Heavy Fighting in AR Ramadi Iraq~~~ Sadr's fighters have attacked US Forces.

Fox News

[Dog]

Just broke on Fox

[kcvl]

Shi'ite leader appeals for calm
From correspondents in Karbala, Iraq
07apr04

A REPRESENTATIVE of Shi'ite Muslim spiritual leader Ali Sistani today made a fresh call for calm and restoration of law and order in the wake of bloody clashes between US-led coalition forces and Shi'ite radicals.

"We appeal for calm and restoration of public order and we hope to settle this problem peacefully," Sheikh Abdel Mahdi al-Karbalai said.

Karbalai also slammed the US military crackdown on militiamen loyal to radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr, stressing that "dialogue was possible" and that "firing without any reason was not justified".

On Monday, Sistani already appealed for calm after coalition forces moved against Sadr's followers who were responding to a call from the firebrand cleric to demonstrate.

The clashes have since left more than 100 Iraqis and 20 coalition troops dead.

Today, Sistani sent an aide to see Sadr "to express his sympathy and inform him of a fatwa (religious edict) appealing for calm", Sadr aide Qais al-Khazaali told reporters.

Sadr said he was putting himself at the disposal of Sistani but did not say whether he intended to heed his fatwa.

"I proclaim my solidarity with Ali Sistani and he should know that I am his military wing in Iraq and wherever he so desires," the radical leader said in a communique distributed after his meeting with Sistani's emissaries.

Sadr, who is the target of an arrest warrant in connection with the murder of a rival cleric last year, decided to observe a three-day fast and urged both Sunnis and Shi'ites to join.

He expressed the hope that "Sunni brothers will succeed in liberating their region", a reference to the insurgency waged by anti-coalition rebels in the Fallujah area west of Baghdad.

"They should know that we are one hundred per cent behind them as long as they reject the occupation," Sadr said.

[freeperfromnj]

Cannot help but believe that they feel boosted by the lack of unity shown (around the globe) during the Sept. 11 Commission's Dog & Pony Show.

That and Ted Kennedy's dispicable outburst yesterday. He should be censured.

[hawkaw]

My thoughts exactly!

[jamz]

AFAIK...a casuality is where a soldier is taken out of action. Be it death...or wounded. Doesn't matter.

Man...I hope they have the resources to fend them off.

[jayef]

I've heard Brit make that mistake before.

[Wolfhound777]

If we had 24/7 liberal news media in WWII we wouldn't have lasted five minutes in Europe.

This is probably the truest statement I have seen on this thread so far. The lib media sure helped NVA after the TET offensive. Hell, the NVA thought they were finished until they heard the American news reports.

[Frank_Discussion]

;-D

[Sprite518]

Only to the communist.

[MplsSteve]

There seems to be an over-all sense of mis-trust from Freepers when it comes to anything published by Debka. Why is that?

Does Debka have a track record of getting things wrong?

[livius]

I'd rather see him hanged for treason, but censured will do. Powell spoke out about Kennedy's comments today.

Yes, I'm sure the AQ folks and even your average mad mullah is keeping a close eye on US politics and figured that this would be a good time to attack.

[cksharks]

I have heard this somewhere before, shoot them all and let God sort it out!

[af_vet_rr]

If a "journalist" wanted to merely play up the sensational aspect of this he could certainly do so in either a pro-USA or anti-USA way

You and I agree to disagree then. I think many Americans don't care about good news. They only get their curiosity tweaked when they hear something is going wrong.

If good news sold better, you would hear more about all of the successes we've had in Iraq, you'd hear about this group or that group experiencing freedom for the first times in their lives. People get bored easily these days when it comes to the news.

I don't think it's appropriate to conduct a test like this, but if we posted an article talking about a success we've had in Iraq, and an article talking about something that didn't go so right, or maybe we had troops killed or wounded, I can guarantee that the second one would hit 100 replies many times faster than the first.

[CasearianDaoist]

Not to mention the "frogs of war."

[bogdanPolska12]

Sorry, just when I hear this stuff of pc and our guys dying and media stuff I get so mad, I will refrain. My apology.

Bogdan

[MEG33]

Thanks.I thought I was asking "stuck in New orleans" as he said we should take no prisoners or wondered if we did in WW2.Thank you for serving our country.

[BushMeister]

Casualties are dead, wounded, captured or missing. Sometimes, of course, the missing show up and are no longer casualties.

[Miss Marple]

Well, they have gotten some things right, but I am still mindful of the thousands of Chinese troops in Africa that they went on and on about.

[Owen]

>
Does no one on television realize that when we hand over the government on June 30, WE WILL STILL HAVE OUR MILITARY THERE??
Yes they do ... but they don't want us to know that
>

Why should we not know it? And be delighted! We have a permanent presence now on the 2nd largest known oil reserves in the world, and China's thirst for oil is utterly exploding. Why would any American want us to be anywhere but there? This is exactly the right place to be.

[mabelkitty]

Truce for three days until back-up arrives?
f them.