Shiite group says revolt under way in Basra

Agence France Presse ^ | March 25, 2003 | Staff

[AntiGuv]

TEHRAN (AFP) - An uprising against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime is under way in the southern city of Basra, the main Shiite Iraqi opposition group said.

"A revolt is taking place in Basra," Mohammad Hadi, spokesman of the Iran-based Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (ASRII), told AFP.

"We have no more details for the moment."

British news reports said citizens were rebelling against Iraqi forces in the Shiite city, Iraq's second largest, which is under siege by mainly British forces.

But the reports were denied by Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf in a statement to the Qatari satellite television network Al-Jazeera.

Sky News TV channel in London aired a report that Iraqi forces in Basra were firing mortars on fellow Iraqis who were rebelling against them in the strategic town and British forces were firing artillery on these mortar positions.

"It appears that the people of Basra have basically had enough of the Saddam regime," the reporter said.

He said British military intelligence had reported that "Iraqi forces are firing mortar rounds on protestors who are actually rebelling against the ruling Baath party."

He said British forces were "firing heavy artillery on the locations of those mortars. Specific radar equipment can tell (the British forces) actually where those mortars are being fired."

In Qatar a British military spokesman at allied field command headquarters said he could not confirm reports of the uprising.

"I cannot confirm the report," Lieutenant Colonel Ronnie Mc Court told AFP.

"However, if it is true, then this must support the logic of what coalition forces have been saying all along, that the Iraqi people wish to be liberated from Saddam Hussein's regime."

There were also British air strikes, Sky News correspondents said.

A correspondent said it was apparently "a popular uprising against the Baath party of Saddam Hussein," something British and US commanders have been hoping for.

The correspondent said British forces were holding off on entering Basra since they would not be able to distinguish between rebels and Saddam faithfuls.

He said the British would wait until morning when the riots had quieted down and then might enter the city.

Earlier Tuesday, spokesmen for coalition forces in the Gulf said their troops faced the prospect of street fighting in Basra after meeting fierce resistance on the outskirts.

Relief agencies meanwhile warned of a humanitarian crisis in the metropolis.

Military planners had expected little resistance in the city, pinning their hopes on the Shiite Muslim majority who have long been repressed by President Saddam Hussein's mainly Sunni regime.

The British army is reported to have three brigades to the south and west of Basra, where an estimated 1,000 so-called Iraqi "irregulars" were resisting the coalition advance.

Sky News is owned by the Australian-US media magnate Rupert Murdoch, who has expressed strong support for the US-led war in Iraq.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf on Tuesday denied reports of an uprising in the southern city of Basra, in a statement to Al-Jazeera television.

"I categorically deny these provocative lies the Americans are trying to spread through CNN," he said in a live telephone interview with the Qatar-based pan-Arab network.

"These are lies issued by the US administration and British government ... with the aim of demoralising" the Iraqi population, Sahhaf added.

[AntiGuv]

Adding fuel to the fire. I'm still curious to find out how a civilian revolt in Basra might turn into something more than a massacre - unless military units join the insurgency - but time will tell what comes of this.

[Coop]

Just keep praying these protesters can keep from being massacred until dawn. Then the Brits will move in. And hopefully a city of over a million people can taste freedom.

(Now I'm not naive enough to think it will be that quick and clean, but you get the idea.)

[Blackyce]

Best news I've heard this week. I was beginning to think they didn't care

[Oldeconomybuyer]

bttt

[Sam's Army]

Bump

[P8riot]

As much as I'm for anyone overthrowing Hussein. I would be cautious. Remember the Muslim mindset "I against my brother...etc..." I would prefer that these folks mutually annihilate one another. We've had problems with Shiites before too.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

[AntiGuv]

If all goes well, the best part will be how it lightens pressure on our rear echelons and permits our forces to shift their attentions northward. Hopefully, the other cities in the south (Nazariya, Najaf, Karbala) will fall like dominos.

[newgeezer]

Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (ASRII)

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, today. Tomorrow, watch your back. If he reads his Koran, he may have thoughts of "slaying the infidels" (us).

For some reason, I don't envision a cold war with this bunch.

[Coop]

Exactly. And if Basra and Umm Qasr are secured, we can dock the ships with humanitarian supplies, thereby (hopefully) speeding the liberation and getting our troops home that much quicker.

Unfortunately the Baghdad/WMD problem still sits there.

[biblewonk]

We just need to be a little more careful with what we do with our mercenaries when we are done with them. We don't want to leave them in power. We should let mercenaries be just that and when the fighting is done they need to quit and become citizens again and not dictators.

[Destro]

OK the Shiite groups are now saying so! That is called proper journalisim! I think AFP is the best nes source out there.

[Blood of Tyrants]

The British are helping all they can. However, even firing on mortars is dangerous because you aren't quite sure if you are firing on friendlies or Saddamites.

[AntiGuv]

No argument from me, but I've already stated my skepticism on the matter. At this point, I'm simply content to see what comes of these reports.

[Destro]

Im still skeptical, but at least AFP looked for a second source.

By the way if it is an uprising it is a Shiite massacre in the making and we should be able to see refugees fleeing for their lives.

[AntiGuv]

Well, the AFP's second source isn't exactly the most promising. It's the same Iraqi opposition leaders who've persuaded our own Pentagon people that the Shi'ites would immediately revolt and that the Republican Guard would not bother fighting for Saddam. Their motivation is clear and suspect - they wanted to make the prospective conflict look as effortless as possible so as not to discourage our campaign. The same campaign that's going to end up putting them in the center of Iraqi power...

[Destro]

upon further reading -- you are correct.

[Destro]

Let us say their is an uprising....we have to see if the "coalition" forces storm Basra this AM. I can't fathom a delay if such is the case.

[Sam's Army]

Destro, I wasn't trying to come off bad to you there, I just wanted to ping you becuse the issue seems to be getting more and more pull. I don't doubt the possibility that this may be psyops on our part.