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Posted on 04/04/2004 4:22:35 PM PDT by Happy2BMe
By KHALID MOHAMMED
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NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - Supporters of an anti-American cleric rioted in four Iraqi cities Sunday, killing eight U.S. troops and one Salvadoran soldier in the worst unrest since the spasm of looting and arson immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The U.S. military on Sunday reported two Marines were killed in a separate "enemy action" in Anbar province, raising the toll of American service members killed in Iraq to at least 610.
The rioters were supporters of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. They were angry over Saturday's arrest on murder charges of one of al-Sadr's aides, Mustafa al-Yacoubi, and the closure of a pro-al-Sadr newspaper.
Near the holy city of Najaf, a gunbattle at a Spanish garrison killed at least 22 people, including two coalition soldiers - an American and a Salvadoran.
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A resident said two Humvees were seen burning in the neighborhood, and that some American soldiers had taken refuge in a building. The report could not be independently confirmed, and it was unclear whether the soldiers involved were those who died.
A column of American tanks was seen moving through the center of Baghdad Sunday evening, possibly headed toward the fighting.
The military said the fighting erupted after members of a militia loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took control of police stations and government buildings in the neighborhood.
Protesters clashed with Italian and British forces in other cities in a broad, violent challenge to the U.S.-led coalition, raising questions about its ability to stabilize Iraq ahead of a scheduled June 30 handover of power to Iraqis.
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"These organizations will give Iraqis the means to defend their country against terrorists and insurgents," L. Paul Bremer said at a press conference.
About three miles outside the holy city of Najaf, supporters of al-Sadr opened fire on the Spanish garrison during a street protest that drew about 5,000 people. The protesters were angry over the arrest of the cleric's aide, said the Spanish Defense Ministry in Madrid.
The attackers opened fire at about noon, said Cmdr. Carlos Herradon, a spokesman for the Spanish headquarters in nearby Diwaniyah.
The Spanish and Salvadoran soldiers inside the garrison fired back, and assailants later regrouped in three clusters outside the base as the shooting continued for several hours.
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More than 200 people were wounded, said Falah Mohammed, director of the Najaf health department. El Salvador's defense minister said several Salvadoran soldiers were wounded.
The death toll of at least 20 included two Iraqi soldiers who were inside the Spanish base, witnesses said.
Spain has 1,300 troops stationed in Iraq, and the Central American contingent is of a similar size. The Salvadorans are under Spanish command as part of an international brigade that includes troops from Central America.
Multiple train bombings in Madrid last month that killed 191 people have been blamed on al-Qaida-linked terrorists, who said they were punishing Spain for its alliance with the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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In El Salvador, the defense minister said the attack will not alter his country's role in reconstruction efforts.
"It reinforces even more our decision to continue helping a country that is suffering," Juan Antonio Martinez said Sunday.
The protesters were upset over the detention of al-Yacoubi, a senior aide to the 30-year-old al-Sadr, who opposes the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. Al-Sadr is at odds with most Shiites, who hope to gain substantial power in the new Iraqi government.
Shiites comprise about 60 percent of Iraq's 25 million people but were brutally repressed by the regime of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim.
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Spanish-led forces said they did not participate in the arrest.
In central Baghdad's Firdaus Square, police fired warning shots during a protest by hundreds of al-Sadr supporters against al-Yacoubi's arrest. At least two protesters were injured, witnesses said.
In Kufa, near Najaf, al-Sadr supporters took over a police station and seized guns inside. No police were in sight.
In the southern city of Nasiriyah, Italian troops traded fire with militiamen demonstrating against al-Yacoubi's detention, said Lt. Col. Pierluigi Monteduro, chief of staff of Italian troops in the region. One Italian officer was wounded in the leg.
Also in the south, British troops clashed with protesters in Amarah, according to the Ministry of Defense in London. It was unclear whether there were casualties.
Al-Sadr's office in Baghdad issued a statement later Sunday calling off street protests and saying the cleric would stage a sit-in at a mosque in Kufa, where he has delivered fiery weekly sermons for months.
Al-Sadr supporters also were angered by the March 28 closure of his weekly newspaper by U.S. officials. The Americans alleged the newspaper was inciting violence against coalition troops.
The two U.S. Marines, both assigned to the 1st Marine Division, were killed by an "enemy action" in Anbar province Saturday, the military said. One died Saturday and the other Sunday, the statement said without providing details.
Anbar is an enormous stretch of land reaching to the Jordanian and Syrian borders west of Baghdad that includes Fallujah, a city where four American civilian contractors were slain Wednesday.
At a checkpoint in Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, that was manned by Iraqi Civil Defense personnel, a bomb killed three security officers and wounded another, workers at Samarra General Hospital said.
