Iraqi PM Promises A Fight "Until The End"

Amid Deadly Shiite Clashes, Iraqi Military Imposes Curfew, U.S. Diplomats Ordered To Stay Inside

(CBS/AP)  Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pledged "no retreat" Thursday in the fight against Shiite militias in the southern city of Basra, as thousands of protesters demanded he resign over the crackdown and extremists fired rockets into the U.S.-protected Green Zone.

Shiite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr called Thursday for a political solution to the burgeoning crisis and an end to the "shedding of Iraqi blood." But the statement, released by a close aide, stopped short of ordering his Mahdi Army militia to halt attacks on the Green Zone or stop fighting in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.

In a sign of the deteriorating security, gunmen in Baghdad seized a high-profile government spokesman from his home in a Shiite neighborhood, killing three of his bodyguards and torching his house. In a bid to curb the violence, Iraq's military ordered vehicles and pedestrians off the streets of the capital until Sunday morning.

As Americans and Iraqis scrambled to cope with a newly violent Iraq, the State Department ordered all personnel at the U.S. Embassy not to leave reinforced structures because of continued incoming rocket or mortar fire from suspected Shiite extremists angry over the Basra crackdown.

There's no sign in Basra of the soldiers or police that Iraq's Prime Minister sent to reclaim this important oil-rich city, and residents told CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan by phone that Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia now controls several districts.

The campaign to rid Basra of lawless gangs and Shiite militias - some believed tied to nearby Iran - is a major test for al-Maliki, a Shiite, and for the Iraqi military. The ability of Iraqi leaders and security forces to control situations like this one is key to U.S. hopes of withdrawing its forces from the country.

The prime minister put his credibility on the line by flying down to Basra and issuing a weekend deadline for the surrender of Mahdi Army militiamen loyal to al-Sadr. But the militiamen were still controlling Basra's streets Thursday, and the security operation has triggered a violent response among al-Sadr's followers in Baghdad and cities throughout the Shiite heartland of southern Iraq.

In the Baghdad neighborhood of Kazimiyah, thousands of al-Sadr's followers denounced al-Maliki as a "new dictator" as they carried a coffin bearing a crossed-out picture of the U.S.-backed prime minister. Thousands more also rallied in Sadr City, Baghdad's main Shiite district.

"We call on our brothers in the Iraqi army and the brave national police not to be tools of death in the hands of the new dictatorship," a Sadrist member of parliament, Falah Shanshal, said.

However, al-Maliki showed no sign of wavering.

"We have made up our minds to enter this battle, and we will continue until the end. No retreat," al-Maliki told Basra area tribal leaders in a speech broadcast nationwide on Iraqi state TV.

Al-Maliki said Iraq had become a "nation of gangs, militias and outlaws" and he was undertaking a "historic mission" in Basra to restore "the law of the land."

But the Sadrists have been angry over recent raids and detentions, saying U.S. and Iraqi forces have taken advantage of their 7-month-old cease-fire to crack down on the movement.

They have accused rival Shiite parties, which control Iraqi security forces, of engineering the arrests to prevent them from mounting an effective campaign for provincial elections expected this fall. The Sadrists expect to make major electoral gains at the expense of rival parties, including those that maintain close ties to the United States.

American officials have acknowledged that the unilateral cease-fire declared by al-Sadr last August played a major role in reducing violence in Baghdad. U.S. and Iraqi officials have insisted that they are not targeting al-Sadr's movement but simply going after renegades, criminals and extremists with ties to Iran.

What U.S. officials won't admit to publicly but say in private, is that this fight has been long in coming because their British allies who had controlled the south, failed to stop Iran themselves, reports Logan.

Fighting raged for a third straight day in Basra, where Iraqis have been of control of security since the British withdrew last December.

Heavy gunfire and explosions resounded across the city while helicopters and jet fighters buzzed overhead. The city's police chief escaped an assassination attempt late Wednesday but three of his guards were killed in the roadside bombing.

