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U.S. and Iraqi Forces Clash With Shiite Militia, Killing at Least 17 ~ SADR Militia
New York Times International ^
| March 27, 2006
| JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Posted on 03/26/2006 6:30:36 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 26 — American and Iraqi government forces clashed with Shiite militiamen in Baghdad tonight in the most serious confrontation in months, and Iraqi officials said the fighting left at least 17 Iraqis dead, including an 80-year-old imam.
The fighting erupted at a very combustible moment in Iraq, with sectarian tensions rising, leadership problems deepening, and dozens of mutilated bodies continuing to surface on Iraqi streets today.
Another concern is that the clash could open an old wound, because the militiamen who were killed worked for Moktada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric who has already led several bloody rebellions against American forces.
Security in Baghdad seems to be deteriorating by the hour, and it is increasingly unclear who is in control. Earlier today, the Iraqi Interior Ministry reported that American forces raided a secret prison and arrested several Iraqi policeman.
American officials have been more overt in the past week than ever in blaming Shiite militias, in particular Mr. Sadr's Mahdi Army, for a wave of sectarian bloodshed that seems to have no end. This morning, authorities in Baghdad discovered the corpses of 10 more men, all bound, blindfolded and shot.
As night fell, American and Iraqi Army forces surrounded a mosque in northeast Baghdad that is also used as a headquarters for Mr. Sadr's militia, Iraqi officials said. Helicopters buzzed overhead as a fleet of heavily armed Humvees sealed off the exits, witnesses said. When the soldiers tried to enter the mosque, shooting erupted, and a heavy caliber gun battle raged for the next hour.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: interiorministry; iraq; msm; nytimes; oif; sadr
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To: All; Allegra
Iraq ruling Shi'ites demand control over security
27 Mar 2006 13:37:14 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds quotes)
BAGHDAD, March 27 (Reuters) - Iraq's ruling Shi'ite Islamist Alliance bloc demanded on Monday that U.S. forces return control of security to the Iraqi government after what it called "cold-blooded" killings of unarmed people by troops in a mosque.
"The Alliance calls for a rapid restoration of (control of) security matters to the Iraqi government," Jawad al-Maliki, a senior Alliance spokesman and ally of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, told a news conference.
In angry tones, Khudair al-Khuzaie, another Alliance official, described the deaths at the Mustafa Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad on Sunday evening as a "cold-blooded" killing.
Earlier, Iraq's minister of state for national security gave a death toll of 37, much higher than the 20 quoted by police, and renewed allegations that U.S. and Iraqi troops tied up worshippers and others in the mosque complex and shot them.
At the news conference, Rida Jawad al-Takki, from the SCIRI party in the Alliance, said: "We have said so often that the American forces have been committing great mistakes on security issues and Iraqis should deal with these."
He said the operation was carried out by Iraqi forces that were under U.S. control and not accountable to the government.
The U.S. military's version of events is that Iraqi special forces, advised by Americans, raided a building which was not a mosque and killed 16 "insurgents" after coming under fire.
The military has issued a statement on the incident but has not addressed the allegations by Shi'ite leaders in detail.
The United States returned formal sovereignty to Iraq in June 2004 but with 133,000 troops in the country remains in overall control of security. While major military operations are coordinated with the Iraqi government, U.S. forces have considerable freedom of manoeuvre at a more local level.
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
42
posted on
03/27/2006 7:51:26 AM PST
by
dennisw
(I like Ike)
To: All
Now the campaign is going.........................
**************************************************************
RPT-ANALYSIS-Iraq cleric expected to gain from U.S. raid
27 Mar 2006 13:58:29 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Repeats to delete repeated word in first paragraph)
By Michael Georgy
BAGHDAD, March 27 (Reuters) - Iraq's radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr may turn to political advantage the bloody results of a U.S.-Iraqi raid on a mosque compound in Baghdad.
