BAGHDAD, May 20, 2008
Iraqi Troops Move Into Sadr City
Attempt To Take Firm Control Of Shiite Militia Stronghold Comes As Part Of Brokered Truce
-
Play CBS Video Video Inside Iraq's Sadr City "Only On The Web": In the absence of cleric Muqtada al Sadr, the Iraqi armi is working with the Madhi army in an effort to create stability. It's codename is "Operation Peace." Sheila MacVicar reports.
-
Iraqi soldiers stand guard in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in front of a mural showing Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, late father of the radical anti-US cleric Muqtada al Sadr, and Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr, left, in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 20, 2008. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
-
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 Iraq: 5 Years At War Five years after the U.S.-led invasion, the war wears on.
The large Iraq force backed by tanks entered the sprawling district before dawn, with troops taking up positions on street corners and deploying on rooftops as Iraqi Humvees patrolled the streets, residents said.
The move is the strongest attempt yet by the government to impose control over the district, which has long been the unquestioned bastion of the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to al-Sadr. Iraqi and U.S. troops have in the past largely stayed on the neighborhood's edges.
The district erupted into violence in early April after an Iraqi offensive against Shiite militias in the southern city of Basra, and for weeks has been the scene of skirmishes between militiamen and U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the troops were deploying in the district as part of a fragile truce reached last week between al-Sadr and the government. So far, there has been no violence in the deployment, code-named "Operation Peace," he said.
"The government chose the approach of preventing bloodshed, and entered the city to coordinate with the representatives of the Sadr movement, to achieve stability and security, impose the rule of law and offer service," he told reporters in Baghdad.
Al-Moussawi said three brigades with about 10,000 troops were involved in the deployment. He and the U.S. military said American troops were participating, though al-Moussawi said U.S. forces were nearby in case their support was needed.
The deal signed by the Sadrists and Iraq's main Shiite political bloc took effect on May 11, calling for a cease-fire that would allow Iraqi forces to take over security in Sadr City. It prohibited any attack against residential areas, government offices and the U.S.-protected Green Zone, which had faced steady rocket and mortar fire.
But the Sadrists rejected calls by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to surrender weapons, saying Mahdi fighters have no "medium or heavy weapons."
Under the compromise, Iraqi forces promised to try to refrain from seeking American help to restore order. U.S. military officials said they would follow the Iraqis' lead.
The agreement gave a timeframe of gaining control as early as last Wednesday, but the Iraqis apparently needed more time to clear roadside bombs from the area along with other preparations.
In other developments:
The Iraqi forces in vehicles and on foot rolled into Sadr City down streets with burned out shops and buildings pockmarked with gunfire - the signs of the years of violence and clashes with U.S.-Iraqi forces that have plagued the district of some 2 million people.
Iraqi soldiers also found a large weapons cache on the grounds of the Shaaroofi mosque Monday in the Shaab district, a Shiite militia stronghold that is adjacent to Sadr City, according to a U.S. military statement.
The find included eight armor-piercing roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, seven rocket-propelled grenades as well as other munitions and documents detailing kidnappings and murders, the military said.
The military said U.S. soldiers did not deploy around the mosque to avoid offending Islamic sensibilities.
The Sadr City operation is the latest by al-Maliki's government aimed at imposing control over areas dominated by armed groups. Besides the April sweep in Basra, Iraqi forces have been conducting a crackdown for more than a week in the northern city of Mosul, aimed at uprooting al Qaeda in Iraq fighters and other Sunni insurgents.
Insurgents, meanwhile, targeted members of U.S.-allied Sunni groups that have turned against al Qaeda in the volatile Diyala province.
Four anti-al Qaeda fighters were killed by gunmen in an ambush near Duluiyah, north of Baghdad, and a 7-year-old boy was killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the house of the head of the so-called awakening council in Mandali, east of the capital.
Elsewhere in Diyala, shells slammed into the center of Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing three civilians and wounding nine others.
A bomb also exploded inside a minibus in Baghdad, killing two passengers and wounding five others.
© 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 43 Comments
- Hey straightmate, keep your schizophrenic homosexual remarks to yourself.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by Petro49L at 07:32 AM : May 21, 2008
+ report abuse
LOL After the post you just put up you have NO room to talk down to anyone... NONE at all. Come back when you know the difference between the factions fighting in the Middle East. It''s not like this is NEW, they''ve been fighting for over 1500 years... - Reply to this comment
- Qada Iraq should come out and fight. There is no need to hide and quiver like sixteen year old school girls. Bin Laden should had told Q.I. to use anabolic steroids. Their spineless antics are boring the world public.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by Petro49L at 07:28 AM : May 21, 2008
+ report abuse
Are you completely NUTS? This is a very unstable situation here... we already KNOW the Army of Iraq can''t hold it''s own against these militants. Best to just leave it alone and MAYBE these two sides can get along...after all they are BOTH Shiite. It''s ignorance... NO I must call it what it is...STUPIDITY like your''s that has gotten us into this quagmire. These are NOT Al Queda... not even close. They are allied with Iran and are enemies of the Sunni...THAT''s AL Queda! Where do you people come from? I mean school kids know the difference but you and McCain?? Cours McCain is OLD!! - Reply to this comment
- Hey straightmate, keep your schizophrenic homosexual remarks to yourself.
- Reply to this comment
- Too many of these post are junk. Clean it up folks. Show some pride and accuracy with information and grammer, or the statement is just not worth reading.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by straightmate at 08:42 PM : May 20, 2008
+ report abuse
Don''t you just hate people like this? Arrogant and wanting to stop people from voicing their dissatisfaction with their government. - Reply to this comment
- Qada Iraq should come out and fight. There is no need to hide and quiver like sixteen year old school girls. Bin Laden should had told Q.I. to use anabolic steroids. Their spineless antics are boring the world public.
