Uprising By Shiites in Basra Underway; British Pouring Artillery into City

Sky News Live Feed ^ | 03/25/03 | TonyInOhio

[TonyInOhio]

Just monitored on Sky News: embedded reporter says Shiites in Basra have begun, in his words, a "popular uprising" against the Saddam forces still in the city. British Army units are "pouring" artillery into the city (likely isolated areas) preparing to move in.

[Smedley]

As someone pointed out yesterday, President Bush has a higher approval rating in Basra than in San Francisco.

San Francisco, Hollywood, France, Germany and the DNC.

[Illbay]

I thought they ALL want to kill us for Allah.

[TLBSHOW]

thanks for the heads up!

[FBD]

Hey Dave,

Where are the Aussie Special Ops guys?
I heard they are also taking on a city. Is that al Naseria?[sic]

[kattracks]

Nothing on the wires yet, but this from Sky News online:

ANTI-SADDAM RIOTS IN BASRA Rioting is taking place in Basra by locals opposed to Saddam Hussein, reports say. Iraqi troops are reported to be firing on the rioters.

[rocky88]

Yes, CNN's coverage is sickening that they can't bring themselves to say a positive thing about our troops or any progress we've made. I switched to MSNBC and Lester Holt seems to be doing a great job covering this breaking story. There is hope, I guess. CNN is reaping (in the form of sliding ratings) what they've sown over the years...

[nicmarlo]

Rush reporting this story ...

What did he say?

[Dog]

Who is reporting that??

[HiTech RedNeck]

Splish splash I was taking a Ba'ath...

[dep]

if this reaches completion, the rest of the country will fold bigtime. the r.g. scum will be found backshot when we enter baghdad.

dep

[Illbay]

Thanks for that. Yes, I have friends who are Shias from Iran, and they are the same way. Very nice people, cultured, educated, religious but not fanatical.

Try telling that to the hard-core bigots that infest FR, however.

But I concur with your observations.

[Grampa Dave]

How will the Islamofacist Peter Jennings handle this story tonight?

[CELTICGAEL (Celt)]

Major Bob on fox news says we have to get troops in there NOW. He said he knows it is high risk, but we can not let these people get slaughtered!

[mabelkitty]

Well, that explains the Kurd/Turk problem. Why does Greece have a dog in this fight?

[rocky88]

CNN finally reporting this story... 12:53pm!!!

[kattracks]

More-

ANTI-SADDAM RIOTS IN BASRA

Rioting is taking place in Basra by locals opposed to Saddam Hussein, reports say.
Iraqi troops are reported to be firing on the rioters.

British forces are firing on Iraqi positions which are trying to crush the civilian uprising.
Reporter Richard Gaisford said intelligence from the city suggested that local people had indicated they would welcome the Allied forces but were in fear of Saddam loyalists.
"Now it seems they have had the courage to stand up to Saddam Hussein and his regime and they will be supported by British forces," Gaisford said.

[TonyInOhio]

Commentator on Sky News (excellent!) says each street in Basra was controlled by a Ba'ath Party member, the better to keep a tight grip.

[The Vast Right Wing]

'Fox reporting .....Iraqi forces wouldn't let water into the civilians ........and that was enough.....the people are mounting a offensive..'

Just wait till the 680,000 tons of grain that are on the way from the heartland get there. That's when you will see children carrying the stars & stripes.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Rush just made a quick reference to the Basra story then went to break. Comment was that as soon as the fear us less than Saddam, the Iraqi regime will crumble.

Paraphrase.

[muawiyah]

Shi'a is divided into a number of denominations. First you have your Twelvers (mostly in Iran), then there are the Eleveners and the Seveners, who are my favorite group. They are the ones who used to give Aga Ali Khan (their religious leader) his weight in gold on his birthday.

There are others - many others!

I think the word "conservative" rather than "fundamentalist" is more appropriate! Lots of them are in Pakistan. The Wahabi are all Sunni and they are the most fundamentalist of all. They mostly live in Saudi Arabia.