Twenty bullet-riddled bodies lay in a Shi'ite community hall near a mosque in Sadr City after Sunday's raid, though there were widely conflicting accounts of how they were killed.
Political analysts say anger over the killings is likely to give Sadr political ammunition both on the street and at the negotiating table with Iraqi leaders who have been struggling to form a government more than three months after elections.
"Sadr has always appealed to the poor and disadvantaged. These killings will enable him to recruit more people for his Mehdi Army militia," said Hazim al-Nu'aimy, a political science professor at Mustansiriya University in Baghdad.
"The big question is what will happen to Sadr if a government is formed and stability is established."
The unpredictable Sadr has enough representatives in parliament to give him leverage in the political bargaining, but his youthful street following gives him extra clout.
He has often thrived on crises, quickly whipping up his Mehdi Army militia when he feels politically threatened.
So far, his aides have coupled appeals for calm with accusations that U.S. troops had massacred 20 worshippers at the Mustafa mosque in the slums of Sadr City, named after Sadr's father, a renowned cleric killed during Saddam Hussein's rule.
The U.S. military has kept silent on those charges, but has given details of a U.S.-backed Iraqi raid on a building in the same area. Iraqi police said many of the dead were killed during clashes between the Americans and Sadr's militiamen.
After leading two revolts against U.S. troops in 2004, Sadr has evolved into a political powerbroker, joining the Shi'ite alliance that has dominated postwar Iraqi politics.
Ibrahim al-Jaafari needed Sadr's support to become the alliance's choice to keep his job as prime minister in the next government. Sadr could help decide the outcome of a continuing struggle by many politicians to force Jaafari to stand down.
PLAYER ON MANY STAGES
State television coverage of the mosque bloodshed has played into the saviour image that Sadr has tried to project since he emerged after the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam in 2003.
It has repeatedly shown gruesome footage of the bodies, and interviews with Sadr aides who condemned the violence in words likely to inflame Shi'ite passions, even as they urged calm.
Joost Hiltermann, project director for the International Crisis Group, said Sadr, who like rival Shi'ite leaders has links to Tehran, could stir up trouble at a time when the United States and Iran are preparing for talks on stabilising Iraq.
"The mosque incident will definitely boost his cause," said Hiltermann, whose organisation analyses world conflicts.
"The Shi'ites now believe the Americans, who brought them to power, are engaged in what they call the second betrayal. First the Americans abandoned them in the first Gulf War and now they believe the Americans are turning their backs on them," he said.
He was referring to a call by former U.S. President George Bush for Iraqis to revolt in 1991. The U.S. military then stood by as Saddam's forces crushed Shi'ite and Kurdish uprisings.
In recent months, some Shi'ites have grown resentful of U.S. calls for Sunni Arabs to be included in a unity government to try to calm a Sunni insurgency that has targeted Shi'ite holy places and civilians as well as the Shi'ite-led authorities.
In a post-Saddam society where militias compete with and sometimes infiltrate Iraq's new security forces, Sadr can readily call on recruits for his Mehdi Army in the sprawling slums of Sadr City, where many young men might relish a chance to avenge what Sadr aide Hazim al-Araji called a massacre.
Angry mourners for the 20 shooting victims said only the Mehdi Army, not government forces, could defend them.
"No one is protecting us," shouted Hamid Taayab, his voice high-pitched with anger, waving his arms wildly. "If it wasn't for the Mehdi Army we would be slaughtered in our homes."
The circumstances surrounding the mosque violence are confusing at best.
But perceptions often carry more weight than facts in Iraq, and the latest surge of anti-American fury could hurt U.S. efforts to help Iraqi leaders form a government as Sadr, one of Washington's most difficult enemies, takes centre stage again.
"The mosque incident was the Americans trying to de-claw Moqtada al-Sadr. The Americans want to show they are still the most powerful force on the ground," said an Iraqi political scientist. "But this will encourage Iraqis to support Sadr."
