GOD BLESS AMERICA
AND KEEP HER STRONG
DONATE TO FR NOW, PLEASE.
Posted on 04/08/2004 2:41:28 PM PDT by TexKat
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni guerrillas killed a U.S. Marine Thursday in the fourth day of the battle for Fallujah, and militant Shiite militiamen held all or part of three southern cities. In an ominous new tactic, kidnappers seized foreign hostages, threatening to burn three Japanese captives alive if Tokyo did not withdraw troops.
The al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army militia had full control in the cities of Kut and Kufa and in the central part of Najaf. Police in the cities have abandoned their stations or stood aside as the gunmen roam the streets.
The newly invigorated, two-front insurgency has produced scenes of chaos and violence in Iraq not seen since U.S. forces captured Baghdad a year ago Friday. The turmoil further threatened shaky Iraqi security as the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority prepared to hand political sovereignty to a still-to-be-chosen Iraqi government June 30.
L. Paul Bremer, the chief U.S. administrator of Iraq, warned Shiite pilgrims to beware of danger from more violence this weekend at the shrines, recalling the deadly bombings in Karbala and Baghdad that killed nearly 150 during celebrations last month.
Television pictures broadcast in the Middle East by the Al-Jazeera satellite network and rebroadcast during prime-time in Japan showed the three Japanese hostages — 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.
The Japanese government called the abductions "unforgivable" but said they did not justify a Japanese withdrawal.
Two Arab aid workers from Jerusalem — one who had once lived in Georgia — were abducted in a separate incident.
Eight South Korean Christian missionaries were seized by gunmen outside Baghdad. Seven were freed after one of them escaped, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said.
Marines battled insurgents firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades in continued heavy fighting at two mosques in Fallujah. U.S. forces have surrounded the city 35 miles east of Baghdad, but opened the blockade for a convoy carrying food and medicine sent to the beleaguered residents by Sunni clerics in Baghdad.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, reported the deaths of three 1st Infantry Division soldiers on Wednesday and Thursday in attacks by Sunni insurgents — though the circumstances and day of each death were not provided. The Army said a fourth soldier died from wounds received in an attack last week.
Those deaths, along with the Marine killed Thursday in Fallujah, brought to 40 the number of American troops killed across Iraq this week. The fighting in Fallujah, nearby Ramadi, and across the south has killed more than 460 Iraqis — including more than 280 in Fallujah, according to the director of the city's hospital, Rafie Al-Issawi.
The spiraling violence which began Sunday raised questions about whether Iraqi police and security forces would confront the violence and whether U.S. allies would stay the course.
In Najaf, a policeman watched helplessly on Thursday as a pickup truck carrying a dozen heavily armed Shiite militiamen went past his police station — already in the militia's hands.
"Look, how can we control such a situation?" he asked an Associated Press reporter.
There also were concerns about the largely passive Shiite majority and whether it would remain peaceful, shunning radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's attempts to enlist them in the fight he is leading to oust the Americans.
Still, U.S. administrators insist they are making both political and military progress. U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is in Iraq, trying to establish a system to pick an interim Iraqi government. And Marine commanders said they were winning the fight for Fallujah.
"The mission is going particularly well. We made inroads into the city and we are driving the enemy resistance back," said Marine Lt. Col. Greg Olsen. "We're winning every firefight."
But there has been a cost. Twelve Marines died Tuesday in an ambush in Ramadi, just down the road from Fallujah, and four others have died in the fighting west of Baghdad since the weekend, including the Marine who was killed Thursday.
Iraq's interior minister, who leads police and security forces, resigned Thursday at Bremer's request to maintain balance between Sunni and Shiite factions on the governing council.
It was unclear if Nuri al-Badran was forced out because the police were not performing their duties, but he had complained of divided loyalties.
"I found from the start that the coalition appoints policemen, clerics appoint policemen, as do political parties and militias. The same thing with promotions. All these things led to a lack of security," he told journalists.
Al-Sadr, who is 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. "The occupiers want to attack our Sunni brothers and to terminate them."
Al-Sadr's force remains unpopular with most Shiites because it is too radical. And so far, there has been little sign of a widespread support for the movement or a surge to join the fight against the Americans.
Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. general in Iraq, acknowledged Thursday there appeared to be links "at the lowest levels" between al-Sadr's Shiite militia and the Sunni Arab insurgency.
