[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

NY Times and Washington Post have now picked up the story....that's good.

I did post it since this is now a rather long thread.....See this:

NY Times: Iraqi Forces in Fierce Battle With Gunmen ~ US copter down....250 militants down...

[STARWISE]

CNN reporting live that 300 beasts killed in Najaf. Exterminate these despicable worms! God bless and protect our incredibly brave and devoted troops! St. Michael, St. George ~~ be their guides and defenders in these vicious battles. Blessed Mother, protect Your courageous sons and daughters.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From the article linked at post #349:

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From deeper in the Times article:

Two senior Shiite clerics said, however, that the gunmen were part of a Shiite splinter group that Saddam Hussein helped build in the 1990s to compete with followers of the venerated religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. They said the group, calling itself the Mehwadiya, was loyal to Ahmad bin al-Hassan al-Basri, an Iraqi cleric who had a falling out with Muhammad Bakr al-Sadr — father-in-law of the Shiite leader Moktada al-Sadr — in Hawza, a revered Shiite seminary in Najaf.

The clerics spoke on condition of anonymity because they said they had been ordered not to discuss Shiite divisions.

Iraqi officials said the group of 100 to 500 fighters was discovered in the orchard Saturday night, leading to a midnight meeting of local authorities who hatched an attack plan.