- Reply to this comment
- Gosh! And to think THIS only took 5 years and over 4,000 American Lives to accomplish. Course IF the other party decides they don''t like it, Poof!! If this isn''t the biggest LIE ever served on the American People, would someone tell me what is? Has this reduced the power of Al Queda.. you know the folks beheading the guy on the tape? Well NO, not according to our intelligence, they are NOW stronger than ever. Has this helped with Iran''s growing influence in the area? No! Removing Saddam has INCREASED significantly Iran''s influence. It''s the biggest policy blunder in HISTORY bar none.
- Reply to this comment
- It is my opinion that Hillary is staying in because some of her middle east buddies are going to try to smoke Obama!
There is no way they are going to let Obama get America out of the middle east...
And when this happens I hope the American people are strong enough to march on Washington and drag those lobbyist and politicians out in the street and give them some American Street Justice!
Posted by bluestardad at 08:18 AM : May 20, 2008
----------
My response: If she can''t steal the nomination, and gets on as VP, you may be correct! I wouldn''t go there! Your solution is exactly what we probably should have done with Bush & Co.?! If thiings get real bad, it might happen, but it would have to get A LOT worse than it is now! - Reply to this comment
- Too many of these post are junk. Clean it up folks. Show some pride and accuracy with information and grammer, or the statement is just not worth reading.
- Reply to this comment
- Hi. I''m John McCain. It''s terrible that Ahmadinejad called Israel a "stinking corpse". World leaders should show more respect for other countries and if they did so, we''d have a better chance at peace. Now, let me sing a little song.
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran. - Reply to this comment
- We are currently arming, training, and paying Sunni insurgents in Al-Anbar. It cannot be seriously argued that this isn''t a policy of appeasement. Yet, it''s a policy that Bush and McBush support. It''s amazing that they call anyone else an appeaser and be taken seriously by anyone.
- Reply to this comment
- mbcsmith, how many of your "VOLUNTEERS" would have enlisted if they knew they were going back 5, 6 or more times and how many National Guard troops ever thought they would spend over 6 years at war. Your an idiot.
- Reply to this comment
- Yeah, what victory, for the American oil companies. For the soldiers who needlessly perished for the crazy conservatives?
Yes and surrender what is right? As I saw a right winger holding a sign saying Get A Brain, Morans. - Reply to this comment
- When I first heard about todays action, 10,000 Iraqies and tanks enter Sadr City, I was struck with the fact that the White House is trying to get NBC to acknowledge that NO civil war was ever in Iraq. Iraqies fighting Iraqies, sounds like civil war to me.
- Reply to this comment
- from the story, "...Iraqi Humvees..." Did they buy these from the good ol USA or did we donate these humvees to them?
- Reply to this comment
- Your surrender strategy IS what it is. SURRENDER. You don''''t hear it because you are too deaf. Your own words say SURRENDER veiled under some LIB defeatist montra. The volunteers serving in Iraq believe in the mission and they will succeed, unless forced to surrender by LIB politicians.
Posted by mbcsmith at 01:28 PM : May 20, 2008
Surrender WHAT??? - Reply to this comment
- The Iraqi military s beginning to take charge. Violence is down by 75% from early last year. Troops from the successful surge are beginning to return home. Al-queada is feeling the pain of continued assaults and disruptions.
Only a LIB would surrender now!
Posted by mbcsmith at 01:07 PM : May 20, 2008
Fact: Shortly before the 2004 presidential election (9/25/04) Petraeus did something that active-duty commanders should not do. In late September he wrote an op-ed piece for The Washington Post obviously as a favor to the Bush campaign, in which he applauded what he called major progress by the Iraqi military, Iraqi police and Iraqi leadership.
Retired General William Odom, former National Security Agency director:
Do you (Petraeus) propose to string out the surge although the Army simply does not have forces to continue?
Why did the Iraqi forces you (Petraeus) trained a few years (2004) ago fail to emerge as an effective fighting force that survives and serves as the core of the Iraqi army today? If you (Petraeus) succeeded, then why do we have this problem with standing up an effective Iraqi Army? - Reply to this comment
- mbcsmith,,,, McBush was for appeasement before he was against it. ----- His & Bush''s policies appeased every terrorist supporting country that had an involvement in 9/11
- Reply to this comment
- mbcsmith --- Shove your surrender rhetoric where the sun don''t shine,, a school child couldn''t believe that totally ingoant hype of your party
- Reply to this comment
- Couple this with America''''s devestated economy, and it would take exceptionally retarded nerve to suggest there''''s anything left to win.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by prometheus41 at 01:21 PM : May 20, 2008
+ report abuse
Surrender! That''s all the LIBS have to say. Forget the genocide that would occur, forget the destabilization of the middle east, forget our middle east allies who would be put at risk. LIBS JUST DON''T GET IT! - Reply to this comment
- mcbsmith, i have never heard a one single democrat call for America''''s defeat. bush rhetoric and garbage is all i hear coming out of your mouth. Bring our Soldiers home, they have served God and country with honor and bravery,if the little peanut brain neocons want war then it is time for them to take over our Soldiers have done enough.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by armydog2 at 01:24 PM : May 20, 2008
Your surrender strategy IS what it is. SURRENDER. You don''t hear it because you are too deaf. Your own words say SURRENDER veiled under some LIB defeatist montra. The volunteers serving in Iraq believe in the mission and they will succeed, unless forced to surrender by LIB politicians. - Reply to this comment
Mike Huckabee on GOP "rock stars," 2012, health care reform and more.
