BAGHDAD, March 31, 2008
Iraq Violence Calms But Green Zone Hit
Peace Deal With Al-Sadr Diminishes Fighting Though Al-Maliki Is Weakened
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Residents check damage to their apartments after a bombing and recent clashes between the Mahdi Army and Iraqi government forces backed by the US military in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, March 31, 2008. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
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Twelve-year-old Haidar Mohammed, foreground, lies in hospital in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, March 31, 2008. The boy was wounded in clashes Sunday between the Mahdi Army and government forces backed by the American military. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
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A Mahdi Army fighter stands next to a burning Iraq armored police vehicle outside a state-run al-Iraqiya TV facility in Basra, Iraq, March 30, 2008. Mahdi Army fighters stormed the facility in the southern city on Sunday, forcing Iraqi military guards surrounding the building to flee, and set armored vehicles on fire. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)
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An Iraqi police armored vehicle burns outside a TV facility in Basra, March 30, 2008. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)
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Video
Shiite Cleric Flexes Muscle
In the battle for Iraq, Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr ordered his fighters off the streets after days of fighting with government forces in Baghdad and Basra. Lara Logan reports.
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Basra Crackdown Intensifies
The Iraqi government's crackdown on Shiite militias in Basra is intensifying, and U.S. involvement in the conflict has grown with it. Lara Logan reports.
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U.S. Forces Join Basra Fight
U.S. forces have joined the fight gripping Basra and Baghdad. Iraqi Security Forces called in at least two airstrikes as they try to put down a Shiite rebellion. Susan Roberts reports.
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The peace deal between al-Sadr and Iraqi government forces - said to have been brokered in Iran - calmed the violence Monday, but left the cleric's Mahdi Army intact and Iraq's U.S.-backed prime minister politically battered and humbled within his own Shiite power base.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had promised to crush the militias that have effectively ruled Basra for nearly three years. The U.S. military launched air strikes in the city to back the Iraqi effort.
But the ferocious response by the Mahdi Army, including rocket fire on the U.S.-controlled Green Zone and attacks throughout the Shiite south, caught the government by surprise and sent officials scrambling for a way out of the crisis.
The confrontation enabled al-Sadr to show that he remains a powerful force capable of challenging the Iraqi government, the Americans and mainstream Shiite parties that have sought for years to marginalize him. And the outcome cast doubt on President George W. Bush's assessment that the Basra battle was "a defining moment" in the history "of a free Iraq."
With gunmen again off the streets, a round-the-clock curfew imposed in Baghdad last week was lifted at 6 a.m. Monday, except in Sadr City and two other Shiite neighborhoods. Streets of the capital buzzed with traffic and commerce.
Several rockets or mortars slammed Monday into the Green Zone, the nerve center of the American mission in Iraq. But the U.S. Embassy said there no reports of serious injuries. At least two Americans working for the U.S. government were killed in Green Zone attacks last week.
An American soldier was killed Monday by a roadside bomb in northeastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said without specifying whether the attack occurred in a Shiite or Sunni area. The military also said a U.S. soldier wounded south of Baghdad on March 23 died Sunday in Germany.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in Copenhagen, Denmark that the violence in Shiite areas had not changed American plans to withdraw more combat forces this spring.
Republican Sen. John McCain, who has linked his presidential campaign to the conduct of the war, said he was "surprised" that al-Maliki had ordered an operation in Basra rather than keeping the focus on fighting al Qaeda in Iraq in the northern city of Mosul.
Fighting in the south helped make March the deadliest month for Iraqis since last summer, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.
At least 1,247 Iraqis, including civilians and security personnel, had been killed as of Monday, according to figures compiled from police and U.S. military reports. The figure was nearly double the tally for February and the biggest monthly toll since August, when 1,956 people died violently.
In ordering his militia to stop fighting, al-Sadr also demanded concessions from the Iraqi government, including an end to the "illegal raids and arrests" of his followers and the release of all detainees who have not been convicted of any offenses.
Sadrists in Basra complained police were still conducting raids in the area Monday night and that their followers might start carrying weapons again for self-defense.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh welcomed al-Sadr's decision but told reporters Monday that no political group was above the law. Al-Sadr's supporters believed the security crackdown in Basra was aimed at weakening their movement before provincial elections this fall.
U.S. and Iraqi officials insisted the operation was directed at criminals and rogue militiamen - some allegedly linked to Iran - but not against the Sadrist movement, which controls 30 of the 275 seats in the national parliament.