Sadr has survived U.S. attempts to curb him in the past.
U.S. generals vowed to kill or capture the cleric during his 2004 revolts, but had to back off. Sadr has also brushed off an arrest warrant for his alleged involvement in the murder of a rival cleric hacked to death in 2003 in a Shi'ite shrine.
Sadr may lose influence if militias are eventually disbanded, but in today's chaos, where few Iraqis look beyond the daily bombings and sectarian killings that keep Baghdad's morgues at full stretch, that seems a distant prospect.
To: All
FACTBOX-Developments in Iraq on March 27
27 Mar 2006 15:18:22 GMT
Source: Reuters
March 27 (Reuters) - Following are security incidents in Iraq on Monday as of 1500 GMT.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling a Sunni Arab insurgency against the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led interim government. The bombing of a Shi'ite shrine on Feb. 22 has been followed by a surge in sectarian attacks.
Asterisk denotes a new or updated item.
*MOSUL - A suicide bomber strapped with explosives killed 40 people at an army recruiting post near Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. It said 30 people were also wounded in the attack.
*ZA'AFARINIYA - Two people were killed and another 10 wounded when a rocket and two mortars landed on a commercial building and a nearby house in the southeastern Za'afaraniya area of Baghdad, a source at the Interior Ministry said.
*BAQUBA - Authorities arrested the police chief of Diyala, a major-general, in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, a security source said.
*NEAR BALAD - Police said they found the body of a man who works as an Iraqi army supplier in the town of Yathrib, near Balad, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad.
*NEAR DUJAIL - Police found the body of a man with gunshot wounds in an area near Dujail, 90 km (55 miles) north of Baghdad, a police source said.
BAGHDAD - A policeman and three civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb hit a police patrol in the city's south.
BAGHDAD - Four mortar rounds landed in different districts of the city, wounding two civilians, police said.
BAQUBA - A mortar round landed on the Sadr office in Baquba, wounding two guards, police said.
MOSUL - Five policemen were wounded when insurgents threw a grenade at their patrol in the northern city, police said.
BAGHDAD - At least one person was killed and three wounded when a car bomb exploded in Sadr city, a Shi'ite Muslim slum, police said.
NEAR TIKRIT - Four people who work in the U.S. military base near Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, were wounded when gunmen attacked them while they were heading to the base.
To: dennisw
August 27, 2004A Religion of Peace MomentBrought to you by the State Department of the United States of America.
I just want to get this straight, because I am easily confused. Mookie Sadr, a purported Muslim imam, a verifiable psychotic and murderer, whose minions have killed American soldiers and Marines in heated battles since April, was allowed a pass? A gimmee? His boys and he were allowed to lay down their weapons and exit peacefully from the "Holiest Shrine In Shia Islam" compound they had turned into a trench warfare hellhole because al-Sistani arrived to broker a settlement?
What the f*** am I missing here?
Here's an alternate scenario for you: Jerry Falwell decides he doesn't like Bush's, or the Supreme Court's, take on partial-birth abortions. So he holes himself up in St. Patrick's Cathedral (he's not Catholic, but it doesn't matter to him, because as a Christian he feels he has the keys to any Christian kingdom), laden with weaponry. He kills 14 police officers and National Guardsmen who try to flush him out.
Query: does Jerry get a pass to leave unmolested, and regroup in Wyoming, where the next cache of weapons are?
We should have killed Sadr, and dragged him behind a Humvee like Hector. That is the only thing these people understand, and, more importantly, appreciate.
And don't start with your James Byrd s***. That man was guilty of nothing, except being black. Apples and oranges, Intrepids. Apples and oranges. Sometimes a GUILTY f***** NEEDS to be dragged behind a Toyota Land Cruiser to get the message out: this behaviour will not be tolerated.