Residents contacted by telephone in Basra, the country's oil capital 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, spoke of militiamen using mortar shells, sniper fire, roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades to fight off security forces.

Some complained that thousands of civilians were trapped by the fighting and running short of food, medicine and clean drinking water.

At least 56 people have been killed since Wednesday in Basra, according to police and hospital reports, although a complete and accurate count was impossible to obtain because of the fighting.

In an escalation of the crisis, saboteurs bombed one of Iraq's two main oil export pipelines that carries crude oil from Basra to the country's oil terminal on the Persian Gulf. The attack briefly sent prices rising on international petroleum markets.

In Baghdad, suspected Shiite extremists continued to hammer the U.S.-protected Green Zone on Thursday, firing several rounds of rockets or mortars that sent a huge plume of smoke above the heavily fortified area in central Baghdad.

Also Thursday, a U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bombing in mostly Shiite eastern Baghdad, the U.S. command said. No further details were released.

One American, a government employee, died in Thursday's attacks on the Green Zone, four days after an American financial analyst was mortally wounded there.

A memo sent to embassy staff and obtained by The Associated Press says employees are required to wear helmets and other protective gear if they must venture outside and strongly advises them to sleep in blast-resistant locations instead of trailers that most occupy.

Pentagon officials said Thursday that weapons used in recent Green Zone attacks included 107mm rockets made in Iran. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said some rockets were stamped with 2007 Iranian manufacture dates.

With security in Baghdad rapidly deteriorating, gunmen kidnapped the Iraqi civilian spokesman for the Baghdad security operation and killed three of his bodyguards after torching his house in a Shiite neighborhood.

The spokesman, Tahseen Sheikhly, is a Sunni who often appeared with U.S. military and embassy officials at news conferences to tout the successes of the security operation, which began last year when President Bush sent 30,000 U.S. reinforcements to Baghdad.

[j0hnwi11iams]

It seems their sympathies are with the Palestinians. Go figure.

[telecom_1]

The conspiracy is- Iran, Syria and their proxy army Hezbolah are conspiring to suicidally martyr Lebanon to destroy Israel.

[yawanane]

lets be frank i think iraq is better under saddam hussein than george bush

[yawanane]

lets be frank i think iraq is better under saddam hussein than george bush

[yawanane]

thrash

[j-whitman]

Bush lied to America 2 times today just about this topic.

1. In a prepared speech this morning Bush said, "It''s a defining moment"

2. After he realized it sets back progress a year, he says, "I didn''t know anything about it"

I knew about it last week & posted it for you all to read last week.

[parrot123-2009]

MCVET - They feel the same toward today''s veterans too. Just look at the way they are treated once they are out of the service or active for that matter.
Posted by IOWEIGN at 08:12 AM : Mar 28, 2008

The bad treatment of out troops is strictly at the hands of the current administration which is still very much REPUG .... the Dems took over congress and the next thing is stories about Walter Reed started coming out - ever asked what the last Repug congress did for the welfare of our Troops ? Not thankful to the Dems who''d stepped up in defense of these soldiers and fixed the Walter Reed & VA problems immediately ...... That wasn''t Dumbya either. Cheers!

[parrot123-2009]

Again how do you Nazi''''''''s know this stuff?? Posted by MCVet..according to you Osama Bin Laden,Al-Zawahiri,and the rest of the Jihadist are our "friends"? hummm? quit smoking da ganja Mc Vet...
Posted by underdogus at 08:11 AM : Mar 28, 2008

You seem very Delusional ..... Where as anyone called that POS our friends ? Where ? When ? It''s Dumbya that''s still refusing to go after OBL and not posters like McVet who''s only just pointing outthese little facts to Repugs like you. You really should Thank him. Cheers!

[underdogus]

MCVet ..stop using drugs!!

[jersupporter]

MCVet does not know anything because he is a ward of the nation wasting your tax dollars on drugs for his habit. You all have seen him - the Vietnam Vet on the corner peddling for money. Just ignore him because he is truly sad. What a disgrace to America.

