Anniversary: Fall Of Baghdad
On the first anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, there is fierce fighting on several fronts in Iraq, as rebels continue to hold at least six foreign hostages. GIs regained control of the city of Kut, which had been seized earlier in the week by Shiite militia led by Muqtada al-Sadr and the al-Mahdi Army. And in Fallujah, U.S. forces got the order to stop fighting, as officials tried to negotiate an end to the fighting.
But only 90 minutes later, U.S. Marines were instructed to resume their fight in that city, which has been a stronghold of anti-coalition troops activity.
Reports are that the talks that were expected to take place in Fallujah may not have even happened.
Rebels are holding at least six foreign hostages, three of them Japanese civilians: two aid workers and a freelance journalist.
TV pictures aired on the Al-Jazeera satellite network and rebroadcast during prime time in Japan showed three Japanese - two aid workers and a journalist - wide-eyed and moaning in terror as their black-clad captors held knives to their throats, shouting "God is Great!" in Arabic. It was not clear when the three were captured.
Kidnappers are threatening to burn the Japanese hostages alive unless Japan withdraws its troops - a demand being rejected by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
"We cannot give in to the cowardly threats of terrorists," said Koizumi, as he convened an emergency meeting of top officials and created a task force to put together a response to the abductions. "What we need to do is gather accurate information, and bring them home safely."
Japan's 530 soldiers are in Iraq - their first posting in a combat zone since World War II - on a humanitarian mission.
Two Arab aid workers from Jerusalem - one who had once lived in Georgia - were abducted in a separate incident, and a Syrian-born Canadian humanitarian aid worker for the International Rescue Committee was taken hostage Wednesday by a local militia in Najaf.
The recapture of Kut came a day after Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. general in Iraq, vowed that coalition forces would move "imminently" to break al-Sadr's hold over Kut and destroy his al-Mahdi Army militia across the country in a new operation dubbed "Resolute Sword."
Ukrainian troops in Kut, 95 miles southeast of Baghdad, abandoned their base Wednesday in the face of mortar fire and gunbattles, allowing al-Mahdi Army fighters to sweep in, seizing weapons stores and planting their flag.
Al-Sadr's militia also has full control over the southern cities of Kufa and the central part of Najaf. Police in the cities have abandoned their stations or stood aside as the gunmen roam the streets.
Streets in Baghdad were quiet Friday, a year after U.S. Marines surrounded by cheering Iraqis pulled down the black, bronze statue of Saddam Hussein at Firdos Square in central Baghdad, marking the ouster of the Iraqi leader.
Most shops were shut and there is little traffic. An area in the city's center around the square was closed to the public.
U.S. soldiers used loudspeakers to warn people in Arabic that if they come into the area and are found to have weapons they will be shot.
In other recent developments:
Other Asian U.S. allies echoed that sentiment, although Thailand said a further deterioration of the situation may force a pullout of the 443 troops it has assigned to the southern city of Karbala through September.
The newly invigorated, two-front, insurgency - Sunni rebels in the west and Shiite guerrillas in central and southern regions - further threatens shaky Iraqi security as the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority prepares to hand sovereignty to an Iraqi government on June 30.
Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. general in Iraq, says there do appear to be links "at the lowest levels" between the al-Sadr's Shiite militia and the Sunni Arab insurgency.
Marines have been battling Sunni insurgents in bloody fighting in Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad, since Monday aiming to uproot guerrillas. At least four Marines and more than 280 Iraqis have been killed.
Polish and Bulgarian troops in Karbala battled with al-Sadr fighters using machine-guns and mortars through the night under dawn Friday, witnesses said. It was not if there were any casualties.
The U.S. siege of Fallujah, which followed the killings and mutilations of four American civilians last month, is in its fifth day on Friday, although troops opened the blockade for a convoy carrying food and medicine sent by Sunni clerics in Baghdad.
The four American contractors who were killed were lured into an ambush by members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, Patrick Toohey, vice president for government relations at the security firm, Blackwater USA, told the New York Times for Friday's editions. The men were working for Blackwater when their vehicle was hit by rocket-propelled grenades.
The Iraqi men had promised the Blackwater-led convoy safe passage through the city, but instead, they suddenly blocked off the road, preventing any escape from waiting gunmen, Toohey said.
"The truth is, we got led into this ambush," Toohey told the Times. "We were set up."
Two senior Pentagon officials said Thursday that they could not confirm the conclusions of the Blackwater investigation, and that a separate military inquiry is continuing.
The Marines also told an Associated Press reporter earlier that they had discovered homemade suicide belts in the city and had killed two men wearing such belts. Suicide tactics had not been seen before in the Sunni city.
The spiraling violence by Shiite militiamen has raised questions about whether Iraqi police and security forces would confront the fighting and whether U.S. allies would stay the course.
Al-Sadr, reportedly holed up in his office in Najaf, attempted to rally Iraqis - including Sunnis - behind him.
"This ordeal has shown that all the Iraqi people are united," he said in a statement issued by his office.
Al-Sadr's force remains unpopular with most Shiites because it is too radical. But there are concerns about whether the largely passive Shiite majority would remain peaceful and shun al-Sadr's attempts to enlist them against the Americans.
Sanchez said the presence of thousands of Shiite pilgrims in Najaf this weekend was hampering coalition forces from moving against militiamen who hold police stations and are in the streets around Shiite shrines in the city center.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are in southern cities, particularly Karbala, ahead of al-Arbaeen ceremonies this weekend to mark the end of the period of mourning for a 7th-century martyred Shiite saint.