Posted on 08/13/2004 3:49:58 AM PDT by Barney Gumble
NAJAF, Iraq - Iraqi officials and aides to a radical Shiite cleric were trying to negotiate an end to nine days of fighting in the holy city of Najaf on Friday, after U.S. forces suspended an offensive against Muqtada al-Sadr's militia, officials said. Aides said al-Sadr had been wounded by shrapnel.
In the southern city of Basra, gunmen seized a British journalist, identified as James Brandon, from a hotel where he was staying late Thursday night, police said Friday. The kidnappers threatened to kill him in 24 hours unless coalition forces withdraw from Najaf, though it wasn't clear when that deadline would expire.
Also Friday,
With the talks ongoing, the U.S. military said Friday that it had suspended offensive operations against al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, who are holed up the city's vast cemetery and the Imam Ali shrine, one of the holiest sites to Shiite Muslims.
"We are allowed to engage the enemy only in self defense and long enough to break contact," said Maj. Bob Pizzateli, executive officer for the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division. "That was a blanket order for everybody."
He said the militia appeared to have stopped most attacks as well, and the city appeared quieter Friday, a day after the U.S. military announced it had begun a major offensive to rout the militants.
"Hopefully the talks will go well and everything will be resolved peacefully," Pizzateli said.
Najaf Gov. Adnan al-Zurufi said the talks were between Iraqi government officials and al-Sadr's representatives. National Security Adviser Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie traveled to Najaf on Thursday. U.S. officials were not involved in the talks, al-Zurufi said.
Despite the talks, the U.S. military said it was still maintaining a cordon around the shrine, the cemetery and Najaf's old city, where the militants had taken refuge, Pizzateli said.
Al-Sadr, who has led an uprising against coalition troops for more than a week in the holy city, was hit by shrapnel in the chest and twice in a leg as he met with members of his Mahdi Army militia near the Imam Ali shrine early Friday, said aide Haider al-Tousi.
Another of al-Sadr's spokesmen said the cleric's condition was stable. He may be holed up in the compound housing the revered shrine, along with his loyalists, while one aide, Haider al-Tousi, said he was moved to an unknown destination.
Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel, deputy director for operations for the coalition forces, said he could not confirm reports that al-Sadr was wounded.
"Multinational forces are operating under firm instructions not to pursue Muqtada and not to conduct operations within the exclusion zone surrounding the Imam Ali and Kufa Mosques," he said in a statement.
Al-Sadr urged his followers to remain calm.
"We got a letter from him saying 'Be steadfast and behave rationally, don't surrender to your emotions,'" Aws al-Khafaji, from al-Sadr's office in the southern town of Nasiriyah, told the Al-Jazeera Arab television.
In Basra, gunmen abducted the British journalist from the Diafa Hotel Thursday night, police Capt. Hashem Abdullah said Friday.
Hotel staff showed a check-in form purportedly filled out by the man. On the form, he identified himself as James Andrew Brandon, 23, working for the Sunday Telegraph. It said he checked in on Wednesday.
A video released Friday showed a man who identified himself as Brandon. He stood bare-chested with a bandage on his head.
The "Telegraph, that's my paper," he said, turning to a masked captor.
"I'm a journalist. I just write about what's happening in Iraq (news - web sites)," he said.
The militants, almost certainly Shiite, said they had taken Brandon hostage in protest of the U.S. military presence in Najaf.
"We are the sons of the Iraqi people," said one captor, wearing a black mask. "We demand the withdrawal of the occupation forces from the holy city of Najaf in 24 hours, otherwise we will kill this British hostage," he said, putting a hand on Brandon's shoulder.
The video was given to Associated Press Television News after a freelance cameraman was taken to the location where he's believed to be held.
Kidnappers in Iraq have seized scores of hostages in recent months, threatening to kill them in an effort to drive out coalition forces and companies that support them. Most of those kidnappers have been Sunni insurgents, and Shiites using the tactic would be a new development.
Brandon was the third journalist kidnapped in Iraq in recent months. In April, two Japanese journalists were among a group of Japanese abducted near the city of Fallujah and released unharmed.
Hotel owner Mohammed Uglah said gunmen found Brandon and shot at him after he tried to escape, hitting him across the head before taking him away. Video footage showed a trail of blood leading down a set of stairs in the hotel, but Brandon did not appear seriously hurt in the tape.
Britain's Foreign Office confirmed that a British national had been abducted in Basra but said it couldn't confirm the person's identity because it was still trying to contact next of kin. A Sunday Telegraph editor confirmed Brandon wrote stories for the paper.
"James Brandon was in Basra filing material for this Sunday's newspaper amongst other projects," Sunday Telegraph Deputy Editor Matthew d'Ancona said. "We are pursuing his situation with the greatest concern."
The Najaf offensive threatened to enrage Iraq's Shiite majority — especially if the fighting damages the shrine — and presented the biggest test yet for interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite who is trying to crush the violence plaguing the country while working to persuade Iraqis of the legitimacy of his unelected government.
