19 Tense Hours in Sadr City Alongside the Mahdi Army

washington post ^ | March 29, 2008 | By Sudarsan Raghavan

[Flavius]

BAGHDAD, March 28 -- The gunfire struck like thunderclaps, building to a steady rhythm. American soldiers in a Stryker armored vehicle fired away from one end of the block. At the other end, two groups of Shiite militiamen pounded back with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. American helicopters circled above in the blue afternoon sky.

As a heavy barrage erupted outside his parents' house, Abu Mustafa al-Thahabi, a political and military adviser to the Mahdi Army of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, rushed through the purple gate and took shelter behind the thick walls. He had just spoken with a fighter by cellphone. "I told him not to use that weapon. It's not effective," he said, referring to a rocket-propelled grenade. "I told him to use the IED, the Iranian one," he added, using the shorthand for an improvised explosive device. "This is more effective."

[Flavius]

how cute an inside report when do they get to climb onto the machine gun nests

[Lion Den Dan]

Reading about thugs attempting to kill Americans is repulsive. Why is this rag head still amongst the living and why does the WaPo print this dung? Never mind, dumb question.

[Westbrook]

Imagine a WaPo reporter in WWII embedded with the Nazis or Imperial Japonese and sending reports like this home.

Imagine that same reporter trying to regain entry into the US without the threat of a swift trial for treason and a slow walk to the gibbet.

[tongue-tied]

Ah. An embedded reporter. I guess she(?) won’t mind when we mistakenly kill her in attempting to get the bad guys.

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1981084/posts?page=1324#1324

[freema]

Unbelievable. WAPO imbedded with the enemy. Literally.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

Why hasn't the USAF launched a Hellfire at the Post's 'reporter'? Keep this Sadrist in mind, next time you hear the international journalist's union bleating about their members being killed 'in the line of duty.'

[atomicpossum]

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Ah. An embedded reporter. I guess she(?) won’t mind when we mistakenly kill her in attempting to get the bad guys.

No mistake will be made: this reporter IS one of the bad guys. And the Washington Post is clearly in collusion.

I do not know why you Americans tolerate this treason.

[Kay Ludlow]

Surprisingly, though, the story is not as emotional as many, and the author gives a surprising amount of details about the Mahdi Army tactics. Although it could just be disinformation...

[DogBarkTree]

“”We have to keep the Americans nervous, on their edge,” Thahabi said. “We can’t make it easy for them.””
Thahabi sounds like a good Democrat. I wonder if he’s pulling for Shrillery or Nobama?

[DogBarkTree]

I dont think it’s misinformation. I think the reporter is really that stupid.

[DUMBGRUNT]

First we are told:There was no sign of dread, or grief, or fear. Death was a matter of honor, a shortcut to some divine place.

Later we read: Three solemn-faced Mahdi Army fighters entered the living room at around 2 p.m., fresh from battle. "Akeel, son of Riad, just got killed," said Abu Zainab al-Kabi. The room fell silent.

PROPAGANDA!

[sport]

We are not the people we were back then. Consequently, we are not the Nation we were back then.

Then our leaders had courage.

Then our citizens had pride in America and what it stood for and were self reliant.

Then the media was for America.

Then our Servicemen/women were respected In America and their leaders supported them.

Contrast that with what we have now across the spectrum.

[Congressman Billybob]

The sympathies of this "reporter" seem to be with the young fighters. Apparently he, she, it, has not seem or not paid attention to the movie clips of Adolf Hitler sending German boys as young as 12 to be cannon fodder before the fall of Berlin.

I spit on the Washington Post for publishing this, without putting the facts in context. Sadr is an Iranian stooge, who assassinated the previous Imam to get his position. Now, Sadr is willing to slaughter his own people, for the position and authority of Sadr. Think Cartman, only real and with guns.

Congressman Billybob

Latest article, "The Uber-Nigerian Scam"

Help a Freeper into Congress.

[penelopesire]

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:utF2FKy8ADAJ:www.saja.org/raghavan.html+Sudarsan+Raghavan&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us

He seems to have made a career of writing from the bosom of America’s enemies and undermining the Iraq war in particular. It really is sickening!

[tobyhill]

***I told him to use the IED, the Iranian one***

How convenient for them to mention the “Iranian” one in front of the reporter. This reporter is lying through his teeth in an attempt to make the militia seem more fierce than they really are. It's not to say that that they don't have “Iranian” ones but it just doesn't seem right that it would be in such a phrase.

[LSUfan]

This report makes me so mad I can’t describe it. I do believe that, for some time, the WaPo has refused to embed reporters with US units...

[LibWhacker]

On this block in Sadr City, the cleric's sprawling stronghold, men and boys came out from nearly every house to fight, using powerful IEDs and rockets.

The Left confirms it... There's no such thing as collateral damage. We should bomb the hell out of these "neighborhoods" before sending our boys in there, really soften it up for them.

[Marine_Uncle]

In a way I can see where the scenario forces this type of access. Many of us have complained and rightly so, how reporters sit in cozy hotel lounges and sip their drinks. In Basra and Sadr City one is going to find mostly militia and little else other then in the case of SC, slowly emerging Coalition and Iraqi government groups that are trying to help them rebuild the city a bit, and of course start schools, improve on water, sewage, and electricity.
I don't condone one sided reporting especially when it favors our enemies, but it may be just that the reporter had little else to console with in the particular case. Who knows.
One thing for sure. This may be a deciding moment in how effective the Iraqi government and forces really are.