UPDATE: we are in luck, people. Billy Graham is off his sickbed, and has issued a call to arms for all God-fearing Christians to take up arms against the unholy infidels that lay their mugs on rugs. He personally e-mailed me to make sure I not only torch that f****** 7-11 that Ibrahim is running, but that I enslave his "bitches".
Bill's words. Not mine. And the point still obtains: how does a man of the cloth, so to speak, a religious icon, like Sadr, manage to amass an army, a f****** ARMY, and not one western media site questions that? Billy Graham wants to know.
Here's Mookie the punk Imam
45
posted on
03/27/2006 7:59:13 AM PST
by
dennisw
(I like Ike)
To: All; Allegra; Marine_Uncle; dennisw; endthematrix
To: Southack; Ernest_at_the_Beach
" It's mid Monday in Iraq already. No protests. No counter-raids. All is calm. Yet the U.S. news media is hyperventilating, pretending that Iraq is suddenly out of control. Yawn..."
Precisely to the point. Until we see the sealing off of Sadr City and a complete security and stabilization operation performed in it, one should not get all fluffed up.
The little raid was simply that. A little raid by a Iraqi unit with US backup.
If Sadr and his militia where hell bent on going against the Iraqi army there would be a current blood bath, with them(fatso) loosing thousands of goons. Sadr simply continues to play his little games. And it will lead to his demise.
One good thing that comes out of this, is once again we can see, the Shia are not innocent victims. Their mosque contained weapon caches. And one can be assured the US is keeping tabs on who has what, and can throw a thick stack of documents on the table in front of all the Iraqi leaders and say OK, folks lets get down to some serious dialog here once and for all. When do you wish to stop playing your little games.
47
posted on
03/27/2006 10:57:01 AM PST
by
Marine_Uncle
(Honor must be earned)
To: Marine_Uncle
Roggio's closing line:
***************************
The Hayy Ur raid may actually serve to break the deadlock which has settled over the formation of the new Iraqi government, one way or another. And one has to wonder if that wasn't by design. As we stated yesterday, the Coalition has been telegraphing this move for some time.
To: All
Reuters :
Iraq govt wants U.S. cede control after killing
:
****************************************************
Iraq govt wants U.S. cede control after killing
27 Mar 2006 19:12:36 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Omar al-Ibadi
BAGHDAD, March 27 (Reuters) - Iraq's ruling parties demanded U.S. forces cede control of security on Monday as the government launched an inquiry into a raid on a Shi'ite mosque that ministers said saw "cold blooded" killings by U.S.-led troops.
As Shi'ite militiamen fulminated over Sunday's deaths of 20 or more people in Baghdad, an al Qaeda-led group said it carried out one of the bloodiest Sunni insurgent attacks in months. A suicide bomber killed 40 Iraqi army recruits in northern Iraq.
The Iraqi Defence Ministry said a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt also wounded 30 at a base near Mosul.
After a confusing 24 hours following the bloodshed around Baghdad's Mustafa mosque in which the U.S. military restricted itself to issuing one somewhat opaque statement, U.S. officials distanced themselves from the operation, calling it Iraqi-led.
Officials in Baghdad appeared to wait for input from Washington, underlining the sensitivity of the confrontation between Iraq's Iranian-linked Shi'ite Islamist leaders and the U.S. forces at a time when Washington is pressing them to forge a unity government with minority Sunnis to avert civil war.
A day later, three broad versions of the events that led to the deaths of some 20 -- or possibly more -- people persisted.
Iraq's security minister accused U.S. and Iraqi forces of killing 37 unarmed civilians in the mosque after tying them up.
Residents and police, who put the death toll among the troops' opponents at around 20, spoke of a fierce battle between the soldiers and gunmen from the Mehdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose followers ran the mosque.
And U.S. officials, finally confirming they were describing the same incident, stuck by a statement saying Iraqi special forces, advised by U.S. troops, killed 16 "insurgents" who fired on them first. They also insisted no troops entered any mosque and had freed an Iraqi being held prisoner.