In Kirkuk, also in the north, a car bomb exploded, killing three civilians and wounding two others, police said.
Bremer on Sunday announced the appointments of Ali Allawi, the interim trade minister, as the new defense minister and Mohammed al-Shehwani, a former Iraqi air force officer who fled Iraq in 1990, as head of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service.
Late Sunday, U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and a team that will assist Iraqis in the political transition to an interim Iraqi government arrived in Baghdad, the United Nations said.
A member of Shiite radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Army of Mehdi fires with his Kalashnikov at Spanish-led troops outside the Iraqi Shiite holy city of Najaf.(AFP/Karim Sahib)
A US soldier checks the scene of an explosion in Baghdad's al-Dora district.(AFP/Cris Bouroncle)
May God keep our soldiers safe and comfort the loved ones of today's casualties.
That is exactly what a military is supposed to be for. Evidence of that is how effective they were at their rightful purpose at the beginning of this war.
Now, it's not a war, it's fiasco, a mess and our soldiers do not deserve this. They are nothing more than targets (or "prey") in a wild animal rich environment.
Any directive than: go in destroy completely the enemy and get out, is madness and a waste of our best and brightest, our brave and precious.
This is madness...
Bush is going to fall as a result of his attempt to "play nice" with lunatics....
Lunatics must NOT be allowed to murder our troops with no price to pay...
Our soldiers can do their trained job very effectively if allowed to. That is a given that has been proven. Not given the allowance, then they are fodder for the slaughter on defense like this.
Bush is going to fall. It was his to lose and that is exactly where he is headed with this policy concerning our troops. What do they call it? "Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?" It's sad, because the man has integrity and honor, and John Kerry will lead this nation down the crap-hole if elected (we'll think we had it good under bubba). Like another poster stated: all my optimism evaporated, but mine evaporated some time back when there was no "effective" and proper response to attacks even before the Fallujah atrocity.
Ohhhhhhhhh.....up till then they were just a bunch of Casper Milquetoasts who sat around all day drinking tea while doing the Al-Sadr Times crossword puzzle.
If Bush won't "LOOSE THE DOGS," and do it NOW - he may give away this reelction bid on a platter to J-FK.
Our nation WILL NOT TOLERATE ANOTHER VIETNAM - PERIOD!
I personally have a son right in the thick of this shi'ite. I don't take kindly to him being thrown out there for cannon fodder to server political ends.
I'm NOT saying that is what is going on here. But - SOMETHING is definitely going on, and it is NOT in the favor of our troops in Iraq.
Has anybody besides me and a few others around here noticed the "STAND-DOWN, SIT-DOWN, SHUT-UP and GET SHOT" atomosphere being handed down to our troops in Iraq?
I DID NOT write the following, it was forwarded to me by an ultra-conservative FREEPER (you heard it right).
Listen to this:
"Happy - I think this weekend is going to prove the downfall (or the beginning of the downfall) of President Bush.
Iraq is a deadly disaster. There is going to be no defeat of these terrorists. The attacks are increasing and more deadly. Why? Because terrorists and money and weapons and explosives keep flowing in from Syria, Iran and "our friends" Saudi Arabia.
There is going to be no "peace in the Middle East" neither. "Satan don't do peace" He say: "wash yu talkin 'bout Christian democracy boyz? weez doan doan be doin dat no time soon!"
If what happened this week and weekend was just one small part of Iraq or it was just once in a great while, but overall we were making more progress or advancement) than defeat and set-backs, then it would be worth it... And, if we were to respond to all the attacks in a disproportionate way like Elliot Ness: they injure one of ours we kill ten of theirs, they kill one of ours, we wipe out a hundred of theirs. Animals, wolves, tigers, lions understand power and mastery...and kindness will get you killed trying to use it on them.
Bush is on the ropes and he is not ordering (or allowing) the Generals to wipe them out. I saw a General on TV talking tough. Then, the next day, he toned it down and made nice like a "political" and said is women and children are close or get in the way, then we have to back off and wait for a better day...blah blah blah. That dog of war was growling to be ordered to "sic em" and was leashed up by...who? Washington? Bush? Powell? Joint Chiefs?
Something ain't right.
END OF QUOTE:
Bush better wake up and let his generals be generals or he won't be the one calling the shots in 2005.
Seriesly.
10 U.S. Troops Killed in Iraqi Violence (4 April, 2004)Another day in Iraq, peeps.
Look, let's all calm down and let the Marines do their Fallujah thing. You'll find that Al-Sadr will sober up real quick when that occurs.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.
Well, you're preaching to the choir.
Body bags speak louder than politics. I can handle it if we are not hogtied like we were in Nam.
We've got the means and the justification - WHERE IS THE LEADERSHIP?
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