Sanchez vowed that coalition forces would move "imminently" to break al-Sadr's hold over Kut, 95 miles southeast of Baghdad, and destroy his militia throughout the country in a new operation named "Resolute Sword."
Sanchez would not say whether U.S. forces would move into southern Iraq to help troops from allied nations whose soldiers control the vast stretch of land reaching to the Persian Gulf.
Ukrainian troops in Kut abandoned their base Wednesday in the face of mortar fire and gunbattles, allowing al-Mahdi Army fighters to sweep in, seize weapons and plant their flag.
Sanchez acknowledged the militia had shown well-coordinated tactics in battles with Spanish forces in Najaf, using rooftop snipers to fire on soldiers.
"We have not seen that level of on-the-battle-field type of planning in other places at this point," he said.
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.
"We are very cognizant of the religious ceremonies," Sanchez said.
In Baghdad, U.S. forces have battled nightly with the al-Mahdi Army militia in its Sadr City stronghold. Before dawn Thursday, a U.S. helicopter fired on the al-Sadr office, wounding an unknown number of Iraqis and causing heavy damage.
Polish and Bulgarian soldiers drove off Shiites who attacked them near the municipal hall in Karbala during all-night battles, a Polish spokesman said. Coalition forces suffered no casualties but killed nine attackers and wounded about 20 others, said Lt. Col. Robert Strzelecki.
In Fallujah, U.S. Marines battled for a second day to seize a mosque that officers say insurgents are using as a fire base. Marines called in tanks and warplanes to pound the Sunni gunmen. The American force seized the Abdel-Aziz al-Samarrai mosque for the second night in a row.
The Marines told an Associated Press reporter 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.
After a six-hour battle on Wednesday, a U.S. Cobra helicopter fired a missile at the base of the mosque's minaret, and an F-16 dropped a laser-guided bomb at the wall, allowing Marines to move in and seize the site the first time, Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne said. But the insurgents had returned by Thursday morning, after the Marines abandoned the site.
The Islamic Clerics Committee, whose offices are next to the mosque, said 40 people, including whole families, were killed in Wednesday's bombing. It occurred at about the time worshippers would have gathered for afternoon prayers.
The Marines deny any civilians were killed, but U.S. military commanders said a large number of gunmen were killed in the day's battle.
Tokyo has sent 530 ground troops to the southern city of Samawah, part of a planned deployment of 1,100 on a noncombat mission to purify water and help rebuild Iraq — Japan's largest deployment of troops since World War II.
The eight South Korean Christian missionaries were seized by gunmen on the main highway from Amman to Baghdad. They were later released. Gunmen have occasionally detained and robbed travelers on the route, a key entrance to Iraq from abroad.
__
Associated Press reporter Lourdes Navarro contributed to this report from Fallujah.
How long til they spread themselves too thin?
The question is are they all actual pilgrims.
Sanchez would not say whether U.S. forces would move into southern Iraq to help troops from allied nations whose soldiers control the vast stretch of land reaching to the Persian Gulf.
Ukrainian troops in Kut abandoned their base Wednesday in the face of mortar fire and gunbattles, allowing al-Mahdi Army fighters to sweep in, seize weapons and plant their flag.
Sanchez acknowledged the militia had shown well-coordinated tactics in battles with Spanish forces in Najaf, using rooftop snipers to fire on soldiers.
"We have not seen that level of on-the-battle-field type of planning in other places at this point," he said.
I think we need a change.....Sanchez doesn't have a clue.
Ukrain has now been totally chased off .....they had there base taken from them today....UNFREAKING REAL!
The only time that I can see that they will be spread unfortunatly too thin is when they bring in the AC-130s.
If you have cable Newsworld International has a little more on scene coverage.
one little prob...this is the "touchy-feely" 2000's
get real, as much as I would love to see it....we are NOT going to see a AC 130 tear apart a city
just wont happen
Yeah, and the fighters leadership leaves intermingled with the pilgrims, to plan another conflict somewhere else
Another insurgent that states that the Shia and Sunni are one and the same.
A clip that a journalist is taken into Najaf and shown around, but when they get closer to where Sadr is, the journalist is told to leave.
A different clip shows were there are other bewildered Shite clerics that do not agree with the insurgents.
Rumors spread faster in Iraq than they do on FR. Sunni's and Shiits will join together right after Croat's and Serbs do. None of the actions today involved a combined force.
Rokke I think that you were wrong a couple of days ago.
I have been saying the same thing now for almost a year.
Just wish one good guy wouldn't get lost even if 5,000 scum died.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.