BAGHDAD, March 28, 2008
U.S. Forces Launch Airstrikes In Iraq
First Time Coalition Forces Have Been Directly Involved In New Battle For Basra
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Iraqi children inspect a government forces vehicle destroyed in fighting with the Mahdi Army in Basra, Iraq, Friday, March 28, 2008. Shiite militants clashed with government forces for a fourth day in Iraq's oil-rich south and sporadic fighting broke out in Baghdad, despite a weekend curfew in the capital. (AP Photo/Nabil Al-Jurani)
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This image taken from video shows a Mahdi Army militant carrying a rocket propelled grenade launcher patrolling a street in Basra, Iraq during a curfew on Friday, March 28, 2008. (APTN)
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Mahdi Army fighters stand in Basra, Iraq, Thursday, March 27, 2008. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki defiantly vowed to keep up the fight against Shiite militias in Basra Thursday despite protests by tens of thousands of followers of a radical cleric and deadly clashes across Baghdad and the oil-rich south. (AP Photo)
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In this image taken from video, children play on a burnt-out vehicle in Basra, Iraq during a city-wide curfew on March 28, 2008. (APTN)
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Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in a speech that was broadcast on Iraqi state TV that, "We have made up our minds to enter this battle and we will continue until the end." (AP)
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Play CBS Video Video U.S. Surprised By Iraqi Attack The U.S. military is sending advisors to help the Iraqi army coordinate an attack against Shiite insurgents attempting to overthrow the government. David Martin reports.
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Video Iraqi Militias Focus On Basra Muqtada al Sadr's Iran-backed militia fight for control of oil rich Basra, challenging the success of the U.S. surge and prompting a coalition air strike to aid Iraqi military. Lara Logan reports.
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Video More Bloodshed In Basra Shiite militiamen continue to clash with Iraqi security forces in the southern oil-hub of Basra. As Lara Logan reports, the city under siege has become a battleground for the U.S. and Iran.
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Photo Essay Week In Iraq Photos A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
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Interactive Iraq: 5 Years At War Five years after the U.S.-led invasion, the war wears on.
The American support occurred as Iraqi troops struggled against strong resistance in Basra and retaliation elsewhere in Shiite areas - including more salvos of rockets or mortars into the U.S.-protected Green Zone in Baghdad.
It was the first time American jets have been called to attack militia positions since Iraqi ground forces launched an operation Tuesday to clear Basra of the armed groups that have effectively ruled the streets of the country's second-largest city for nearly three years.
Helping the Iraqis win in Basra could throw a monkey wrench into plans for withdrawing American troops, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.
U.S. officials say American combat troops would be sent into Basra only as a last resort but they expect more Iraqi troops will have to be committed to the battle. If they are, American troops would have to cover the areas left unprotected, Martin reports. That would force Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, to choose between covering more territory with fewer troops or suspending the withdrawals that are bringing combat units home at the rate of about 3,500 soldiers a month.
One militia barrage slammed into the headquarters of the Basra police command late Friday, triggering a huge fire and explosions when one of the rounds struck a gasoline tanker, police officials said.
Earlier Friday, U.S. jets struck a building housing militia fighters and blasted a mortar team that was firing on Iraqi forces, British military spokesman Maj. Tim Holloway said without further details.
Many of those groups are believed to receive weapons, money and training from nearby Iran, the world's most populous Shiite nation.
The crackdown in Basra has provoked a violent reaction - especially from the Mahdi Army of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. His followers accuse rival Shiite parties in the government of trying to crush their movement before provincial elections this fall.
The violence that began in Basra has now engulfed at least seven southern towns or cities and 13 districts of the Iraqi capital, reports CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan.
Their anger has led to a sharp increase in attacks against American troops in Shiite areas following months of relative calm after al-Sadr declared a unilateral cease-fire last August.
Before dawn Friday, a U.S. aircraft fired a Hellfire missile in the Sadr City district - the Baghdad stronghold of the Mahdi Army - after gunmen there opened fire on an American patrol.
The U.S. military said the missile strike killed four militants, but Iraqi officials said nine civilians were killed and nine others wounded.
Another U.S. airstrike targeted a rocket-propelled grenade mounted vehicle in the mostly Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah, killing two militants, the military said separately.
Defying a curfew in Baghdad, Shiite extremists lobbed more rockets or mortars against the U.S.-protected Green Zone, which has come under steady barrages this week. The attacks prompted the State Department to order embassy personnel to stay inside.
At least two rounds Friday struck the Green Zone offices of Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, killing two guards and wounding four, his daughter and executive secretary Lubna al-Hashemi said.
In all, the U.S. military said 13 suspected militants were killed Friday and 26 on Thursday in Baghdad operations.
"As you know, we've been getting attacked and going after the enemy all day," said Maj. Mark Cheadle, a spokesman for the Baghdad area command.
