Hah! Indeed, humans do not make good shields!
Posted on 08/16/2004 6:57:31 PM PDT by BlackVeil
1.30pm - Around 2000 self-styled "human shields" poured into Najaf yesterday to join Shiite insurgents holed up in the gold-domed mosque, as fresh battles in the holy city prevented a quick victory by US and Iraqi forces.
US forces backed by tanks exchanged fire with the followers of Moqtada al Sadr, the rebel Shiite cleric whose supporters barricaded inside the Imam Ali shrine were joined by the unarmed but defiant "human shields."
But as the crackle of machine gun fire echoed through the old city, armed Iraqi police turned their ire against journalists in the city.
Last night they fired warning shots at and over the Sea of Najaf hotel after arresting a correspondent from Al Arabiya in what appeared to be a continued campaign of harassment against journalists in Najaf.
As journalists protested during the arrest, a police lieutenant said above the hubbub: "We are going to open fire on this hotel. We are going to smash it up. I will kill you all. You did this all to yourselves."
In a threat which did not immediately appear to have been carried out, he said that four snipers would be positioned on the roof of the police station to fire at any journalists who left the hotel.
The police contingent drove to the hotel in two marked police Landcruisers at around 6.30pm and demanded to know the whereabouts of correspondents from Al Arabyia and the international news agencies Reuters and AP.
The visit to the hotel, the fourth by police in just over 24 hours, followed a threat earlier in the day by the chief of Najaf police Ghalab al-Jazaari personally to arrest the correspondent from al Arabyia, Ahmed al-Saleh.
The police chief, who on Sunday had ordered all journalists to leave Najaf, however added in response to questions that reporters were free to stay at the hotel but at their own risk.
"We are not responsible [for you]" he added.
Scuffling broke out as a hotel employee angrily remonstrated with the policemen saying: "Are you Iraqis? You are police but you have no right to do this."
The police then drove off, stopping 300 metres down a road directly opposite the police station and fired warning shots in the direction of the hotel. Journalists were threatened with shooting if they left the building. The al Arabiya correspondent was later released.
But the fighting in Najaf -which has killed at least two US soldiers since the collapse of peace talks on Saturday- yesterday overshadowed and divided the second day of the Iraqi National Conference as it attempted to elect a new interim national assembly.
The conference yesterday decided to dispatch a delegation to Najaf, in the apparently slender hope of persuading al Sadr to disband his insurgent Mehdi Army and turn it into a political party.
Sheikh Ahmed Shaibani, a Sadr spokesman, warned in response to the proposal, approved on a show of hands at the conference, that the issue of disarming the militia could only be solved by "negotiations and not a unilateral decision".
The enthusiastic supporters of Sadr came from across Iraq-including hundreds of demonstrators who came on solidarity marches to the city at the end of last week-and are now based in the compound around the Imam Ali shrine.
Mr Shaibani, who is also a Mehdi Army commander, said the presence of the civilians was intended to deter American forces.
Their presence maximises the loss of human life that could result from any attempt to storm the holy sites, a course already fraught with danger because of the outrage that serious physical damage to the shrine itself would provoke across Iraq and well beyond. The human shield supporters also appear ready to take up arms left by insurgents killed or wounded in the fighting.
The battle continued yesterday as insurgents used their extensive local knowledge of the huge Wadi al Salam cemetery, a section of which remains within the area under the Mehdi Army's control to play what one US officer called a "cat and mouse game" with US forces.
Insurgents inside the Imam Ali shrine in alleyways and on rooftops with AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades sporadically fired at US troops in the cemetery.
Meanwhile the conflict reignited in the main Baghdad battleground of Sadr City where insurgents attacked an American tank, setting it on fire. The crew were rescued and evacuated with minor wounds, according to a spokesman for the US 1st Cavalry Division.
While witnesses were reported as saying the tank was hit by a Mehdi Army rocket-propelled grenade, US forces said that the insurgents had planted a roadside bomb.
The proposal for a delegation to Najaf was put forward by a distant relative-and opponent-- of Sadr, Baghdad cleric Sheikh Hussein al-Sadr, who told the conference
"There are inviolable conditions in civilised countries, particularly that there is no place for armed militias."
But Falah Hassan Shanshal of the Shiite Political Council, a grouping of Shiite politicians, said the proposal was all "smoke and mirrors" and threatened to walk out of the conference partly in protest at the method of voting.
He said it was merely reiterating the demands made by Iyad Allawi's government on Sunday which warned the militia that they have a "small window of opportunity" to leave the shrine, lay down their weapons and enter the political process.
Jawad al-Maliky, a senior member of the Dawa party, the Shiite religious faction of the interim Vice President Ibrahim Jafaari, and one of three senior delegates to have met with the Prime Minister Iyad Allawi on Sunday said: "We told the prime minister that the matter (Najaf) is really threatening the whole political transition process and everything we do would be meaningless if our holy cities were attacked."
People unclear on the concept.
(..of human shields)
True, and being a "female" child, you can wonder about what put her in that wheelchair as well.
Sounds like Jenin without the fort.
Yep, announce that they're all enemy combatants, and in 5 minutes we'll drop a MOAB. Then watch them scatter.
Barbarian...;^)
These younger kiwis sure do panic easily. Good thing they didn't send us any of their faint-hearted troops to babysit.
"ISLAM" is UTTERLY ALIEN to ANY "BELIEFS" of ANY OTHER FAITH!!
The "Concept of 'ISLAM'" is UTTERLY REPULSIVE to ANY Faith which accepts the Concept of "Redemption!"
"ISLAM" & "Christianity" are "Mutualy Exclusive!!"
While Those of the "Christian Faith" accept Those who are of the "Islamic Faith;" NONE of Those who "Believe in Islam" can accept a "Christian!!"
Such a "Religious Bigotry" represents a VAST "Level of Ignorance!!"
Until this VAST "Chasm" is "Bridged" by Someone of Faith & Intelligence, Humankind has LOST it's BEST HOPE!!
We MUST regain our ability to Understand One Another!!
Doc
Oh, I understand THEM alright...they're evil and want all of us dead. It's a rather simple concept.
When I say evil, I'll go so far as to say demon possessed.
Lefty spin from Helengrad.
El Sadyr's militiamen will have no difficulty shooting them in the back..
Big fence, no body goes in, no body comes out. Give it six months and then call the gatbage man.
Gee golly. No bias in this miserable piece of s**t of an article, is there???
Damn.......almost makes one want to give to ol' al Sadr, doesn't it???
Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.............
The real question - someone on the forum was saying this the other day - is why they are being allowed to go to Najaf. In some way, either the situation is out of control, or is being managed strangely.
When was the last time the media reported on an event in the "Holy City" of Jerusalem or Rome?
Nevermind.
Hah! Indeed, humans do not make good shields!
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