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.

[Steve_Seattle]

"had heard before that's it's insulting to Iranians to call them Arabs"

Probably because they are not Arabs.

[TheDon]

Uprising reported in Basra

A "popular civilian uprising" is reported to have taken place in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, according to British military intelligence officials.

Major General Peter Wall, British Chief of Staff at Allied Central Command in Qatar, confirmed that it appeared an uprising had taken place, but that it was in its infancy and British troops were "keen to exploit its potential".

According to military intelligence officials, Iraqi troops in the city turned mortar fire on their own civilians in an attempt to crush the unrest.

Journalist Richard Gaisford, who is with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards just outside Basra, said the British troops are bombarding the mortar positions in an effort to support the uprising.

The main Shia Iraqi opposition group, based in Iran, which claims connections in the city said a revolt was taking place. Baghdad has denied that there has been any unrest in Basra.

The ruling party responded by firing mortars at the crowd that was advancing towards them, our artillery responded to that with shells and mortars
Al Lockwood, British military spokesman

"There is more artillery being fired into the city centre of Basra - they are doing that to try to take out Iraqi mortar positions and the mortar positions are firing on the uprisers," Richard Gaisford told the BBC.

"We are being told there is a popular uprising in Basra itself, because of that the armed forces that remain, the Iraqi forces, are firing on those people who are protesting against Saddam Hussein's regime," he added.

He said that the British troops were using a system of radar tracking to pinpoint and then attack the mortar positions.

Coalition planes have dropped two very large bombs on the Baath Party headquarters in the city, which is reported to have been reduced to rubble.

'Shia rebellion'

A spokesman for the British military in Qatar, Al Lockwood, said he had heard reports of the revolt and that Iraqi troops had turned on their own people.

BASRA REGION

"Open source reporting has it that there was some form of uprising this afternoon against the Baath party. I do understand that the Shia population attempted to attack the ruling party," he said on Sky television.

"The ruling party responded by firing mortars at the crowd that was advancing towards them, our artillery responded to that with shells and mortars.

"We are carefully assessing the situation at the moment and certainly I'm sure that some action will be forthcoming in the morning," Mr Lockwood added.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed al-Sahhaf denied that any revolt had taken place.

"The situation is stable. Resistance is continuing and we are teaching them more lessons. This announcement [of an uprising]... stems from a feeling of frustration" on the part of the British, he told Qatar-based al-Jazeera television.

Level of support

The BBC's Tim Franks who is on the Iraq-Kuwait border, says that if reports of the uprising are true, this is what the British forces had hoped for.

Until now, there has been no evidence of any support for British and American forces inside Basra.

Rather, the coalition forces believed that around 1,000 die-hard Saddam Hussein supporters were based in the city and keeping the population in check, our correspondent says.

The United Nations has warned of a potential humanitarian crisis in Iraq's second city, which is home to about 1.5 million people.

Some 100,000 children are at risk of disease as fighting there has continued for four days, disrupting supplies of drinking water, a UN spokesman said.

Aid plans

Engineers from the International Committee of the Red Cross are currently working at the water pumping station with serves the city, and are hoping to restart the plant later on in the day.

Spokesman Florian Westphal told BBC News Online that no more than 40% of the city's population had access to piped water at present, and that the rest were probably taking water direct from the river, where sewage is dumped.

A UK naval ship loaded up in Kuwait with stocks of food, water and other supplies is still waiting to dock in the nearby Iraqi port of Umm Qasr as work continues to clear mines from the sea there.

Securing the port is seen as a crucial stage in ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid to people in southern Iraq, and particularly in Basra.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/2886235.stm

Published: 2003/03/25 20:25:15

© BBC MMIII

[Alberta's Child]

The government could eliminate money laundering tomorrow by changing the color of U.S. currency every couple of years. Stuffing money into a cache in the basement isn't going to do Tony Soprano any good if he has to exchange it at the bank every two years anyway.

[mabelkitty]

Does anybody else find this stomach churning?

Is Tehran trying to head off problems of their own by stirring it up?

[mabelkitty]

Where does it say "money"?

[Billthedrill]

Sorry for the post-and-run - Travis McGee fielded it but I think I can fill in some cracks...

Islam split into two pieces following the death of Mohammed, based on who got to assume control of the Islamic armies - Abu Bakr, his father-in-law, or Ali, his chosen successor. This was while Islam was still in its early expansion, so there are little enclaves of Sunnis and Shi'as all over the map. The Persians were somewhat latecomers and were principally (but not all) Shi'a, but of course many Arabs are as well inasmuch as it began with them. So what you have in Basra is a weird mix where the religion and the ethnicity do NOT map - Arabs vs. Persians (and Chaldeans, and Medes, those biblical peoples remaining as present-day ethnic minorities in Iran) and Sunni vs. Shi'a. If that isn't bad enough there are Christian minorities of both races, some Manichaeans and even a few Zoroastrian dinosaurs, the original Persian religion that seems to be making something of a comeback after all these centuries.

