Posted on 08/25/2004 6:38:23 PM PDT by ckilmer
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
The Man Who Went to Sea The Time Magazine article Into the Heart of Najaf is entirely atmospheric. Let the prose speak for itself.
"We are going to the shrine,” one said. “You can follow us." The boy who wanted to show us the way was not older than fourteen. ... We turned the corner, following the kids and found ourselves completely behind al Mahdi lines. The fighters hidden in the windows of a bombed out building recognized our guides and waved to us. Then the shooting started and we ran for cover. We heard the bullets coming in close. Around the corner we hit an open space where the old city joins the new city. I crossed first, with Thorne close behind me, and just as I made it to the opposite curb, the sniper fired again. I found a pillar to hide behind but Thorne was caught in the middle of the street and he curled up in the shadow of a piece of concrete. The bullets made cracking sounds when they hit the wall. ... Long rows of armed young men we passed held their weapons in the air and sang victory songs. They stayed out of the street to avoid U.S. snipers, but they were relaxed and never trained their rifles on us. A few minutes before we reached our destination, the boys disappeared back into the alleys of the city.
After the cheerful irregulars lead their charges past the indiscriminate shooting of US snipers and reach the shrine, they are met by a Yoda-like figure who is "our host and protector". He takes them to a ward where they are shown men with horrifying injuries.
A friend of the dead man screamed at the doctor to take the pulse, and Dr. Jasim did it to calm him down. He had turned away from the corpse moments before, and simply said, "Shaheed," which means martyr and had gone back to tending a living patient. The fighter then lost his control and started screaming and we had to turn away. ... Blood covered the marble floor and streaked the walls of the makeshift hospital. We saw fighters run down Rasul street to attack U.S. positions. Minutes later, injured men were wheeled through the gates of the shrine on blood-soaked carts. Casualties were brought in every few minutes.
They spend grim, yet exhilarating days with the Fighters and yet "the militiamen never threatened us, and while the population in the mosque went as high as several thousand in the evenings, none of the men carried weapons inside its walls." So it was with heavy heart that the reporters eventually began their return journey.
On Thursday morning we started to think about ways we could get out of the medina and through the American lines without retracing our steps through the sniper field. It was a tough problem. Dr. Walid Jasim, the infirmary doctor said we could leave with the wounded in the ambulance. I liked this approach, but it turned out to be unnecessary ... Thorne and I agreed to leave the shrine an hour later with the convoy, saying hurried goodbyes to men we had met over the past three days. Hundreds of fighters were at the gate as we left. They all knew us.
The author had returned to enemy lines. I had started to parse the account in terms of the five journalistic "W"s before I realized I was looking at a pure specimen of the kind of writing that was once popular in the 1920s and 30s. Something that might have been written by Lincoln Steffens or Mao Tse Tung when he penned "In Memory of Norman Bethune". Philip Robertson's account in Time Magazine may or may not tell the truth, but it is a perfect example of the yawning gap that has opened up between sections of the Mainstream Media and its Internet critics. Although sports and city news seem as much as before, the coverage of the war on terrorism and the Presidential election has become, as much as the space between forces in Najaf, an informational no-man's-land. The conflict has become so polarizing that people are reverting to type, even archetype, so that Lincoln Steffens rides again. The accounts of the siege of the Imam Ali shrine begin to read like a play within a play and the coverage a story in itself. However things turn out, the relationship between the media and its readers will never return to its former nature. When Robertson reentered American lines after a few days of absence, he returned, perhaps unknowingly, to a different world.
I knew a lad who went to sea, and left the shore behind him. I knew him well, the lad was me, and now I cannot find him. -- Unknown
posted by wretchard | Permalink: (Click to access comments)10:32 PM Zulu
Ya beat me to it by 5 minutes.
Iraqi police raid Najaf hotel, round up journalists at gunpoint
Wed Aug 25, 4:51 PM ET Add Mideast - AFP to My Yahoo!
NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Iraqi policemen rounded up dozens of journalists at gunpoint in a Najaf hotel and took them to police headquarters before later releasing them, an AFP correspondent said.
AFP/File Photo
Firing their guns in the air, the dozen odd policemen, some masked, stormed into the rooms of journalists in the Najaf Sea hotel and forced them into vans and a truck.
An AFP correspondent, who was also forced into a van, said the police pushed and pulled many reporters at gunpoint.
After a two-minute drive from the hotel, where journalists from across the world are based while covering the battle between Shiite militiamen and US-led Iraqi forces in the holy city, the reporters were taken to the office of the police chief.
"You people are not under arrest," Najaf police chief Ghaleb al-Jezari told them.
"You are brought here because I want to tell you that you never publish the truth. I speak the truth, but you never broadcast what we are."
The reporters, packed into the office, with some sitting on the floor in front of the police chief, protested at their detention.
"You have kidnapped us at gunpoint," said one reporter.
The police chief complained that reporters have been misreporting the proposed visit to Najaf by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the revered Iraqi Shiite Muslim leader.
Naming a Middle East television NEWS channel, he said the cleric had not decided as to when he would come to Najaf, adding "but the channel has gone ahead and said he is already in Najaf."
He said the news had triggered a march by people of Kufa to Najaf which turned violent forcing police to fire as some "bad elements in the march fired at the police."
Two people were killed and five wounded in the shooting.
