Attacks begin in Najaf? (The Agonist)

From Stratfor, as reported by The Agonist:

Several blasts -- probably from mortar shells -- were heard in An Najaf, while U.S. combat aircraft and helicopters flew over the city April 13. About 2,500 U.S. troops have approached An Najaf, preparing to storm it. There is some Iraqi police presence in the city, but there are also an unknown number of Shiite radical militia led by Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the current Shiite uprising

http://www.agonist.org/archives/015164.html#015164

The occupation is starting to spiral the drain folks...

I wonder if George will kick out the first bullet during the press conference?

Today, our valiant freedom loving forces began the liberation of Najef from the cruel yoke of Muslim terror ...

This will be his big announcement in the press conference.

What will be Bremer's next "Ugly American" provocation? Bomb Mecca?

the Mosque in Najaf is one of the holiest for Shiites.

shots there could trigger total revolt

Because it is based on lies and misinformation and propaganda fed to the American people.

A blood bath for one man? Bombing Mecca would not surprise me either.

of 1920, if this attack has begun and we destroy that mosque, this is the assault on Jerusalem of the First Crusade... Oh boy, if there was no Jihad yet, we will have one.

By the way, the name of Sadr's army is.. The Army of the Prophet, anybody has any clue what that means? Just kiding, I know you folks know, but I wonder about Bremmer

there is no iraq for iraqis -- we come in blow shit up all over then we can't understand the reaction.

So that it goes to the original Stratfor article and not to the blog. Thanks.

Stratfor is pay for play. If you're not a member you wouldn't have this emailed to you.

Sean-Paul has the subscription, and is permitted to excerpt fair use level stuff for his news site. As such, it's technically the agonist that's reporting, with Stratfor as his source...

The best I can do is link the Stratfor main page, which I will do. If that isn't good enough, I guess this will have to come down. Sorry for the difficulties.

It's DU policy to link straight to published sources - blog sources of pre-published stories are generally frowned upon. If you have any questions, ask Skinner in the 'Ask the Admin' forum.

and they were discussing how the troops would not enter such a holy city because it would incite Muslims in several countries. Are these idiots totally insane? We are all going to suffer for this.

He has stated that if American Troops attack this
city that he will declare an Infitada. If this story is
factual and al Sistani stays true to his word the sheeit
will definitetly hit the fan. This could be the biggest blunder
that the US has made since the illegal invasion of Iraq.

,...if the military complex defending our oil-diggin', arms-brokering, freon neocon administration actually destroys that spiritual center. Do they care? Hell, no. They want an all-out war (so all their children can sing,...per "Prince of Darkness", Perle). They view themselves as the weirdly superior "benevolent" equivalent to establishing another great Roman Empire. Maybe, they will be called the Fourth Reich,...or something like that,...arrogant asswipes.

I think it might have been Richard Holbrooke tonight being interviewed by Pat Buchannon who said that Al Sistani has just met with Al Sadr and given him more or less tacit support. If anyone else saw that show, please clarify, as I was busy practicing guitar at the time and only half listening.

That is a bad idea. Does anyone remember what happened when we tried to enter Najaf LAST YEAR? There was a gigantic mob that started going crazy. So the soldiers turned around and walked away.

Reference this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x499353#500004

Abdul Majid al-Khoei went to Najaf with US troops a week before his untimely death. The crowd became very agitated because it fear our troops were going to enter the Imam Ali's mosque (Shia's holiest shrine). Al-Khoei failed to properly notify the crowd, and even he could not control the crowd (weeks later another crowd would kill him).

The smartest American officer in all of Iraq was there. I don't know who he was, but I think he was with civil affairs. He ordered the troops to stop pointing their weapons at the crowd, and told them to sit on the ground. When the troops sat on the ground, the crowd did the same. Tempers calmed down. He then ordered the troops to walk away from the mosque with their weapons pointing at the ground. The troops did so, but they were clearly no happy going against their training.

No one died in Najaf that day!

If we had more officers like the smartest American officer in all of Iraq, we wouldn't be having the problems we are having today.

fuck you bush* and your rotten cabal..... :puke:

Is * giving his thingy tonight to prepare the American people for,...Jesus Christ,...

I am truly worried about what these freaks in the executive branch will do next. They provoke a fight/flight response from me, BIG TIME.

http://www.debka.com

"Najef: US troops massed outside Shiite town are held back as bargaining chip in talks ongoing with Shiite leaders headed by Ayatollah Sistani. Moderate militias control town having pushed Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia out of center and off streets. Most Arbain pilgrims have departed."

So stratfor AND Debka are both saying that.

what is the new reporting from Debka that I am missing?

I haven't been paying hyper-close attention to the news today :)