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H13829

Headlines : Iraq

Summary:

It would appear as though Bush’s strategy for seizing control of Baghdad has entered a dangerous new phase. For the past several days, intense fighting has broken out in the central Iraq city of Diwaniya – located roughly halfway between Baghdad and Basra – that has pitted U.S.-led forces against Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army. In a direct response to this clash – which analysts have long predicted as an inevitable consequence of Bush’s ‘surge’ strategy – al-Sadr has called on Iraqis of all stripes to put aside their sectarian differences and unite to dispel the occupying forces.

“ The strife that is taking place in Diwaniya was planned by the occupier to drag down the brothers and make them quarrel, fight and even kill each other,” Mr. Sadr said in a written statement. “Oh my brothers in the Mahdi Army and my brothers in the security forces, stop fighting and killing because that is what our enemy and your enemy and even God’s enemy hope for.

“ God ordered you to be patient and to unite your efforts against the enemy and not against the sons of Iraq. They want to drag you into a war that ends Shiitism and Islam, but they cannot. ”

[Posted By Heatscore]

By Edward Wong
Republished from The New York Times

Tens of thousands gather in Najaf to call for U.S. withdrawal

Large crowds marched in the city of Najaf today, the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, to protest the American occupation of Iraq.

The peaceful demonstration was being held at the urging of militant Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr. He exhorted Iraqi security forces on Sunday to unite with his militiamen against the American military in Diwaniya, an embattled southern city in Iraq where fighting has raged for four days.

Mr. Sadr’s statement did not explicitly call for armed struggle against the Americans, but it still represented his most forceful condemnation of the American-led occupation since he went underground after the start of an intensified Baghdad security crackdown nearly two months ago.

The demonstrators, appearing to number in the tens of thousands, marched to Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, from neighboring Kufa, with two cordons of Iraqi police lining the route. Some at the rally waved small Iraqi flags; others hoisted a giant flag 10 yards long, the Associated Press reported. Leaflets fluttered through the breeze reading: “Yes, Yes to Iraq” and “Yes, Yes to Moktada. Occupiers should leave Iraq….

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