone can stay where I am, even the super rich cannot go there without invitation. Talk about blessed, it is typical of many occurrences in my life... - Reply to this comment
- libsrweak,This is a textbook terrorist tactic,ROTFLMAO!I can just see your sillyass,baton in hand,standing in front of a blackboard!LOLOLOLOL!
- Reply to this comment
- Brian,you there?Talk to me son.Tell me about the beach again.It''s me,Lex
- Reply to this comment
- libsrweak,you don''t sound like your usual idiotic,loudmouthed self tonight.your daddy in DC pull a boner on this one?
- Reply to this comment
- "this is a text book terrorist tactic..when cornered,,commit to a cease fire agreement ..THAT IS..till they regain enough resources..." Posted by libsrweak
It also works for the victims of an illegal occupation, who fight in resistance of the occupiers.
It is clear that you suffer from the effects of the Bush klan brainwashing, labeling all who resist his criminal activities terrorists, or terrorist sympathizers. - Reply to this comment
Mike Huckabee on GOP "rock stars," 2012, health care reform and more.