[grumpas]

I do like the new rightwing line. " The ENEMY is counting on YOU (most of America) to help them win!" They won when the first American boot touched Iraqi soil. When bush removed the only man that held the counrty together and kept the malitias in check. You can look at the picture from any angle but it''''s still a bush, GOP, rightwing diesaster

Posted by trillion1 at 08:35 AM : Mar 28, 2008

I couldn''t have said it better myself! It''s Bush''s War! He bought and paid for it in our serviceman''s blood. I was against it from the very beginning. Because I knew this would be the end result. Militants running wild through the countryside. Each one vying for more power than the other.

[trillion1]

I do like the new rightwing line. " The ENEMY is counting on YOU (most of America) to help them win!" They won when the first American boot touched Iraqi soil. When bush removed the only man that held the counrty together and kept the malitias in check. You can look at the picture from any angle but it''s still a bush, GOP, rightwing diesaster.

[ioweign]

no one cares that you were in vietnam mcvet....quit trying to bring it up


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Posted by jamesm12341 at 07:59 AM : Mar 28, 2008
+ report abuse

Strange but several here have said they cared. You wouldn''''t be just a wee bit bigoted now would you? Hey I''''ll bet if I was a bootlicker and out here singing the praises of Bush and the "Party" you''''d love me wouldn''''t you? ROFLMAO Sieg Heil Bush

Posted by MCVet at 08:04 AM : Mar 28, 2008

MCVET - They feel the same toward today''s veterans too. Just look at the way they are treated once they are out of the service or active for that matter.

[underdogus]

Again how do you Nazi''''s know this stuff?? Posted by MCVet..according to you Osama Bin Laden,Al-Zawahiri,and the rest of the Jihadist are our "friends"? hummm? quit smoking da ganja Mc Vet...

[formrusmcsgt]

There will be no "end" until Iraq is reduced to three secular states and there''s nothing Maliki or the U.S. can do about it but postpone it for a while.

[mcvet]

no one cares that you were in vietnam mcvet....quit trying to bring it up


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Posted by jamesm12341 at 07:59 AM : Mar 28, 2008
+ report abuse

Strange but several here have said they cared. You wouldn''t be just a wee bit bigoted now would you? Hey I''ll bet if I was a bootlicker and out here singing the praises of Bush and the "Party" you''d love me wouldn''t you? ROFLMAO Sieg Heil Bush

[mcvet]

We do know this, the enemy is counting on you to help them win.


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Posted by hillaryin012 at 07:48 AM : Mar 28, 2008
+ report abuse

Again how do you Nazi''s know this stuff?? It absolutely AMAZES me that you KNOW so much and yet we are in the 6th year of a 6 month war that has NOTHING to do with Bin Laden... well except in the LIAR in Chiefs mind maybe...what little there is of that! Now if YOU freaks KNEW so much it would appear to me that those who ACTUALLY attacked the nation would be either dead or in Jail. It appears to me that IF you knew so much you''d have KNOWN that Bush was LYING to us during the 2 year run up to Iraq... you do remember all thos lies don''t you? Well YOU freaks bought everyone of them. Just wondered how you know so much that''s all. SIEG HEIL BUSH. I''ve seem DIRT smarter than you bootlickers... honest!!

[mcvet]

UNDERDOG IS HERE! IN DEFENSE OF ISRAEL,TRUTH&HONOR!!


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Posted by underdogus at 07:56 AM : Mar 28, 2008
+ report abuse

Yeah yeah we know.. super swastika is on the job. You still haven''t answered my question bootlicker. How do YOU know what Bin Laden is thinking. Are you someone of interest? Hummm??? Sieg Heil Bush. You really aren''t the sharpest tool in the shed are you there Sparky? ROFLMAO Sieg Heil

[underdogus]

UNDERDOG IS HERE! IN DEFENSE OF ISRAEL,TRUTH&HONOR!!

[lookbothways]

Was the surge the reason we had a lull in the violence, or was it the 7 month ceasefire by the Sadrist army.