U.S. forces surround Sadr city

[sabra]

Source: Voice of Iraq

Baghdad, March 25, (VOI)- U.S. forces surrounded Sadr city, eastern Baghdad, while the Baghdad Operations Command imposed a curfew on it as of this afternoon until Wednesday morning, the official spokesman for the Baghdad's operations said on Tuesday.

"The curfew on vehicle and pedestrian traffic started at 6 pm on Tuesday until 6 am on Wednesday," Major General Qassem Atta, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).
Atta did not mention any further details.

Eyewitnesses said that U.S. forces surrounded Sadr city on Tuesday's afternoon, closed all city's inlets, and replaced Iraqi forces inside the city.

Eyewitnesses also said that sounds of discontinuous gunfire and explosions are heard at different neighborhoods of the city.
Power went off at some parts of Sadr city, while people there rushed to buy foodstuff preparing for security deterioration.
One of the eyewitnesses told VOI "U.S. forces allowed four firefighting trucks and three ambulances to enter the city."
He added "People are afraid that U.S. forces may conduct wide-scale attacks and raid operations in the city."

Read more: http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=74190&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1

---

:nuke:

[magellan]

1. "People are afraid that U.S. forces may conduct wide-scale attacks

...and raid operations in the city."

Considering our track record, I'd say that's a well-grounded fear. I hope for their sakes I'm proved wrong.

[sabra]

2. if this happens - all of the "surge" progress will evaporate in one day...

[shadowknows69]

10. Fallujah II is about to begin.

[bushmeister0]

14. That's Fallujah III

Fallujah I was April 2004
Fallujah II November 2004

[ohio2007]

44. Fallujah today

The black masked thugs no longer rule Fallujah with their hard core jusctice system they imposed between April and November 2004

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/03/23/ST2008032302035.html

[frogcycle]

3. It was getting too calm

Gotta stir Al Sadr up so we can have an enemy to fight. Gotta piss off the Iranians enough to draw them across the border. Gotta get us an in-suh-dunt!

[underpants]

5. al Sadr has squeezed them for more money twice recently

They appeard to have paid but either al Sadr is asking for too much (and/or too often) or they are trying to distract attention away from the fact that we are paying them.

Hard to say.

[mike3121]

6. Al Sadr is in for it

With the rest of Iraq quiet (sort'a) the US is free to pour troops into Sadr City. You've got to remember not all Iraq's like Al Sadr, some might even be cheering us on. Poor Obama, Bush is handing him a real mess both domestic and foreign.

[Winterblues]

12. Exactly what everyone said About Bill Clinton

Poor Clinton, Bush is leaving him a real mess. Under Clinton America experienced the greatest economic expansion in history...I believe that can be duplicated under Obama as well if Democrats in Congress don't punk out..like they did on Clinton and his Universial Health Care Program..

[hootinholler]

33. Consider that we might not be here had Bill cleaned things up

Instead of moving on and sweeping the mess under the rug.

-Hoot

[tabasco]

37. Bush did leave Clinton a steaming pile - Somalia.

Clinton got some bad military advice and continued nation-building there, but did the right thing after the big Mogadishu ambush and got us the hell out of there.

Many freeper-types swear to God that Clinton sent us into Somalia. Not true. Bush sent us in with about one month left in his term.

[atreides1]

13. But Consider This

If the US pours troops into Sadr City, isn't it conceivable that other areas will rise up at the first sign that the Iraqi security forces are not backed up by American troops?

Besides, if there is another Fallujah, the reputation of the US military will be lower then whale excrement, and comparisons to what the Germans did to Leningrad will become the norm in history classes!

That was something I looked forward to while I was on active duty, being compared to the Wehrmacht!

[frogcycle]

17. yeah, his turn comes

and you may be right; those not under his spell have no use for him

IF they could do it surgically it COULD be a positive - but I doubt that will work...

[ohio2007]

45. Well... is Maliki ready to arrest Sadr ? Remember there still is a warrent out for his arrest

when he had a few holy men murdered for some reason

snip
Maliki has stressed that in the meantime the security forces were continuing with their operations and moving in to arrest specific individuals for whom they had warrants.
snip

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=nw20080326154323525C404954

wouldn't that be something.

doubt it but it would be interesting if they could grab him before he had a chance to flee back to Qom

[Strelnikov_]

23. Oh yea. Mosul, Basra and Diyala are just lands of milk and honey

The bird of peace flutters over these blessed communities.