But well-informed Iraqi political officials said the Iranians played a key role in hammering out the peace deal, boosting the Islamic Republic's influence among the majority Shiite community. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
According to one Shiite official, the deal was struck after hours of negotiations in the Iranian holy city of Qom involving key figures in Iraq's major Shiite parties and representatives of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Two of the Iraqis present - Ali Adeeb and Hadi al-Amri - presented documents and photos which they claimed proved that al-Sadr's militia was receiving Iranian weapons, the official said.
Shiite-dominated Iran is believed to supply weapons, money and training to most Iraqi Shiite factions - a charge the Iranians deny.
The Iraqi officials would not elaborate on Iran's role, and efforts to contact Iraqi representatives who took part in the Qom meetings were unsuccessful.
Iran has been eager to maintain unity among Iraq's factious Shiites, believing that is the best way to ensure a pro-Iranian government in Baghdad.
"By all reports, Iran's role is not good," said Michael O'Hanlon, foreign policy expert at the Brookings Institution. "They're arming all groups. ...They want influence with everyone."
A day after al-Sadr's call, Iraqi officials sought to present his decision as a victory for the government, despite the failure of U.S.-backed Iraqi forces to dislodge Mahdi fighters from Basra strongholds.
Al-Dabbagh said security operations in Basra would continue until the city "reaches a secure and acceptable situation" where residents can live "without threats or terrorism from any side."
Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said that as of Monday, Iraqi forces had killed 210 "criminals" in Basra, arrested 155 others and seized large quantities of rockets and roadside bombs.
Nonetheless, the outcome of the Basra crisis dealt a blow to the credibility of al-Maliki, who flew to the city last week to oversee the crackdown personally.
On Saturday, al-Maliki had promised "a decisive and final battle" and gave assurances he would remain in Basra until the militias were crushed. A key adviser to al-Maliki, Sami al-Askari, said the prime minister was expected to return to Baghdad this week.
With tensions easing, Iraqi government television reported that a high-profile official was released Monday evening four days after he was seized by gunmen from his east Baghdad home.
Tahseen al-Shiekhly serves as the civilian spokesman for the Baghdad military command and regularly appears before reporters to tout improvements in security.
In Basra, residents said by telephone that the city, headquarters of Iraq's vital oil industry, was generally calm except for sporadic explosions and machine gun fire.
Some residents, however, estimated that only about a quarter of the shops and businesses opened Monday because any people were apprehensive that the truce would hold.
"The whole situation is a big farce," said one resident, who gave his name only as Abu Mohammed, or father of Mohammed. "I think the situation will return to normal again but the problem will never be solved. Gangs, smugglers and corrupt people will go back to doing what they were doing before."
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.
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Posted by GladImNotOJ at 07:20 AM : Mar 31, 2008
+ report abuse
LOL Yeah the silence is quite telling indeed.
why don''t they just make mortars and rockets illegal?
Al Sadr says "stand down" and it''s done.
Who''s really running the show?
I think that''s obvious.....
1) In the beginning there were no U.S. troops in Iraq, but the Bush was loose upon the earth.
2)February 25, 2003 the Senate Armed Services Committee turned to Army Chief of Staff General Shinseki and requested, "...give us some idea as to the... force requirement for an occupation of Iraq."
3) The General opened his mouth and the truth fell from his lips, "I would say... several hundred thousand soldiers. We''re talking about control over a piece of geography that''s fairly significant, with the kinds of ethnic tensions that could lead to other problems. And so it takes a significant ground-force presence."
4) Yet the Bush and the Rumsfeld hardened their hearts to the truth and sent the Wolfowitz to reply that such estimates were, "Wildy off the mark."
5) November 15, 2006, Gen. John P. Abizaid admitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee, "General Shinseki was right that a greater... (force) should have been available immediately after major combat operations."
Here endeth the lesson. Shinseki was aware of the problems brewing in Iraq and knew only with boots on the ground could peace and stability be maintained. Every war proves this out. Experts, allies, even James Baker told Bush not to go in there, but the Bush hardened his heart to them all. I don''t believe we now have what it takes to finish this job. We''ve bled our military wrongfully and without gain with no one to blame but ourselves for our mistakes.
Bush%u2019s prediction: In January 2007, President Bush said Iraqi forces would take charge in all 18 Iraqi provinces by November. Four months past that deadline, they control nine provinces and none of the most volatile ones.
Cost: At least $22 billion has been spent to train an Iraqi military with narrow capabilities, critics and outside experts say.
Pentagon%u2019s view: Lt. Gen. James Dubik, the current trainer, said his team has made %u201Chuge progress in many areas, quality and quantity.%u201D Still, %u201Cwe%u2019re not free of difficulties,%u201D he said, citing as an example a critical shortage of midlevel Iraqi officers that will take years to close.
