Posted on 06/01/2006 11:54:41 PM PDT by jmc1969
Iraqi police set up roadblocks around the oil-rich city of Basra yesterday as a month-long state of emergency declared by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki went into effect.
Basra Governor Mohammed al-Waeli said army troops and police fanned out around Iraq's second-largest city as part of a crackdown on rampant violence that has increased in recent weeks as rival Shiite militias fight each other for power.
"The emergency plan was implemented last night. Army and police were deployed in large numbers," al-Waeli said.
Al-Waeli said a security committee was set up, and it includes three members of the provincial council and leaders of the police and army. A weapons-buyback plan is also being considered for the city's heavily armed residents.
"We will ask the prime minister, if we can, to buy all the weapons in the possession of tribes and other people in return for an amount of money to encourage them to hand them over, and not to use them against security forces," Iraqi army Brig. Jalil Khalaf said.
The state of emergency was welcomed by the Basra representative of the influential Sunni Arab Association of Muslim Scholars.
"Basra is a very important city," Youssif al-Hassan said. "We are all behind this good initiative."
(Excerpt) Read more at thestar.com ...
"as part of a crackdown on rampant violence that has increased in recent weeks as rival Shiite militias fight each other for power."
This may well be the case, although I would like to see the actual numbers because when I read anything like "rampant violence that has increased" from the MSM, that sure does sound hysterically overblown as part of the daily/hour political attack against the Bush Administration.
What I more likely see, is a good chance to give the Iraqi authorities a practice run of crowd control for when we are forced to bomb Iran.
Many people in Basra can identify with Iran, and it is a very good idea to have the Iraqi forces collecting as many guns as possible and practicing crowd control before we have to drop the hammer on the Iranian nuclear bomb factories.
The Madhi Army, the Fadellia party's militia, and other Iranian backed militias are killing each other in the streets of Basra. Order needed to be restored and the new PM is taking action.
Now I am confused. I thought the Brits in Basra told us that the people in Basra loved them because they weren't bullies like the Americans.
Looks like the British are letting the fledgling Iraq govt try to solve its own problems. They'll have to learn how to defuse their own people, and the Coalition won't always be there.
I'm not sure about the weapon buy-back idea though.
ping.
Thanks for the ping...:(
I debated pinging you to this, but wanted you to know we are thinking about you and praying things are better by the time he arrives in the area.
That's okay....I've been reading how things have been heating up in Basra....Jonathan assures me that since he's in a HQr's Bn that he won't be leaving the base.....Mike told me that too and when he came home told me the truth that he was flying all over Iraq all the time.......I dread this...
Let me know when to put Jonathan on my daily prayer list.
OhioWfan was a nervous wrech all the time her Eric was over there, but he came home safely, despite volunteering for riding shotgun on convoys.
Doncha just want to wring their necks sometimes?
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.