US launches air strikes on Najaf

US launches air strikes on Najaf

US forces in Iraq have launched air strikes on positions held by supporters of radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr in the holy city of Najaf.
Plumes of smoke rose from the city's massive cemetery as the aircraft opened fire, witnesses said.

The air raids came after US troops urged civilians to evacuate Najaf.

Using loudspeakers and speaking in Arabic, they warned residents near the front lines that there was no truce as clashes raged for the sixth day.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3550668.stm

Threats to separate Southern Iraq
Iraq, Politics

In protest of continued confrontations between the American forces and al-Sader supporters forces, the deputy governor of Basra, Salaam al-Malki, and the representative of Muqtada al-Sader in the city threatened to separate the governorates of al-Basra, al-Amara, al-Nasereyah and establish " the southern district" of Iraq in case the American forces will not withdraw from Najaf and the Iraqi prime minister Eyad Allawi and his government do not give an official apology for al-Sader and al-Sader trend and compensate the families of the killed and damaged people in al- Sader army.

Al-Malki stressed that al- Sadr trend ordered the south oil company to stop Iraqi oil exports until his demands are met, while the governorate decided to make a general strike on Monday and today.
Meantime, four Iraqis were killed in a car explosion on the main road in al-Khaledeyah town to the west of Baghdad.

This, however, came after the killing of six persons including five police men and wounding of other 18 in a booby trapped car explosion yesterday that targeted Aqil Hamid, the deputy governor of Deyali, who survived the explosion and was admitted to hospital. The explosion took place in Bulldozers area, to the southern east of Baqouba.

In Baghdad, the building of the ministry of oil and other governmental building were exposed to mortar bombardment. One police man was killed and other three injured in an attack launched by unidentified gunmen at a police patrol in al-Maseib area to the south of Baghdad. The Iraqi police was able to detain the executors of the attack after they were chased for a short time. Informed sources told Aljazeera that al-Maliki said the breakaway province would include Basra, Misan and Dhi Qar governorates. He also wants to shut Basra's port, and effectively stop oil exports. Al-Maliki said the decision was taken because the Iraqi interim government is "responsible for the Najaf clashes

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FC96F264-4A45-43B0-B90D-B265192BA98C.htm

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/040810/2004081002.html

at all. I trust A-J more than almost any "western media" source. This explains a lot of things: why the Poles decided to cut and run; why it seems that al Sadr's army keeps getting bigger and bigger; why there seems to be such a frenzy to get al Sadr now; why the Brits seem to be laying as low as possible (things on the ground are changing too rapidly - or - the Brits agree with al Malki's position). Man, I wish we could get just one real news source in this country that was determined to get the truth and not protect its revenue base!

...killed, burned, and hanged from a truss bridge. The US military felt that they had to respond decisively with a massive counterattack so they not be perceived as weak.

and that clash was with the Sunnis.

These are all Shiites around Najaf and this clash started when the Coalition Provisional Authority under Bremer shut down al-Sadr's newspaper.

n/t

Look up, Fallujah, April, 2003, just go and do a google search.

'We Had to Destroy the Village to Save It'

Dusting Off the Phrases of War

by Douglas Herman

Due to the increasing comparison of the Iraq war to Vietnam , the time has come to brush off the old Orwellian phrases and see how they fit the war in Iraq . Quagmire, “a soft, wet area of low lying land that sinks underfoot,” was an apropos metaphor for our catastrophic involvement in the river deltas and rain forests of Vietnam . Perhaps our American pundits and wordsmiths--William Safire perhaps--will devise a better phrase for the “long hard slog” in the deserts of Iraq . Many timeless quotes of the Vietnam era weren’t invented by linguists or literary giants but were uttered instead simply by people under duress, doing the bidding of idiots and sadomasochists. The brief catalogue of quotes below--however incomplete--may offer younger readers additional puzzling questions. What were Tet, My Lai , and Operation Phoenix? These were pages from our imperial history, notable for cruelty, folly and unbelievable heartbreak, ill suited for brevity and better researched as lessons unlearned while we increase our bootprint on the world.

“We had to destroy the village to save it”

Attributed to many different people, including war correspondent Peter Arnett who supposedly attributed the quote to an unidentified Army officer. Used circa 1968, perhaps during the bloody Tet offensive. Some people believe the phrase applies to the massacre at My Lai , where approximately 500 unarmed villagers were murdered by rampaging US troops. Army Lt. William Calley was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment but served only three years before being pardoned by President Richard Nixon. Tim Larimer of Time magazine returned to My Lai 30 years later and said, “ My Lai ’s place in American history is firmly entrenched, as a disturbing wake-up call that the US military could be as guilty of inhumane acts as any army.” A Vietnamese war veteran who returned to the village to find his entire family murdered and then hastily buried, remarked, “There were many My Lais.” Recently the Toledo Blade corroborated his remark, uncovering other atrocities and war crimes in Vietnam . Lately the Israelis seem to have adopted the “We had to destroy the village to save it” policy in Palestinian territory, and the likelihood is we will in Iraq , since we’ve asked the Israelis for advice.

“Hearts and Minds”

Apologists for the Vietnam War tried hard to put a positive spin on our objectives there, just as the architects of the Iraq invasion have done. “Winning the hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese people became an oft-repeated phrase. Everyone said it; no one knew exactly how to do it. Just like in Iraq . After the relocation of thousands of South Vietnamese to “strategic hamlets,” however, the effort to win hearts and minds collapsed, especially when many Vietnamese villages became “free-fire zones,” which meant that anything, or everything, that moved there—human or animal--could be fired upon. Just like in Iraq .

“Body Count”

The Pentagon announced early in the Iraq war that “We don’t do body counts.” Body counts in Vietnam , in a war without any real objective--according to General Westmoreland, who more than any man seemed to grasp at body counts as a sign of success--opened the door to the killing of civilians and the mutilation of their bodies. The dead were stacked like cordwood. Marine Lt. Philip Caputo, author of A Rumor of War, summarized that prevailing mindset succinctly: “If it’s dead and it’s Vietnamese, it’s VC.” The American media—“media whores” according to Sherman Skolnick—embraced Vietnamese body counts, but the trumpeting of death, especially on television accompanied by graphic footage, proved to be counterproductive to the war aims of administration hawks. Thus today in Iraq , body counts are out, but the count of bodies, both Iraqi and American, continues to rise
(snip)
http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/herman/herman10.html

This week's summary
of under-reported news
Compiled by Bob Nixon
http://www.btlonline.org/btl081304.html#news

Notice we're not hearing much anymore about rebuilding Iraq and how much better off Iraqis are now than under Saddam.

nevermind, don't answer that.

Q: What were Custer's last words?

A: Where the f**k did all those Indians come from?

:dem:

These are such dark hours, aren't they? And yet, much as I grieve for all the victims in Iraq and elsewhere, I also sense this seismic shift in global consciousness taking place. (Maybe that's just my wishful thinking). Just like Stalingrad was the tipping point in World War II, so too may Najaf (and, before it, Fallouja) be the tipping point(s) in the struggle for what kind of globalization we shall have for the next millennium.

But then, I'm from California, and they don't call it the 'granola state' for nothing (fruits, nuts and flakes).

Another humorous note: imagine Muqtada al Sadr as Iraq's Patrick Henry, saying "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country."

I thought the children had school books and the lights were on?

Aren't the people happy yet? :crazy:

since we all know that the Mission was Accomplished and MAJOR combat operations had ceased......

I seem to recall reading that the entire Najaf contingent of Sadr's militia had thrown in the towel, like 1200 men or something. So there's no need to bomb the city anymore, right?