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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Jaafari orders all-out attack on insurgent strongholds |
| 2005-09-11 |
| Iraqi and US troops pressed with an all-out offensive to wrest control of a town from Sunni Arab insurgents, with the Iraqis reporting nearly 150 rebels killed and with the mayor resigning in protest. The fighting raged as Jordanian Prime Minister Adnan Badran arrived in Baghdad for talks with Iraqi officials after months of often strained relations between the two neighbours. Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said Friday he had given the go-ahead for a major assault on Tal Afar after days of deadly clashes failed to dislodge the rebels from the town. Fighting has been raging for more than a week in Tal Afar, a town between the main northern city of Mosul and the Syrian border that US commanders say has become a major staging post for foreign fighters infiltrating Iraq. Iraqi Defence Minister Saadun al-Dulaimi said Saturday that 141 insurgents had been killed and 197 captured in the previous two days. Later Saturday, Interior Minister Bayan Baker Solagh announced that Iraq was closing the Rafia border crossing near Tal Afar, imposing an overnight curfew in the area and banning the carrying of weapons. Jaafari insisted that the offensive was not aimed at any particular ethnic group in the town, which is divided between Sunni Arabs and Shiite Turkmen, some of whom have fled the town in recent months complaining of persecution by the Sunni rebels. Iraqi and US troops were acting "on behalf of all the different religious and ethnic elements in Tal Afar and in response to their appeals for help," the premier said. "They (the rebels) have driven people from their homes. They want to deny the citizens of Tal Afar their future in a democratic and peaceful Iraq. We want to guarantee those rights. These operations are being conducted precisely for that purpose." But the town's Sunni Arab mayor, Mohammed Rasheed, disagreed, tendering his resignation in protest at what he described as a sectarian operation. "The operation is targeting Sunni neighbourhoods," he complained, adding that he did not believe the assault would solve the town's problems. "The problem is sectarian," he said. "It cannot be solved through military operations. It should be done through negotiations and cooperation with the leaders of Sunni and Shiite tribes." Badran is the highest-ranking Jordanian official to visit Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime in April 2003. The Jordanian premier stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation between the two neighbouring countries and emphasised the "strong position" of Iraq within the Arab world, after he held talks with Jaafar. He told a joint press conference that the common borders with Iraq are secured and that "security and stability in Iraq are linked to the security and stability of Jordan." Jaafari praised the visit by his Jordanian counterpart as "a new and sharp turn in the relations between the two countries." Ties have been strained since Saddam's ouster. King Abdullah II had voiced concern that the empowerment of Iraq's long oppressed Shiite majority might open the way to greater Iranian influence in the Arab world. And Iraq's Shiite-led government has in turn complained of the number of Jordanians fighting alongside Sunni insurgents, including Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In Washington, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said late Friday that he hoped the US troop presence could be reduced to a few small bases within a couple of a years. "I say there is not a need for a huge number of American forces. But I think there will be a need for two, three small bases for frightening others not to intervene in our internal affairs," Talabani said at a press conference with US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Meanwhile, 14 Iraqis were killed and 10 others wounded in several rebel attacks in Baghdad and north of the capital, security sources said. The Baghdad airport reopened after a one-day shutdown following a pay dispute between the government and the London-based firm in charge of security. And the Iraqi parliament is due to convene on Sunday when it is thought a final draft of the new constitution might be presented after last-minute changes to the wording were proposed to appease disenchanted Sunni Arabs. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Mohammed Rasheed(D-Tal Afar), dusts of his John Kerry talking points. |
| Posted by: john 2005-09-11 09:23 |