Travis is correct in that I overemphasized the drive of the Basra Arabs for Iranian control, but there are ethnic Persians in the area as well who are in favor of it and have tried it before. The Iranians have ports of their own, of course, but to snitch this from the Iraqis would mean to isolate them from the sea strategically, which is why many in Iran favor it and never mind what the locals think. They did try to take it on several incredibly bloody occasions during the Iran/Iraq war of the 80s.

The "marsh Arabs" of the area aren't exactly Arabic at all, but the remnants of a people so ancient they reportedly date back to Sumeria. Certainly their building customs are the same as many of those of 2500 BC. These have been kicked around by both sides, due to ethnic, not religious, reasons.

Now layer in a group of thugs posing as religious but not really considered so by either sect, who have been charged with keeping order by terror and who have merrily killed anyone of any ethnic or theological description who they even suspect might constitute a threat to Saddam's basically secular police state. These guys are the ones getting backshot by the people they've been oppressing. They don't have a friend in the world and a hope of avoiding retaliation from their various victims. They might as well fight.

[Credo]

From other News Services.

CNN

BASRA, Iraq (CNN) -- British commanders said it appeared a popular uprising against the ruling Baath Party was under way in Basra as British troops and tanks were maneuvering under the cover of darkness near the southern Iraq city.

MSNBC

UPRISING REPORTED
       “Open source reporting has it that there was some form of uprising this afternoon against the Baath party. I do understand that the Shia population attempted to attack the ruling party,” British military spokesman Al Lockwood told Sky television in London.

[Churchillspirit]

Neil Cavuto just reported on FOX

"The shiites have hit the fan"

LOL!!

[GraniteStateConservative]

From Yahoo!

""A revolt is taking place in Basra," Mohammad Hadi, spokesman of the Iran-based Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (ASRII), told AFP."

Our friends, the Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution-- talk about strange bedfellows.

[browardchad]

MSNBC has been quite fair and pro-American throughout the war

Well, far more than expected. They also have a beautiful "God Bless America" war spot, which surprised me.

[AFPhys]

I'm doin' the funky chicken at my desk!!!

Personally, I prefer the "Snoopy Dance" to the funky chicken... I've been doing it a whole lot since George and Laura Bush became "Mr. President" and "First Lady". People at work and home have become accustomed to my doing it, and sometimes even ask me if I'm about to do so... LOL

[Porterville]

I can't believe the Ba'athist

[San Jacinto]

You are so right about CNN. I hate their effin' guts.

Late, late last night I tuned in there and saw two talking heads--some brunette broad and a gray haired guy.

She says something like,"And when the British enter Basra, it is likely to cause civilian damages."

He says, "Well, I suppose it is thought that something must be done about the looming crisis from no food or water, so they are going in."

And she replies with a RAISED voice, "And that will result in more civilian casualties!"

End of exchange.

Here we have the Brits about to sacrifice lives to save these precious civilians from hunger and disease to make Kofi happy, and this late night CNN *itch basically calls them baby killers.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Should we laugh or cry that a group called the Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution is a part of the Coalition of the Willing?

[Porterville]

When MSNBC goes under, I think Fox News should hire their stage designers and the Music producers.

[Marysecretary]

We're just building a good foundation for the fall of Baghdad!

[m1911]

Oh Good Lord you can't possibly be that dense.

[mabelkitty]

However, it will catch money laundering, drug trafficking, and income that is current untaxed.

[TheDon]

You pretty much nailed it. They are focused on the details of the war, not the overall progress. I'm guessing that is largely the need by the Coalition for some measure of secrecy.

I can hear it now, "you want to make public your location in a forward area? Sorry, no go. You want to make public our strategy for bypassing cities? Sorry, no go."

So what is the media left with? Video of embedded reporters who can't say where they are, or where they are going, and what the unit is doing? Not very helpful, if you are trying to understand what is going on.

The embedded reporters are a paradox. There is some idea that they will provide live coverage of the war, at the front, however, they aren't allowed to do so, because it would endanger the mission. Live coverage of a war is not going to happen, except for independent reporters perhaps, and they are likely to be killed running around near the front, so, I'm thinking the best that can be done is a kind of "delayed live" coverage. The only question is how short can the delay be made.

[jjm2111]

The sparks are flying, but no fire is starting.