Posted on 10/20/2006 6:58:58 AM PDT by areafiftyone
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The Shiite militia run by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr seized total control of the southern Iraqi city of Amarah on Friday in one of the boldest acts of defiance yet by one of the country's powerful, unofficial armies, witnesses and police said.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki dispatched an emergency security delegation that included the Minister of State for Security Affairs and top officials from the Interior and Defense ministries, Yassin Majid, the prime minister's media adviser, told The Associated Press.
The Mahdi Army fighters stormed three main police stations Friday morning, planting explosives that flattened the buildings, residents said.
About 800 black-clad militiamen with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers were patrolling city streets in commandeered police vehicles, eyewitnesses said. Other fighters had set up roadblocks on routes into the city and sound trucks circulated telling residents to stay indoors.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I hate you.
I'm sure our boys will retake the town. This is a good test to see if the Iraqi Army can do its job too. I'm sure they will do it.
The Brits stood down, then Iraqis stood down, and the Sadrites stood up. A sign of things to come.
Alll riiighy Then!
Give me a kiss.
No, it really doesn't.
For one thing, it's no more of an opening than we've had for taking out al-Sadr since 2004. Letting al-Sadr live past mid 2004 was like letting a rattlesnake live under your bed.
Even if we're warming up to the idea of fighting the Medhi army, we're already tied down. The lion's share of offensive power is committed in the Baghdad security offensive. We're already robbing Peter to pay Paul by juggling security in other areas. We just don't have the manpower to go into Amarah, without opening a gap somewhere else.
Even were it not, politically the Iraqi government itself will want to handle the issue. That's going to be complicated. The Shia dominated government is infiltrated by Sadrists, Iranian agents, and others who may have an interest in seeing the central government fail. The Iraqi army doesn't want to fight the Medhi militia, for a number of reasons.
I'm not really seeing this situation as an opportunity for us.
Few idiots repost articles that are still in the latest posts.
It's such an impossibly idiotic thing to do we figured you were doing it for the attention.
The choice is now, take down Sadr's Militia or lose Iraq. I'm not sure that Sadr really took over the whole city with 800 gangsters and CNN keeps showing the same 3 cars burning acting like it's the whole city but none the less it needs to be taken care of.
I hate you.
Now slip me some tongue.
Nah I didn't but I didn't realize that. But I realize sometimes when you do a search by a title it doesn't come up all the time. I should really do it by keyword - sometimes it works better.
STOOOOP! LOL
Who p++++d in your cornflakes this morning? Be nice.
Your eyes say "no, no", but your text says "stoop".
Which means to bend down.
Which is what I wanted all along, from you.
You are talking about the man I love.
Now they have a good excuse to kill the bastard.
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