An American soldier was fatally injured Friday in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad, the military reported without elaboration. The area is religiously mixed, and it was unclear whether he was killed in a Shiite district.
At least 26 people were killed Friday in fierce fighting in the southern cities of Mahmoudiya, Nasiriyah and Kut, according to police and army officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite who once maintained close ties to al-Sadr, has put his personal prestige on the line in the Basra crackdown, flying to the city five days ago to assume personal command of the operation there.
Al-Maliki has vowed there would be "no retreat" in Basra, the nation's commercial center and headquarters of the vital oil industry.
In Washington, President Bush said the battle against Shiite extremists presents "a defining moment in the history of Iraq" and a "necessary part of the development of a free society."
The United States has called the Basra campaign an important test of Iraq's ability to handle its own security affairs. But setbacks in the battle could increasingly draw in American forces, worried that a sustained fight - and the backlash in Baghdad and elsewhere - could wipe away many of the security gains of recent months.
The situation in Basra remained tense as a Friday deadline for gunmen to surrender their weapons and renounce violence expired, although a few complied. Al-Maliki's office announced a new deal, offering Basra residents unspecified monetary compensation if they turn over "heavy and medium-size weapons" by April 8.
Masked militia fighters, meanwhile, moved around freely in a southwestern neighborhood and there was little traffic, according to Associated Press Television News footage. Residents complained of rising food prices and power shortages.
The government relaxed a days-old curfew in Basra to allow people to move around in the city from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. to facilitate shopping and other necessary tasks.
"The situation was better this morning so I went to a small market near my house. I was surprised that the price of vegetables and meat had gone up fivefold," said Ziyad Khalid, 27.
Hamid Saaid, 47, said he saw dozens of people lined up for bread and to fill canisters with clean water from a tanker truck.
In Baghdad, the Sunni speaker of Iraq's parliament called a special legislative session Friday in hopes of launching an initiative to negotiate a peaceful end to the Basra fighting.
But the main Shiite political bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, and its Kurdish allies refused to attend. The alliance includes al-Maliki's party and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, the main political rival to al-Sadr's movement.
With so few lawmakers attending, parliament could approve no binding resolutions but instead established a committee to explore ways to mediate a settlement. The initiative was spearheaded by former prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who brought al-Sadr's followers into the government under his administration.
Al-Maliki has insisted the fight is targeting criminal gangs in Basra, not al-Sadr's movement.
However, al-Sadr's followers sharply condemned the prime minister during sermons Friday in mosques across the country.
"He imprisoned and displaced thousands of Iraqi people under the name of democracy. He is killing the citizens in the south of Iraq," Sheik Jalil al-Sarghi said, referring to al-Maliki as U.S. helicopters buzzed over the office where the prayer service was held.
In other developments:
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Add a Comment See all 535 Comments
- Now the US gets sucked into the civil war that we help create. Cheney is jiggy over his haliburton stock options.
- Reply to this comment
- Take a look at what''s going on in Iraq in Basra and around the country in general. That is exactly what is going to happen the very minute the final military platoon steps aboard that transport plane headed for Germany and home. WHAT A USELESS, WASTE OF BLOOD, HUMAN LIFE AND U.S. TREASURY!
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- dumb shun -- Great screen name
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- Is this true.
OBAMA TIES TO HAMAS TERROR
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency today reports that the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jr., long-time pastor of Barak Obama, published an op-ed piece signed by a Hamas leader. The item appeared in the July 22, 2007 edition of his Trinity United Church newspaper on the "Pastors Page." The op-ed piece justifies attacks on Israeli civilians, and carries a supporting introduction by Wright.
Barak Obama issued a statement strongly condemning these views of his pastor. "I certainly wasn%u2019t in church when that outrageously wrong [Hamas] piece was re-printed in the bulletin,%u201D Obama added.
Obama is a long-time member of Trinity United, and his financial contributions to his church are reported to be substantial ("All told, the [Obama] couple gave $27,500 to [Trinity United] in 2005 and 2006," according to the New York Times of March 26). His moral support to the church has been unwavering. As more and more and more details of the extremist political positions of the church are revealed, Obama''s response has been to distance himself from these, but also to repeat, over and over, that he didn''t know, that he wasn''t there.
I find it very difficult to believe that an intelligent, energetic, and very political man like Obama is perpetually ignorant about what goes on in the church to which he devotes so many of his resources. If he does get to the White House, will he be in similar ignorance about the goings on of his administration ? - Reply to this comment
- Posted by ontheleft at 10:29 PM : Mar 28, 2008
Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall and can''''''''t be put back together again?
Because the soldiers or horses did not ask the king to put humpty back together again, King Jesus can put you back together? One idea is to go to http colon slash slash pilgrimswaylighted dot blogspot dot com do not add the www at all. Let me know what you think ok by the voting tab. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by ontheleft at 10:29 PM : Mar 28, 2008
Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall and can''''t be put back together again?