[ohio2007]

40. the land of toxic waste and oil pipelines flow through those cities

And the Iraqi govt was recently bragging about awarding those foreign oil contracts

[shain from kane]

4. Sounds like the ceasefire is over. Reduction in deaths, but 4,000 proved to be

a milestone, and the heat is on.

[ohio2007]

42. 80,000 Iraqi civilian and military deaths are the grim milestone ignored

http://icasualties.org/oif/IraqiDeaths.aspx

[balantz]

7. They never really tell us which "U.S. Forces" are operating.

I'd like to be kept informed as to how often and in what numbers and positions that private military contractors are involved in these actions.

[jimshoes]

8. If Iraq take a turn to the crapper

in some major way, expect it to be placed at the feet of the Iran bogeyman before the day is out. Then the gassers from faux will be on it non-stop. It's a 100% certainty.

[chixydix]

9. I just saw some more scary news

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080325/ts_afp/iraq

[cliss]

11. Thanks for the link,

ChixyDix. That was a scary article. I think things are falling apart in Iraq.

Welcome to the DU, by the Way!!
:smoke:

[bushmeister0]

15. And even scarier

Concerning those daily rocket barrages on the Green Zone:

"The US military claims that most mortar rounds or rockets that hit the area are fired by 'rogue' elements of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. The top US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, blamed neighbouring Iran for the weekend attacks, saying they were 'Iranian-provided, Iranian-made rockets.'"

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i-sOcRVgm0BEG6fvj1A...

Why not kill two birds with one stone and get Iran on the hook, too?

The only way for W. to "continue to focus on succeeding,” in Dana Perino's words, may be to take this thing all the way to Tehran.

Military spokesman navy Lieutenant Patrick Evans is quoted by the Globe & Mail saying: "This enemy is resilient and will not give up, nor will we. There's still a lot of work to be done."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080324.wiraq0324/BNStory/International/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080324.wiraq0324

You bet.

[frogcycle]

18. see #3

[darue]

19. so while we surround sadr city, who's surrounding us?

that's right, everyone else! one day they're ALL going to start shooting at once and we'll be lucky to get 10 men out of that hell hole.

[Supersedeas]

16. there is no room for Civil Disobedience in this Bushist Regime

[annabanana]

20. This is VERY bad. Whatever may be left of al Sadr's "cease fire"

is going straight down the tubes with this maneuver! Look for a massive increase in bloody business.

[nwliberalkiwi]

21. KIlling Children

How many ten year old children will be shot by US snipers being taken to hospitals for medical treatment? How many civilians will be killed by Blackwater employees? And we call ourselves a Christian nation. What would we think if our children were shot by snipers? Would that endear us to the troops that would be occupping us?

[saigon68]

22. That's why this war will go on for decades

[ohio2007]

43. Killing children and old people in open air markets by car bombs

seems to be the choice of non christian locals over there but we never get to hear the MSM report the suicide bombers final testomony as to why they choose the weak unarmed children. How many car bombs in open air markets have resulted in US military deaths ? My best guess is very few but the toll taken on women,ten year old children and the elderly are the choice targets of the brave resistance fighters.

Shold we be there?
no
Should we leave today?


Leave the innocent,weak women,children and elderly to be dealt with by the "victors" that chased the retreating US out of Iraq ?

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. US, Iraqi troops battle Shiite militia

Source: Yahoo News

US, Iraqi troops battle Shiite militia
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer
14 minutes ago
BAGHDAD - Iraq's leaders faced their gravest challenge in months Tuesday as Shiite militiamen loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr battled government forces for control of the southern oil capital, fought U.S. and Iraqi troops in Baghdad and unleashed rockets on the Green Zone.

