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Iraq-Jordan
U.S. GIs Step Up Pressure on Najaf Rebels
2004-08-24
More evidence on OldSpooks' theory as to how to handle Tater.
U.S. infantrymen engaged in fierce battles with cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militants Monday and U.S. tanks moved closer to the revered Imam Ali Shrine as the American military stepped up pressure on the insurgents to leave the holy site and end their uprising. Late Monday, U.S. warplanes bombed the area of the Old City, and fires lit up the night sky, witnesses said. Ahmed al-Shaibany, an aide to al-Sadr, said shrapnel from the attack hit the shrine's golden dome, one of its minarets and the compound's outer wall. The U.S. military denied damaging the shrine and said an air crew saw militants in the compound fire a rocket that clipped one of the walls and explode 10 yards outside. "We are not doing anything that could have caused damage to the shrine," Marine Capt. Carrie Batson said. There was no independent confirmation of damage to the shrine, but violence earlier Monday ripped a chunk out of the outer wall of the compound. Explosions throughout the day shook the Old City, which is a mix of streets and narrow, maze-like alleys at the heart of much of the fighting.

With the U.S. advance Monday, fewer al-Sadr militiamen were in the streets and some were seen leaving Najaf. Militant medical officials said at least two insurgents were killed and four wounded. Al-Hakim Hospital said two civilians were killed and two others injured, but more casualties were reported in the Old City and could not be reached by emergency workers, said hospital employee Hussein Hadi.

Al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army fighters are behind the uprising, has not been seen in public for many days, and police drove around Najaf with loudspeakers declaring he had fled toward Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq. Al-Sadr's aides denied that. "Muqtada al-Sadr is still in Najaf and is still supervising the operations," Sheik Aws al-Khafaji, the head of al-Sadr's office in the southern city of Nasiriyah, told Al-Jazeera television.
So he should show himself.
Wuss.
Posted by:Steve White

#4  A friend who's been in the Green Zone for a year says that there's been damage there on repeated basis -- we just fix it very quickly. Drives the jihadis nuts ... no good TV propaganda for them.

Posted by: anon   2004-08-24 7:08:50 AM  

#3  .com, if the shrine is damaged, I think that we ought to contact The Learning Channel and see if Frank Bilac can repair the damage and possibly give the shrine a more folksy feel as well. They could get two volunteer Mullahs to do most of the work. Because they are Shia I think that their Trading Spaces work-shirts should be black.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-08-24 3:00:07 AM  

#2  Keep getting the ring tighter and tighter on the Shrine and Najaf.

We need to get the US troops right on the temple outer walls. At that point, it becomes the Iraqi's fight - the Iraqi SF shoudl have the upper hand at that point. And if they botch it or worse, back down, then we are well and truly f**ked.

Yes, discredit Sadr by giving him the rope he needs to hang himself and his followers too - he does a good job at hanging his Madhi Army out to dry every time he uses them. And one of these days maybe they will get a clue that they are being used like a condom whorehouse.

But there comes a time where you have to finally tighten the noose and kick the horse out from underneath the tree limb and let the bastards kick at the end of the rope.

And that time needs to be this week, from the looks of things.

If they want to get it done this week, they cannot extend this much past Wednesday,

Otherwise due to Sabbath, they will need extend this over to Sunday-Monday, which I do not see as a good idea politically. The Republican Convention is coming up, not a good time for the assault to go on, plus delay beyond this week seems to me to be overdoing it, unless there are a lot more Madhi than the open sources say there are - or unless they are waiting for Labor day weekend to bury the main fighting under holiday news.

(Cynical, yeah. I am.)

Now someone get us the Super Glue and go find where Allawi's balls fell off, someplace between Baghdad and Najaf...

May have to get him a new set. Hopefully we put big brass ones on him this time.
Posted by: OldSpook   2004-08-24 2:42:40 AM  

#1  I hope that the outer walls of the shrine end up with thousands of bullet holes - each being a through-and-through of a Tot. The Mad Mullahs' Madhi "loyalists" payroll price tag is probably rising pretty fast trying to keep the bin full. They're currently being served up and knocked down damned fast it seems.
Posted by: .com   2004-08-24 12:38:55 AM  

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