Iraqi view: Dubik says Iraqi defense officials don%u2019t expect to take over internal security until as late as 2012 and won%u2019t be able to defend Iraq%u2019s borders until 2018.
http://www.truthnews.us/?p=2135
The time being reported by sources for the attacks kickoff is the morning of April 6 at 4 AM.
Also noted was the Democratic withdrawal of a prohibition in the Supplemental Military Appropriations Bill prohibiting an attack on Iran without the approval of Congress at the behest of the AIPAC spies and other dung-eating dogs who serve the interests of war and Israel.
Can someone track down all the times that President Bush and others have said that the Iraqi military has made just awesome progress in their training during the last years now and list them please?
Such An Awesome War:
Iraq%u2019s new army is %u201Cdeveloping steadily,%u201D with %u201Cstrong Iraqi leaders out front,%u201D the chief U.S. trainer said.
That was three-plus years ago, and the trainer was David H. Petraeus, now the top American commander in Iraq. Some of those Iraqi officials at the time were busy embezzling more than $1 billion allotted for the new army%u2019s weapons, according to investigators.
Nationwide security: In the latest shift, the Pentagon%u2019s new quarterly status report quietly drops any prediction of when local units will take over security responsibility for Iraq. Last year%u2019s reports had forecast a transition in 2008.
(cont)
Senator Graham tried his very hardest on Fox News Sunday to spin the depressing news out of Iraq in favor of St. McCain before Jack Reed smacks down his doublespeak. Bush/Graham/McCain/HolyJoe/Cheney/etc. keep saying that both decreasing violence and increasing violence mean the surge is working. Sorry, guys, but you can%u2019t have it both ways.
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/fns_graham_reed_iraq_033008.mov
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Posted by hhroams at 08:47 AM : Mar 31, 2008
+ report abuse
LOL I think on this point most can agree!
wil be returning to Baghdad."
Word is he''s waiting for the GOOD news
of his military action to precede
him to Baghdad so as to ease the climate
of returning from a disaster. Which will
not only be "GOOD" news it''ll "GREAT" news.
Recycling his unused "mission accomplished"
banner and sending it back to Baghdad as the
city''s much needed you-know-kind-of-paper
should have him welcomed as a hero.
The coming attack on Iran--and its aftermath in Iraq--will, over time, show the world how ''successful'' the surge. Meanwhile, you can enrich Big Oil with six dollar a gallon oil.
Exactly! Well said. But, as long as there is corporate profit to be made, we will intervene.
Sad but true.
Meanwhile, as this Administration arms up the Sunnis and Kurds, while the Iranians do the same for the Shiites, Bush will blame the Democrats when the place goes up in smoke!
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Oh, yes...I''m surprised they haven''t looked for a way to convert mother''s milk to gasoline...so they create a new crop of immune-deficient children with Nestle products...if, indeed they survive.
The more ways they look to ''solve'' the energy ''crisis'',the more scarce and expensive basic commodities become. As Alex Jones noted the other day, just wait until the speculators get all the way on board the food crisis and prices really start to skyrocket....
Posted by underdogus at 09:33 AM : Mar 31, 2008
Repugs still trying to discredit and attack the messenger but never dispute the message. Ever !
Posted by underdogus at 09:33 AM : Mar 31, 2008
So what?! You''re an idiot and a bushie boy! Only 295 days left! ENJOY!
in thier time in office,
Sadr calls a truce and it happens immediately
maybe he should be our president
Posted by fibonacci_ at 09:17 AM : Mar 31, 2008
Thank you! Very well said! Ignorance matched only by arrogance!
Posted by Grim56Z at 09:54 AM : Mar 31, 2008
What coalition? Blackwater and the 20,000 foreign mercenaries in our military? Ha!Ha!Ha!
Posted by redbds at 10:13 AM : Mar 31, 2008
Doofus supporter, I don''t think you won over any converts here but thanks for trying.
We have the govt we established..and its obvious ... the Iraqqis have their own governing force that they recognize. Maybe we need to find out how to get a hold to Al Sadr and get him to work in our favor. Dont know much about him but that guy has pull.
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Who''s yer Bagdaddy?
I think he is.
