I think the U.S. needs to send in a brigade of Arabic-speaking Spin
Doctors.Have them set up a CNN type of network and start running lots of
corny sit-coms showing Iraqi's flourishing under U.S. control ... kinda like
the "Leave It To Beaver" of the Arabic world, except Ward will drive a
camel.
The Iraqi's need to become infected with consumerism. 'Sorry, Can't join you
in the uprising, I'm off to Walmart".
They need the internet. They need to sign up to newsgroups and waste hours
of each day, trolling for posts to flame on. And surfing porn .... mmmmmm
the porn.
The U.S. has failed to show Iraqi's why things *might* be better now that
they're there.
"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040408110117.17455.00000012@mb-m16.aol.com...
Militiamen Control Parts of 3 Iraq Cities
Apr 8, 9:46 AM (ET)
By LEE KEATH
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Shiite Muslim militias held partial control Thursday
over
three southern Iraqi cities, while Sunni insurgents killed a U.S. Marine
in the
battle for Fallujah. In escalating violence, gunmen kidnapped three
Japanese
and eight South Korean civilians.
The militia led by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has full control
over
the city of Kut and partial control in Najaf, but coalition forces will
move
soon to break their hold, said Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S.
general in Iraq said. Residents of Kufa said militiamen also control that
southern city by holding police stations and government buildings.
In a videotape broadcast to the Arab world by Al-Jazeera, kidnappers armed
with
automatic rifles and swords threatened to kill the blindfolded Japanese
hostages unless Tokyo removed its troops from Iraq. Japan said it had "no
reason" to withdraw.
Three explosions rocked central Baghdad, with smoke rising from the Green
Zone
- the sealed-off neighborhood where the U.S.-led coalition has its
headquarters. The military did not immediately report any casualties.
(AP) A U.S. soldier exits an armoured vehicle, rear, as another collapses
on
its roof after their convoy...
Full Image
Iraq's interior minister, who leads police and security forces, resigned
at the
request of top U.S. administrator, L. Paul Bremer, to maintain balance
between
Sunni and Shiite factions on the governing council. It was unclear if the
resignation of Nuri al-Badran was also connected with the failure of Iraqi
police to confront insurgents that coalition forces are battling on two
fronts.
Sanchez said there appeared to be links "at the lowest levels" between the
Shiite militia - which has been battling coalition forces in at least a
half-dozen southern cities this week - and Sunni Arab insurgents who have
long
fought U.S. troops in central Iraq cities such as Fallujah and Ramadi.
Ukrainian troops were forced to withdraw from their bases in Kut on
Wednesday,
but Sanchez said coalition forces would retake it "imminently."
He suggested that the presence of hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims
in
Najaf for a religious occasion this weekend was hampering coalition forces
from
moving against militiamen there.
"We are very cognizant of the religious ceremonies," he said.
(AP) A U.S. soldier aids a fellow marine on top of an armoured vehicle
after
their convoy came under...
Full Image
Polish and Bulgarian soldiers drove off Shiites who attacked them near the
municipal hall in Karbala south of Baghdad during all-night battles, a
Polish
spokesman said.
Coalition forces suffered no casualties but killed nine attackers and
wounded
about 20 others, Lt. Col. Robert Strzelecki in an interview from Iraq.
The attacks began about 11 p.m. Wednesday and continued until nearly
sunrise,
Strzelecki said. The attackers, loyal to al-Sadr, used machine guns,
rocket-propelled grenades and small arms during fighting that the
spokesman
described as heavy.
In the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Fallujah, U.S. Marines fought insurgents
for
a second day. One U.S. Marine was reported killed by the military,
although it
released no details.
Marines battled again around the Abdel-Aziz al-Samarrai mosque, which
Marine
Capt. James Edge said insurgents were again using as a base despite a
six-hour
battle Wednesday to uproot them. Helicopters were deployed to support the
Marines, he said.
(AP) A wounded U.S. soldier disconnects his communication wire before
extracting himself an armoured...
Full Image
Capping Wednesday's battle, a U.S. Cobra helicopter fired a missile at the
base
of the mosque's minaret, and an F-16 dropped a laser-guided bomb at the
wall,
allowing Marines to move in and seize the site, Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne
said.
Fighting this week in Fallujah, Ramadi and elsewhere has left 36 Americans
and
at least 459 Iraqis dead. The director of the city's hospital, Taher
Al-Issawai, said the figure included more than 280 Iraqis killed since the
Marines' siege against insurgents in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, began
early
Monday.
Lawmakers in Tokyo said the Japanese civilians - identified as two male
journalists and a female aid worker - were kidnapped by a
terrorist-related
group, according to the Japanese news agency Kyodo.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said the government was still trying
to
confirm the reports about the hostages, but he added that Japan was
standing
firm in its commitment to Iraq, adding there was "no reason" to withdraw.
In the videotape, obtained by The Associated Press, three Japanese were
shown
blindfolded and crouched on the floor of a concrete walled room with an
iron
door standing behind them are four masked gunmen in black, holding
automatic
weapons and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
(AP) Nura, 3, an Iraqi child, wounded during fighting between U.S. forces
and
Iraqi insurgents, is laid...
Full Image
The gunmen made the Japanese lie on the floor, pointing swords and knives
at
their chests and throats. The woman's lips could be seen moving as if she
was
speaking.
One gunman put a knife to the throat of a man, whose eyes widened in
panic, and
he struggled against his captor. The woman wept and hid her eyes as
another
gunman tried to pull her hands away from her face and he pressed a knife
toward
her throat.
The Japanese were blindfolded and surrounded by gunmen. The video showed
the
hostages' passports, confirming their nationality.
Tokyo has sent 530 ground troops to the southern city of Samawah, part of
a
planned deployment of 1,100 on a noncombat mission to purify water and
help
rebuild Iraq - Japan's first deployment of troops since World War II.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been one of the strongest
backers
of the U.S.-led invasion, a stance that has raised concern Japanese troops
could be targeted by insurgents.
(AP) Sunni insurgents load a car with rocket propelled grenade launchers
at the
site of an attack on a...
Full Image
The Japanese were taken by a group identifying itself as the "Mujahedeen
Squadrons," which Al-Jazeera said gave a three-day ultimatum for Japan to
announce it will withdraw its troops or they would be killed.
The eight South Koreans were detained by unidentified "armed men," but one
was
later released, the South Korean Yonhap news agency reported.
The eight evangelical Christians were traveling in two cars from Amman,
Jordan,
when they were seized about 155 miles east of Baghdad, said the escapee,
identified by Yonhap as Kim Sang Mik, from a church in Incheon.
Yonhap did not say how Kim escaped. The South Korean Foreign Ministry told
the
AP it did not know who was responsible for the capture of the South
Koreans.
Earlier this week, two South Korean aid workers were briefly detained by
Shiite
Muslim forces during a gunbattle with Italian peacekeepers. They were
released
unharmed.
About 460 South Korean medics and military engineers have been in
Nasiriyah for
almost a year. They will come home after South Korea sends the new
deployment
of up to 3,600 troops to the Kurdish region of northern Iraq later this
year.
.