Nearly 5,000 al-Sadr sympathizers had taken to the streets in Basra on Thursday, demanding U.S. troops withdraw from Najaf and condemning Allawi for working with the Americans. Several hundred Iraqis also protested in Baghdad.
Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who left Najaf for London to undergo medical treatment before fighting broke out, expressed "deep sorrow and great worry" about the violence and called on all sides to end the crisis quickly. His office was working to mediate an end to the fighting, he said.
Violence across the country, much of it involving al-Sadr's fighters, has killed at least 172 Iraqis and injured 643 since Wednesday morning, the Health Ministry said.
The casualty toll from Thursday's fighting in the holy city was unclear. At least five Iraqi civilians were killed by the afternoon, said Nabil Mohammed, a health worker in the city. Two American soldiers were wounded by a mortar shell while standing in an intersection on the cemetery's edge, the military said.
The U.S. Defense Department said that about 2,200 Marines, along with 500 to 1,000 soldiers and an undisclosed number of U.S.-trained Iraqi troops, were involved in the offensive Thursday.
It takes some real effort to not get promoted to Corporal in four years. How, exactly, did "PC" end your career?
I can't believe we are doing this again...
Why?
It should have been crystal clear to EVERYBODY after the retreat from Falujah.
I agree. I cannot believe that we have failed again to achieve tactical victory, and have succumbed to strategic 'nuance.'
I know, I know, that I am not there, but to this distant observer, it appears that yet again we have pulled back under pressure.
I hope that I am wrong.
Elect a real republican.
Waco: U.S. citizen Branch Davidians holed up in their holy building...USGOV fries them all alive, no problem.
Faluhjah & Najaf: Enenmy combatant terrorists holed up in their holy building...USGOV says "let's talk" (after Friday prayers of course).
I wanted to clean my deck, but my pressure washer is broken. Damn that President Bush!!!
I did get out a corporal. Picked up Sgt in the reserves after 4 active. Was what they called a non-ob. Gave up reserves after a year, walked away
>> I will trust our military. They know what they are doing <<
100% Agreed. I just wish the politicians did.
I hope you're wrong, but I fear you're right.
Bingo...
If Al Sader lives past the next few weeks ---- Iraq is doomed to rule by 7th century assholes.
Militant Islam and democracy are mutually exclusive...
If the Iraqi are not willing to rid themselves of anti-coalition militia from internal factions or supported by outside interests --- there will be no peace or democracy in Iraq..
The Islamanazis have not yet been defeated..
Not enough have been killed and not enough "treasured places" have been destroyed...
Where the hell is it written, that the Islamic lunatics can attack our "Icons" destroy our churches and THEIRS is to be protected!!!
That is truly a sign of insanity, that can be quickly corrected by destroying a number of their "treasured icons".. SOON!
Mosques that mean everything to one's religion are not used as military sites or ambush perches...
The behavior of these "holy men" and their militia simply proves that militant Islam is nothing if not a murderous cult...
A whole lot of killing and destruction is going to be required to end the "insurection" of these forces in the entire middle east...
To think otherwise is to be a fool..
Semper Fi
Negotiating with Al Sader is a no-win situation and a foolhardy move. Earlier today, Al Sadar demanded the Iraqi government resign so the Islamofascists could take over Iraq! He has said he will not leave the "holy site" (not!) and that he is going to "fight to the death."
So much for "negotiating" with these animals, in the meantime, there is a cease-fire in place so that Al Sadar can restock and re-supply: same crap, different day.
Mark my words, President Bush WILL LOSE the election if this continues. While Kerry talks about waging a P.S. "sensitive war on terror," the President is practicing it!
If the Iraq government refuses to do what it takes to fight for their own freedom and government after we have shed the blood of our sons and daughters to give it to them, then the administration had better tell the leadership of Iraq that we are pulling our money AND our troops out of Iraq AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
Yes I know the place will go to blazes as soon as we are gone, but it looks like their government AND the people there do not care if it does. If they want to live in a 7th century hell hole run by Islamofascists, then let them.
You're wrong zulu just because a couple guys out of THOUSANDS were "white"...LOL /sarc
I will gladly call myself one of the "nuke mecca" crowd. To ignore the real problem [islamism] is to be the ostrich. It may feel good, but it will eventually kick your a@@.
Unfortunately, you may be right ...I thought they were filling the "kill box" in Najf but now we have gone wobbly...Sader was wanted for murder but now we apparently aren't "gonna go there". We grossly under estimated the M-14 units and the "cheat" and retreat strategy being used to alter "perception".
The "Arab States" and the Media have been whining the last few days ~ Im not surprised to see it happen.
Allowing our enemies to continue to manipulate us in situations like this will never lead to victory, only defeat.
I remember you and your ilk from the Fallujah threads.
"This is a watershed event, it is make or break time for President Bush and Iraq!"
The make or break has already happened. It happened in Fallujah.
"NOTE TO BUSH: STOP PLAYING POLITICS WITH MARINES LIVES."
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