After the unexpected press conference at gunpoint, the police chief kissed some of the journalists' Iraqi translators and had the reporters dropped back to their hotel.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040825/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_najaf_media_040825205158
Belmont Club ping
Iraqi cleric to unveil peace plan
Najaf has seen fierce battles since early August
Iraq's leading Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is reported to have prepared a peace plan to try to end the violence in the city of Najaf.
Iraqi police would replace foreign troops in the demilitarised city while compensation would be paid to people affected by three weeks of fighting.
Ayatollah Sistani is due to arrive in Najaf, his home city, having returned to Iraq from medical treatment abroad.
Thousands of Iraqis are preparing to heed his call for a march to the city.
Ayatollah Sistani called for "all believers" to march to Najaf to try to end the three-week military confrontation between US forces and fighters loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr.
But two marchers were killed in a clash in the city of Kufa, close to Najaf, and Najaf's police chief has asked people to stay away.
"They could be putting their lives in danger," Maj Gen Ghalib al-Jazaari was quoted as saying by AP news agency.
Ayatollah Sistani's plan envisages weapons-free zones in both Najaf and Kufa, a Sadr stronghold, aides said.
Ayatollah Sistani has brokered peace in Najaf before
Sadr fighters are believed to remain in control of Najaf's Imam Ali shrine complex, refusing to yield to US and Iraqi forces surrounding them.
Late on Wednesday, US warplanes again bombed targets in the city of half a million.
Ayatollah Sistani left Iraq for medical treatment in London just as the uprising in Najaf began. He returned on Wednesday, arriving in a convoy from Kuwait.
The ayatollah, who was spending the night in the southern city of Basra, discussed his peace proposals with representatives of the interim Iraqi government there.
He is expected to give further details of his proposals when he arrives in Najaf on Thursday.
Thousands of people from Iraq's majority Shia population were travelling to the city, the ayatollah's supporters said.
Correspondents say there are hopes the ayatollah can finally end the stand-off in Najaf. The ayatollah was instrumental in brokering an earlier ceasefire.
"I have come for the sake of Najaf and I will stay in Najaf until the crisis ends," Ayatollah Sistani said in a statement.
But shooting erupted near a National Guard base in Kufa where hundreds of marchers had set out with placards showing both Ayatollah Sistani and Mr Sadr. Two marchers were reported to have been killed and five wounded.
Iraqi forces and US troops have imposed tight controls on Najaf, preventing cars from entering the city.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3599352.stm
Coalition supplies An Najaf police
Marine Link ^ | August 25, 2004 | Cpl. Matthew S. Richards
http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/586C174EEE3B97E585256EFB001CED5D?opendocument
Posted on 08/25/2004 6:12:29 PM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl
Coalition supplies An Najaf police
Submitted by: 11th MEU
Story Identification #: 200482511557
Story by Cpl. Matthew S. Richards
AN NAJAF, Iraq (Aug. 25, 2004) -- Soldiers from the 66th Military Police Company, attached to the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), delivered more than 300 SAPI (Small Arms Protective Inserts) plates and flak jackets to Iraqi police headquarters in An Najaf, Iraq, recently.
As part of an effort to effectively equip the Iraqi police in Najaf, these deliveries have been ongoing for the past six months, continuing when the 11th MEU (SOC) assumed operational control of the An Najaf and An Qadisiyah provinces July 31.
"We've been trying to train, equip and mentor the Iraqi police service on how to run a police station," said Army Capt. Richard T. Cranford, commanding officer, 66th MP Co. "We've been sharing our subject matter expertise."
This most recent shipment was meant to supply a new wave of Iraqis from tribes outside of Najaf, who want to help oust the Muqtada Militia.
This extra tribal support has spiked in the last few days, according to Army Staff Sgt. William J. Trabucco, platoon sergeant, 66th MP Co.
"I've got some good guys from Karbala City who hate the militia," said Gen. Ghalib Hadi, commanding general, An Najaf Police Force. "This new force will help enforce security."
Hadi plans to supply these new additions to the Iraqi police with everything they need to fight the militia.
"They are trained well and I'm going to give these volunteers good weapons and good trucks to use," Hadi said. "I learned from my experience in the Iraqi Army, do it well or don't do it at all."
As soldiers of the 66th MP Co. continue to work with the police, contributing to the development of the growing force, they express confidence with the IP's leadership.
"Hadi is the right guy. He was specifically sent here to fix the problem with the militia," Trabucco said.
And Hadi can think of no better friend he would rather have to help him defeat the militia than those he has in the coalition.
"The Iraqi police's best friends are the Americans, who protect and help them," he said. "We are working together as a team with our coalition friends."
The MEU is also ready to hold steadfast and help the Iraqis take control of their city.
"We are committed to helping the Iraqis defeat the Anti-Iraqi Forces who are working against stability and security in this great city," said Col. A. M. Haslam, commanding officer, 11th MEU (SOC). "Together, we are determined to restore the rule of law and order, so Najaf citizens no longer have to live in fear of the militia."
Thanx for the ping
lol.
Think they learned anything?
Hey, sounds like John Effin Kerry, doesn't it? Babykillers! But they left out the part about cutting off ears and heads and rape. Oh, I forget. That's what Abu Ghraib is for.
Memo to snipers: shoot them next time.
It's so hard to learn anything when you already know everything.
I think I might have seen one of these reporters on Foxnews today, making the claim that there were no weapons inside the Shrine. The Fox reporter didn't really push him on it either. Anyone else see this?
Uh-uh. They haven't been in Kansas for a long, long time....
Amazing look inside! Should be posted in full.
Here comes amnesty for these terrorists.
Have at it.
done
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