This reconciliation happened WAY too fast . . . so they have this gargantuan war which finished as quickly as it started amongst fellow Shiites and the result is that:
- it forced our troops to disperse out of Baghdad to other parts of the country
- it made a mockery of McSurge
- Iran ends up looking like a peace-broker
- the Iraqi ''government'' releases Shiite militia members
- the Iraqi ''government'' already poised to lose power through the next set of elections intended to empower Sunnis is made to look impotent
Hmmm . . . ''incompetence'' on the part of Al-Maliki and the Iraqi government or is McBush getting played for fools?
Posted by mjlewis6
? Who exactly do you define as ''armed resistance''? Aren''t you presupposing that the majority actually want a cooperative democracy when the reality is that the country has always had an in-group and an out-group divided on sectarian lines?
The Bush accomplishment in Iraq:
Take out an effective independent secular tyrant.
Replace him with an islamist tyrant from Iran!
And at what cost to us!
4000 DEAD TROOPS
3 TRILLION IN DEBT!
And the Iranian mullahs are the only ones, (besides ******** Cheney and Halliburton) who''re chuckling!
With enemies like Bush, who needs friends!
Posted by fedupwithit1 at 01:45 PM : Mar 31, 2008
My response:
Bush and the GOP has been a posterchild for terrorism and playing into their hands from the beginning!
They''re not going to correct their mistakes and stop the hemorraging! Heck, most of them won''t even admit to having made any mistakes! Each move they make, gets them deeper and deeper into trouble! All we can hope for, is that in nine months SOMEONE---Congress or a new administration---takes responsible actions!
But our Liar-in-Chief knew better.
Blinded by oil and arrogance and revenge, he took us to a needless war!
After 4000 Dead Americans, and 3 trillion dollars, he delivered Iraq into the hands of the Iranian mullahs!
Al Sadr is just their man in Iraq!
Talk about high treason!
IMPEACH BUSH AND CHENEY!
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What an IGNORANT TOOL. That is like stating - Washington DC is not that important. Please take a class in tactics before posting idiotic messages.
The militias which have made Basra a place of fear - murdering 100 women over the past year for failing to wear Islamic dress, for instance - remain in place.
And on the national political stage Prime Minister Maliki has been weakened, while Moqtada Sadr has been strengthened. The Coalition cannot be happy with any of that. The question remains, what is the British Army doing in southern Iraq?
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iran was integral in persuading Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to halt attacks by his militia on Iraqi security forces, an Iraqi lawmaker said Monday.
In other words, Al Sadr takes his orders directly from Iran!
Proof positive of Bush''s biggest accomplishment:
Kill 4000 of our best and bankrupt the country so he could deliver Iraq to our biggest enemy, IRAN!
From the article-
"The fortified Green Zone in Iraq''s capital came under mortar or rocket attack again Monday, despite the call a day before from a radical Shiite cleric for his fighters to stand down."
What does one have to do with the other? Why couldn''t this attack have come from one of the many other legitimate Iraqi armed resistance groups?
The "greatest military ever known" can''t even defend the "Green Zone". What a joke!
The greatest damage to our national security, besides pointlessly deploying our military overseas in lie-based wars of aggression, has been in stripping away our patina of invincibility, and exposing our defenses as a ridiculously overpriced paper tiger.
This is something that will take a very long time to recover from, if ever.
If Maliki can somehow crush the resistance of the Mahdi Army, he may well prove to be the answer to America%u2019s prayers for a leader with the muscle and authority to keep a lid on Sunni-Shi%u2019ite rivalries and ultimately to allow the US military to withdraw.
Yet Mahdi warriors such as Haidar Abdul Abbas did not look too worried about defeat last week. A 24-year-old expert at firing rocket-propelled grenades, Abbas was wearing funeral shrouds, signalling his willingness to die in combat.
%u201CThe Maliki government is now fighting on behalf of the [coalition] occupiers, forgetting that history is never kind to those who oppress,%u201D he said. %u201CTheir fate will be the same as that of Saddam.%u201D
http://tinyurl.com/2ujfef
Posted by fedupwithit1 at 03:55 PM : Mar 31, 2008
Iraq is a country the size of California, and Wikipedia gives the population for Basra the province as 2.6 million, and for Basra the city as 1.7 million (based on a 2003 estimate), or about the size of San Diego. If, after 5 years of training and the backing of the US air power, the Iraq government can not take control of their 2nd major city and enforce it''s laws., then they are in big trouble.
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lol - yeah, wonder when that draft kicks in? Then all the whiners and complainers will say - not my children. Bunch of flag wavers and tailgaiting yellow ribbon carriers. LMAO
Al-Sadr'' has more pull over there than
maliki/rice/ or the idiot bush,.
and lets not forget , its all going perfectly,
McBushCain
how pathetic our nation has become under the neo cons
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