BBC: Firefight breaks out in Nasiriya, apparently between rival Iraqi groups. More soon.

BBC TV news ^ | 4/9/03 | BBC

[Smogger]

Nothing on their website yet. This is on the bottom of the screen.

[Captain Kirk]

I stand corrected. A serious question: what is your model for success since apparently (am I wrong?) you agree that the Afghanistan status quo is not a worthwhile national buiding effort?

[No Truce With Kings]

"We are letting these guys figure it out and then we'll sort things out tomorrow morning. There are no U.S. forces engaged right now," Crevier said. "We are going to go through and clear the aftermath in the morning and see what is left."

Does an answer get better than that?

[betty boop]

Freedom earned endures...freedom given is squandered like a christmas toy.... They want to pay for their freedom...this is very very very healthy

Wisely and truly said, antaresequity. I think it's "very very very healthy," too. If the Shias are wiping out the Fedayeen/Baathists, then that's less work for our boys. I think the likely members of the post-war leadership want to earn their spurs. We are wise to let them do so.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Excellent answer!

[cake_crumb]

"I don't wanna see our boys getting shot up in some ethnic fighting."

Couldn't it be a revolt against Saddam's supporters?

[shadowman99]

Once again, you are reading meaning into what I posted or attempting to distort meaning.

WHAT I SAID: (a short review for A.D.D. children)

In my first post I said that American troops will need to stay in Iraq for the long term so Iraq does not fall into anarchy. Anarchy in Afghanistan led to the rise of the Taliban.

In my second post I clarified that the Pre-US-Afghan Soviet occupation led to the warlords and strife that created a leadership vacuum filled by the taliban. I suggested that if we let the UN run (and the UN will not run things well) things Iraq will go to hell.

IT IS THEREFORE in our best interest to continue to keep control of the situation rather than hand over to the UN.

That is all I said.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

[Mister Baredog]

I think this is where Chabali and about 600 or 700 Iraqi National Congress soldiers went to fight with the coalition. Maybe they are doing some of the clean up.

[browardchad]

it was written somewhere today that an exiled Iraqi force of some 5,0000 men has landed in Nasiriya

Make that "several hundred," and according to the Chicago Sun-Times, they are doing exactly what they were asked to do:

The (Iraqi exile) troops flown into Nasiriyah will help with the distribution of humanitarian aid, keep order and "root out pro-Saddam elements" such as militia from the Fedayeen, Saddam's Baath Party and others who have put up stiff resistance to coalition forces and prevented other Iraqi fighters from surrendering, said Riva Levinson, a consultant and INC spokeswoman in Washington.

[Grampa Dave]

Yep, they are doing what was planned. Reuters as usual lies about the reality.

[isthisnickcool]

USA! USA!

[Dr. Frank fan]

That's strange. So when there weren't uprisings, everyone was complaining that this proved our war plans were messed up and the Iraqis "didn't want" to be liberated. Lack of uprisings was horrible, just horrible, for us.

Now there are uprisings and it's bad for us, so we should nip it in the bud.

Man, we just can't win.

[Smogger]

NASSIRIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Small arms fire and explosions echoed through the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya after dark on Monday as U.S. forces in the area stood by and put it down to in-fighting among Iraqis.


Reuters correspondent Adrian Croft heard the crack of rifle fire and blasts from what sounded like rocket-propelled grenades ringing out in the city center, becoming quite intense for a time. But it was unclear who was involved and U.S. commanders said they did not plan to intervene.


"We're looking at forces inside the city taking each other on. This is Iraqi against Iraqi," said Captain Rick Crevier, a company commander with the U.S. 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.


Crevier said the combatants could be residents fighting pro-Baghdad Fedayeen paramilitaries, people rebelling against President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s Baath Party, or simply looters.


"We are letting these guys figure it out and then we'll sort things out tomorrow morning. There are no U.S. forces engaged right now," Crevier said. "We are going to go through and clear the aftermath in the morning and see what is left."


There have been incidences of looting and score-settling among Iraqis in other towns now under U.S. or British control.


It was not known whether the fighting was linked with the reported arrival in Nassiriya of several hundred anti-Saddam Iraqi opposition fighters headed by Ahmad Chalabi, the best known leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC).


An opposition official said in Washington on Monday that the 700 fighters would join the U.S. military campaign against the Iraqi government, delivering humanitarian aid and "maintaining law, order and stability in areas already liberated."


In an apparent reference to Chalabi's group, Crevier said he understood there would be a parade through Nassiriya on Tuesday by 700 anti-Saddam forces.


Nassiriya is a strategically placed city straddling the lower Euphrates river and was the scene of fierce fighting soon after U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq (news - web sites) on March 20. There have been no reports of Iraqi resistance there for some days.

[ANDY72632]

This force opposing the Saddamites is possibly the heavily equipped and specially trained Iraqi freedom fighters that we were supposed to bring in to show that Iraqis can arm themselves and take back their country.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Getting this back in sequence!

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

[Im Your Huckleberry]

"Why Ed, what an ugly thing to say, does this mean we're not friends anymore?...You know, Ed, if I thought you weren't my friend...I just don't think I could bear it."

"You're a daisy if you do!"

"It's true you are a good woman...then again, you may be the anti-Christ."

That movie is just chock full'o great quotes, almost too many for one film. Of course, this is why it's one of my favorites...ïy¡Ì=

[laz17]

This is nothing more than the newly-freed oppressed turning on their former oppressors. The two factions involved are the Iraqi civilians and the Fedayeen, not rival tribes. It's not a sign of chaos or failure of our mission. On the contrary, it's a welcome, and expected, side-effect of our mission. But of course, the Left doesn't want to portray it that way. They'll keep lying until they draw their last breath.

[ChadGore]

Both the People's Front of Iraq and the Iraqi People's Front will be suprised by the the Spanish Inquisition.

Because . .
nobody . .
expects . .
the . .
:)

[dfwgator]

Oh no, not the "comfy chair."

[laz17]

Freedom earned endures...freedom given is squandered like a christmas toy.... They want to pay for their freedom...this is very very very healthy

Brilliantly said. Let them avenge themselves upon their former oppressors. Maybe their gratitude toward us for helping free them will last longer than the gratitude of the French and Germans, who turned out to be spoiled children.