CONFUSION
Several Iraqi officials said the raid may have targeted a site used by militiamen to hold illegal courts and executions, part of efforts to impose Islamic law in parts of Baghdad.
One source of confusion over the site may be that the mosque in question, close to Sadr's Sadr City stronghold in northeast Baghdad, was not a traditional religious building but a compound of former Baath party offices converted by Sadr followers.
A State Department official said in Washington: "This was an Iraqi planned and led operation and U.S. forces were only in an advisory capacity."
While U.S. officials refused to acknowledge that the targets of the operation were Shi'ites, and the sectarian affiliations of the Iraqi troops involved was unclear, the State Department official said the incident underlined what he called the need for Iraq's security forces to be free of sectarian bias.
One thing was certain: Shi'ite leaders were up in arms against the U.S. forces who effectively brought them to power by overthrowing Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated Baathist regime.
"The Alliance calls for a rapid restoration of (control of) security matters to the Iraqi government," Jawad al-Maliki, a senior spokesman of the Shi'ite Islamist Alliance and ally of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, told a news conference.
The United States handed over formal sovereignty in 2004 but 133,000 troops in the country give it the main say in security.
Government-run television repeated lengthy footage of the bodies of men in civilian clothes with no weapons in sight.
Baghdad provincial governor Hussein al-Tahan said he would halt all cooperation with U.S. forces.
Aides to Sadr denied any Mehdi Army fighters were present.
But witnesses spoke of a lengthy gun battle: "The shooting lasted for more than an hour," shopkeeper Ali Abdul Jabbar said.
SADR
The fiery young cleric's militia was ordered to disband after U.S. forces crushed uprisings in 2004. But it remains a force in southern Iraq and eastern Baghdad, and is accused by U.S. officials of some of the violence that killed hundreds of Sunnis after last month's bombing of a Shi'ite shrine.
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, at the centre of urgent U.S. efforts to stem violence by creating a unity government, has said in recent days that the militias must be brought to heel and accused Iran of funding and training some armed groups. He said militias are now killing more Iraqis than the insurgents.
Khalilzad plans ground-breaking talks with Iran to try to break the deadlock over the formation of a unity government.
Iranian backing seems to have been critical in pushing Sadr to kingmaker status within the Alliance and to securing the nomination of Dawa party leader Jaafari to a second term. Sunni and Kurdish opposition to Jaafari is blocking a government deal.
Alliance leaders stayed away from the daily round of talks on the government, saying the mosque incident kept them busy.
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, who has been hosting the negotiations said: "We have to know the truth about what happened, and we must not be driven by rumours. This is a very dangerous incident which we must investigate."
(Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald, Michael Georgy, Mariam Karouny, Terry Friel, Hiba Moussa and Aseel Kami)
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
"Perhaps you have already been over here:"
No. I have been in catch up mode and had not visited BR until now.
As I read Bill's analysis a few things stick out like a sore thumb.
It is clear that certain Shia leaders such as Bayan Jabr, the Interior Minister and Abd al-Karim al-Enzi the Minister of State for National Security, are at this point desperate.
They see the Shia controled interim government is being daily exposed for what they are. A bunch of incompetant one sided operators, who have no intentions of allowing a united national government to come to past. They will resist to the end because they have no other cards to deal out.
If as Bill is indicating and we have read elsewhere for about a month of so, the SCIRI lead by Abdul Asis al-Hakim are ready to break ties with the UIA (an alliance between the SCIRI,Islamic Dawa Party lead by Ibrahim al-Jaafari, and some other less dominant Shia lists) this will be a significant change in the power struggle. For if Hakim falls in line with the secular Arab party of Iyad Allawi, the INA (Iraqi National Accord), and if lets say the INC (Iraqi Natinal Congress) lead by yours truly Ahmed Chalabi where to join in the break, things really could reach a breaking point regarding Shia domination. For the many Kurdish party list will when combined then totally take a majority and put forth candidates other then the reigning Shia, and will have the majority of votes to oust the guys like Jaafri.