ADVERTISEMENT


Armed Mahdi Army militiamen appeared on some Baghdad streets for the first time in more than six months, as al-Sadr's followers announced a nationwide campaign of strikes and demonstrations to protest a government crackdown on their movement. Merchants shuttered their shops in commercial districts in several Baghdad neighborhoods.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080325/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=Au_IeIUkXGLAFrimMp1JDVKs0NUE

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080325/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=Au_IeIUkXGLAFrimMp1JDVKs0NUE

---

Can't say I am surprised...

[LSparkle]

25. Hartmann was talking about this today ... sounds like the truce is over

More violence in Iraq ... and probably spreading into Iran.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. Yeah but she went as in breaking news

that was posted by Yahoo oh fifteen minutes ago

Now care to lay bets at how much of this story will be ignored by the MSM

[LSparkle]

28. Thom was predicting this would happen ... it sounds like he was right

This is a huge mess ... and, I'm afraid, going to be the excuse to
go after Iran ... with NUCLEAR weapons. The Saudis are already
making "contingency plans" for nuclear fallout from a strike on
Iran ... Dick was sent to warn them ...

This all just scares me to death ...

[nadinbrzezinski]

30. I know, I am truly scared of my leaders

not a nice place to be at

[LSparkle]

31. Other "lame ducks" would quietly run out the clock ... not this gang

They're binding us to agreements (e.g., treaty with Iraq) and sabre-rattling
when they ought to be focusing on moving on. These people are truly evil.

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. Bush Sr went into Somalia as his last

fuck you gift to the Clinton administration, SAME MO in my view

[islandmkl]

27. so...now we see why the 'surge' was 'working'....

the other side went to the locker room for half-time.....

[FreeStateDemocrat]

29. NY TImes: Iraqi and U.S. Forces Battle Shiite Militia

By MICHAEL KAMBER and JAMES GLANZ
Published: March 26, 2008

BAGHDAD — Heavy fighting broke out Tuesday in Iraq’s two largest cities, as Iraqi ground forces and helicopters mounted a huge operation to break the grip of the Shiite militias controlling Basra and Iraqi forces clashed with militias in Baghdad. The fighting threatened to destabilize a long-term truce that has helped reduce the level of violence in the five-year-old Iraq war.

Tuesday’s battles, along with indications in recent weeks that militia and insurgent attacks had already been creeping up, raised fears across Iraq that Moktada al-Sadr, the renegade Shiite cleric, could pull out of a cease-fire he declared last summer. If his Mahdi Army militia does step up attacks, that could in turn slow American troop withdrawals.

There were also serious clashes in the southern cities of Kut and Hilla. In Basra, American and British jets roared through the skies, providing air support for the Iraqi military. A British Army spokesman for southern Iraq, Maj. Tom Holloway, said that while Western forces had not entered Basra, the operation already involved nearly 30,000 Iraqi troops and police forces, with more arriving.

“They are clearing the city block by block,” Major Holloway said.

The scale and intensity of the clashes in Baghdad kept many residents home. Schools and shops were closed in many neighborhoods and hundreds of checkpoints appeared; government-controlled in some neighborhoods and militia-run in others. Barrages of rockets pounded the fortified Green Zone area for the second time in three days. An American military spokesman said there were two minor injuries to civilians in the Green Zone.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/world/middleeast/26iraq.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Edited for attribution

[ohio2007]

41. 30,000 Iraqi troops and police forces are going to have to shoulder a large share in this civil war

since western ground forces have not entered Basra land battle...yet...

[MilesColtrane]

34. I just saw Frontline's "Bush's War" pt. II on PBS.

As woefully incompetent as Paul Bremer was he actually had a plan in place to deal with Muqtada al-Sadr a long time ago.

It was his reasoning that it would be easier to confront him back when his Mahdi Army militia was only 200 strong then it would be at 20,000.

The White House never signed off on this plan. Instead they made the non-decision to just do nothing.

[PassingFair]

35. We are poking the hornet's nest.

Why?

This makes me nervous.

:scared:

[Supersedeas]

36. Mission Accomplished....major combat operations are over?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

38. Looks like another bloody April in Iraq

A disturbing pattern.

[ohio2007]

39. the Iraqi civilian deaths will go up, maybe even to the point they reached last August

http://icasualties.org/oif/IraqiDeaths.aspx
civil unrest