Because the soldiers or horses did not ask the king to put humpty back together again, King Jesus can put you back together? One idea is to go to http colon slash slash pilgrimswaylighted dot blogspot dot com do not add the www at all. Let me know what you think ok by the voting tab. - Reply to this comment
- Why my son was very proudfull today by saying he would of left that racial church if it continued? Only thing is its taken 20 years for him to see it. My son must be a half wit? It might take 20 years for him to understand being president?
- Reply to this comment
- Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall and can''t be put back together again. The best thing for the United States to do is to withdraw from Iraq and let the Iraqis settle it themselves.
Contrary to what the U.S. propaganda machine is telling us, the majority of Iraqis do not want us there. We need to leave. - Reply to this comment
- Baghdad''s here,Man you really gotta quit drinking the kool-aid!!That stuff is rotting your brain!
- Reply to this comment
- BaghdadsHere,,,, That''''s your big problem, seriously man..... Fox News has always been a total fraud when it comes to the news ------ Everyone knows it, anything Rupert Murdoch does is for Bush or the GOP including Newsmax.
Posted by j-whitman at 08:57 PM : Mar 28, 2008
j-whitman,,,Maybe the FOX news you watch in US is not the same FOX news I watch in Brazil. They showed Barack HUSSEIN OSAMA saying his mother was a TYPICAL WHITE PERSON, when you didnt deny it. They showed Barack HUSSEIN OSAMA wearing that ridiculous muslim vest in Somalia and you didnt deny it. They showed Hillary crying after losing the caucasus and it was true. I repeat, I"ve never watched something in FOX news that wasnt true. - Reply to this comment
- BaghdadsHere,,,, That''s your big problem, seriously man..... Fox News has always been a total fraud when it comes to the news ------ Everyone knows it, anything Rupert Murdoch does is for Bush or the GOP including Newsmax.
- Reply to this comment
- BaghdadsHere,,,, If you want to keep hiding from the truth, do it elsewhere -- We''''ve got enough wacko''''s who only pay attention to exploited sound bits Fox News generated
Posted by j-whitman at 08:41 PM : Mar 28, 2008
j-whitman,,,I watch fox news all the time. They show the reality. I"ve never seen a false report in this channel. - Reply to this comment
- BaghdadsHere,,,, If you want to keep hiding from the truth, do it elsewhere -- We''ve got enough wacko''s who only pay attention to exploited sound bits Fox News generated
- Reply to this comment
- BaghdadsHere,,,, The New York Times has always reported articles both for & against Bush ---- It was the Bad News & Good Newsyou folks refuesed to hear.
- Reply to this comment
- BaghdadsHere,,,, No, the NYT is not a democrat newspaper --- The White House used it to exploit the reasons to take us into Iraq, rembember Judith Miller ??
Posted by j-whitman at 08:29 PM : Mar 28, 2008
j-whitman,No. All I remember about the NYT are journalists bashing the Commander-in-chief and the US troops for the past 7 years. - Reply to this comment
- BaghdadsHere,,,, No, the NYT is not a democrat newspaper --- The White House used it to exploit the reasons to take us into Iraq, rembember Judith Miller ??
- Reply to this comment
- BaghdadsHere,,,, You need some catching up, Iran had nothing to do with it..
.. Here''''s a good article for you that pretty much describes the problems in Basra, & that''''s also the way it is throughout Iraq & their politics.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008
/03/27/world/middleeast/27iraq.html?_r=1
&hp&oref=slogin
Posted by j-whitman at 08:21 PM : Mar 28, 2008
j-whitman,,,,First of all I dont read nothing that comes from NYT cause I already know it is a demoncrats newspaper. Second, I dont believe you still dont know Iran controls its puppet Muqtada Al-Sadr and his outlaw militia Mehdi. - Reply to this comment
- BaghdadsHere,,,, I''m trying to help you stop looking like an idiotic fool bro -
-- Here''s what Kissinger, Powell & 3 other Secretaries of State have to say concerning GITMO & Iran.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/03/27/secstate_0328.html - Reply to this comment
- BaghdadsHere,,,, You need some catching up, Iran had nothing to do with it..
.. Here''s a good article for you that pretty much describes the problems in Basra, & that''s also the way it is throughout Iraq & their politics.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/world/middleeast/27iraq.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin - Reply to this comment
- BaghdadsHere,,, Bush got caught in 2 fatasss lies to America today -----
"It''''s a defining moment" & as soon as he figured out it''''s a major set back that''''s going to set back progress for a year he says, "I didn''''t know anything about it"
I knew about it last week. & so did everyone who read my post then/
Posted by j-whitman at 08:10 PM : Mar 28, 2008
j-whitman,,,,I"m not surprised with the violence in Iraq between the security forces and Al-Sadr outlaw mehdi militia. As the US elections approach its natural that IRAN tries to help Barack HUSSEIN OSAMA by increasing the bloodshed in Iraq. - Reply to this comment
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