In short. A really major shift in power.
As Bill indicates and has been voiced since January. Jaafri only won by one vote. And that was because of rigged election returns in some provinces. The Shia are holding on by slim margins, as jmc1969 had indicated more then once in recent posts.
And as Sadr continues to be seen as a bad apple by many across the board with less then honorable intentions, e.g. he simply wants power, a young irresponsible fire brand junior cleric, we just may see the above shifts take place.
Of course the issue with Hakims known ties with the Iranian Mullahs is still in place. And sadly he is up to his a*s with the Iranian influence in supporting his militia down south, who sadly don't just stay down south but can move about freely along the eartern provinces from the gulf up to the Kurds/Iranian border areas.
If Hakim sees the US will not give up in it's intent to force Iranian influences out of Iraq, he realizes he is a prime target in the near future. That is why he may be so willing to break ties with the UIA. He is in no better shape then Sadr. Both are clerics. Both continue to go against the grain in forming a more balanced Iraqi government.
51
posted on
03/27/2006 12:12:06 PM PST
by
Marine_Uncle
(Honor must be earned)
To: Marine_Uncle
Most interesting....we are going to be there for awhile ....but we need this all to go our way for stability and democracy.
The Iraqi people deserve it and we have to have it.
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
"The Iraqi people deserve it and we have to have it."
You are most certainly right on this. And the sooner the key elements in the major Shia parties are convinced they are not going to be allowed to highjack the countries future, the sooner they will start to play ball. Then again, perhaps their thick heads cannot permit them to. It always goes back to the damn Butcher and his Baathist thugs running the show for so long.
53
posted on
03/27/2006 1:18:22 PM PST
by
Marine_Uncle
(Honor must be earned)
To: Marine_Uncle; Dog
This mosque operation was on March 26. March 27 was the tent/house high value leader raid that probably netted the bigwig announced today.
These may be connected.
54
posted on
04/13/2006 5:07:37 PM PDT
by
Southack
(Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
To: Southack
"This mosque operation was on March 26. March 27 was the tent/house high value leader raid that probably netted the bigwig announced today. These may be connected."
Yes. I just had sent a remark to DevSix on another thread about a top dog that just got pegged. I mentioned the "tent deal", alleged from the news report of last week as being in the northern part of the city. I to think there is a connection.
55
posted on
04/13/2006 5:23:18 PM PDT
by
Marine_Uncle
(Honor must be earned)
To: Southack; Marine_Uncle
After some digging I found out the raid was in Hamaniyah ...14 klicks west of Baghdad..
56
posted on
04/13/2006 5:42:00 PM PDT
by
Dog
(We have had a date with destiny and Iran for 27 years---appealof2)
To: Dog; Southack; DevSix
Dog wrote: " After some digging I found out the raid was in Hamaniyah ...14 klicks west of Baghdad.."
Apparently not the tent deal. Fine more goons popping up daisies.
57
posted on
04/13/2006 5:49:56 PM PDT
by
Marine_Uncle
(Honor must be earned)
To: Marine_Uncle; Southack
The tent deal happened on April 8 or 9th.....not the same raid...still digging for details on the March 27th raid.
58
posted on
04/13/2006 5:51:31 PM PDT
by
Dog
(We have had a date with destiny and Iran for 27 years---appealof2)
To: Dog
Yea what the heck is wrong with me. ha ha don't answer. Lose sense of time. And like you said this one is pretty much west of the city boundary.
59
posted on
04/13/2006 6:03:49 PM PDT
by
Marine_Uncle
(Honor must be earned)
To: Marine_Uncle
OK, I've been very sick and away from the board. Can you catch me up on what's happening?
60
posted on
04/13/2006 7:39:22 PM PDT
by
McGavin999
(The US media is afflicted with Attention Deficit Disorder)
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