Showdown Looms In Iraqi Holy City
A 2,500-strong U.S. force, backed by tanks and artillery, massed Tuesday on the outskirts of Najaf for a showdown with a radical cleric whose militia led a bloody uprising across the south, raising fears of an American assault on the holiest Shiite city.
Iraqi politicians and ayatollahs tried to negotiate a solution to avert a U.S. attack, which would outrage the nation's relatively pro-U.S. Shiite majority and could turn what has been a limited revolt by a single militia into an outright Shiite rebellion. A military advance could also inflame Shiites in neighboring Iran.
The vehemently anti-U.S. cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, was holed up in his office in Najaf, shielded not only by gunmen but by the presence of the city's main shrine only yards away. He vowed to continue what he called "a popular revolution" to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
"I fear only God. I am ready to sacrifice my blood for this country. But I call on the Iraqi people not to let my killing put an end to their rejection of the (U.S.) occupation," al-Sadr told Lebanon's Al Manar television station.
U.S. commanders vowed to kill or capture al-Sadr, though officials suggested they would give negotiations a chance.
"The target is not Najaf. The target is Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia," said Brig. Mark Kimmitt, deputy head of U.S. military operations in Iraq. "We will hunt him down and destroy him. We would prefer it not in Najaf or Karbala. We have very great respect for the shrines, for the Shiites."
In other developments:
Col. Dana J.H. Pittard, the commander of the force heading toward Najaf, said his troops were aware that a "single shot in Najaf" by U.S. soldiers could outrage Iraq's powerful Shiite majority.
"Look at this as the Shiite Vatican," Pittard said before the deployment.
The sons of Iraq's three grand ayatollahs — including the most powerful one, Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani — met al-Sadr Monday night in his Najaf office and assured him of their opposition to any U.S. strike.
"They agreed not to allow any hostile act against Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr and the city of Najaf," said a person at the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The delegation also was reportedly trying to work out a compromise to prevent a U.S. attack.
The grand ayatollahs — older, moderate leaders with immense influence among Shiites — have long kept the young, fiercely anti-American al-Sadr at arm's length. The dispatch of the delegation reflected the eagerness to avoid bloodshed in Najaf and the new influence that the uprising by the al-Mahdi Army's militia has brought al-Sadr.
Earlier Tuesday, al-Sadr militiamen based in the main mosque in the nearby city of Kufa opened fire on a passing patrol of Spanish forces, prompting a short gunbattle.
Overnight, a mortar was fired at the Spanish base between Kufa and Najaf, and Spanish forces repelled an attack on a nearby water distillation plant.
While a cease-fire has kept Fallujah relatively calm for four days, the area between the besieged city and Baghdad has seen heavy clashes by insurgents and U.S. forces. An Apache helicopter was shot down Sunday in nearby Abu Ghraib, killing its two crewmembers.
Before Tuesday's helicopter crash, a U.S. convoy was attacked near the same site, and two Humvees and a truck were burning, said witnesses, who also reported U.S. casualties.
More than 600 Iraqis have been killed in Fallujah since the siege began on April 5, said the head of the city hospital, Rafie al-Issawi.
The burst of violence since April 4 has exposed weaknesses in Iraq's U.S.-trained security forces. A battalion of the Iraqi army refused to fight in Fallujah, Sanchez said. And some police defected to al-Sadr's forces, Abizaid said.
In an effort to toughen the Iraqi forces, Abizaid said the U.S. military will reach out to former senior members of Saddam's disbanded army — a reversal in strategy. The military in the past has avoided relying on top officials from the ousted regime.
"It's … very clear that we've got to get more senior Iraqis involved — former military types involved in the security forces," he said. "In the next couple of days you'll see a large number of senior officers being appointed to key positions in the ministry of defense and the Iraqi joint staff and in Iraqi field commands."