| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"NY_Transfer_News" |
| Date: |
17 Aug 2004 07:12:17 PM |
| Object: |
Najaf: City of Defiance |
The Independent - August 17, 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=552289
City of Defiance
by Donald Macintyre
NAJAF--They came from across Iraq, marching in solidarity with Shia
brothers. Civilians -- they bear no arms, for the moment anyway -- who are
willing die on the steps of the Imam Ali shrine. Thehuman shields have
arrived in Najaf.
Hundreds have come to what is one of the most holy Shia sites on
solidarity marches in recent days. Many more have made their way in
smaller groups from nearby towns and neighbourhoods. More than 2,000 have
now pledged their allegiance to the Shia cleric Muqtada Sadr and are based
in the compound at the shrine.
Sheikh Ahmed Shaibani, a Sadr spokesman, said the presence of the
civilians was intended to deter American forces. By simply turning up,
they have maximised the loss of human life that could result from any
attempt to storm the holy sites, a course already fraught with danger
because of the outrage that serious physical damage to the shrine would
provoke across Iraq and well beyond. The human shield supporters also
appear ready to take up arms left by insurgents killed or wounded in the
fighting.
Battles continued yesterday as insurgents used their extensive local
knowledge of the huge Wadi al-Salam cemetery, a section of which remains
within the area under the control of Sadr's Mehdi Army's to play what one
US officer called a "cat and mouse game" with US forces.
Insurgents inside the shrine in alleyways and on rooftops with AK-47
rifles and rocket-propelled grenades sporadically fired at US troops in
the cemetery.
The fighting, which has killed at least two US soldiers since the collapse
of peace talks on Saturday, overshadowed and divided the Iraqi National
Conference yesterday on the second day of its Baghdad session to elect a
new interim national assembly.
A delegation from the conference was to arrive here in hope of persuading
Sadr to disband his Mehdi Army and turn it into a political party. Sheikh
Ahmed Shaibani, a Sadr spokesman, warned that the issue of disarming the
militia could only be solved by "negotiations and not a unilateral
decision".
His response came as Najaf police followed up earlier threats by arresting
one journalist, Ahmed al-Saleh, who is working with al-Arabiya TV network
and firing warning shots at the Sea of Najaf hotel, where nearly all
foreign and Arab journalists are staying. Their strategy appeared to be a
continued harassment campaign against journalists.
A police lieutenant arrived at the hotel at 6.30pm in a convoy of two
Toyota Land Cruisers from the local police station. He demanded to know
the whereabouts of correspondents from al-Arabiya and the Reuters and AP
news agencies.
As journalists protested, the lieutenant said above the hubbub: "We are
going to open fire on this hotel. We are going to smash it up. I will kill
you all. You did this all to yourselves." In a threat that did not
immediately appear to have been carried out, he said four snipers would be
positioned on the roof of the police station to fire at any journalists
who left the hotel.
His visit was the fourth by police in just over 24 hours and followed a
threat earlier in the day by the chief of Najaf police, Ghaleb al-Jazaari,
that he would arrest the correspondent from al-Arabiya. But the police
chief, who on Sunday ordered all journalists to leave Najaf, added that
reporters were free to stay at the hotel at their own risk. "We are not
responsible [for you]" he added."
Scuffling broke out as a hotel employee angrily remonstrated with the
policemen saying "Are you Iraqis? You are police but you have no right to
do this." The police then drove off, stopping 300 metres down the road and
fired warning shots in the direction of the hotel.
Later, Mr al-Jazaari sounded a more conciliatory note when he summoned
reporters and promised them: "You are not under any kind of threat. We
respect your job." He said the order to leave the city was "still
technically valid"' but that he had told the Ministry of the Interior that
it was not "practical to have a city without any media''. He said that the
original order had been issued because the ministry were perturbed that
media organisations were giving succour to Sadr's militia.
Meanwhile, the conflict reignited in the main Baghdad battleground of Sadr
City where insurgents attacked an American tank, setting it on fire. The
crew were rescued and evacuated with minor wounds, according to a
spokesman for the US 1st Cavalry Division. While witnesses were reported
as saying the tank was hit by a Mehdi Army rocket-propelled grenade, US
forces said the insurgents had planted a roadside bomb.
The proposal for a delegation to Najaf was put forward by a distant
relative -- and opponent -- of Sadr, the Baghdad cleric Sheikh Hussein
al-Sadr, who told the conference "There are inviolable conditions in
civilised countries, particularly that there is no place for armed
militias.
But Falah Hassan Shanshal of the Shia Political Council, a grouping of
Shia politicians, said the proposal was all "smoke and mirrors".
http://tania.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20040816/005049.html
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