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March 28th,
2008 - US Forces Launch Airstrikes in Iraq |
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US Forces Launch Airstrikes
in Iraq By Robert H. Reid Associated Press March 28, 2008 Baghdad - U.S. forces
stepped deeper Friday into the Iraqi government's fight to cripple Shiite
militias, launching airstrikes in the southern city of Basra and firing a
missile into the main Shiite stronghold in Baghdad. The American support
occurred as Iraqi troops struggled against strong resistance in Basra and
retaliation elsewhere in Shiite areas - including more salvos of rockets or
mortars into the U.S.-protected Green Zone in Baghdad. It was the first time
American jets have been called to attack militia positions since Iraqi ground
forces launched an operation Tuesday to clear Basra of the armed groups that
have effectively ruled the streets of the country's second-largest city for
nearly three years. One militia barrage slammed
into the headquarters of the Basra police command late Friday, triggering a
huge fire and explosions when one of the rounds struck a gasoline tanker,
police officials said. Earlier Friday, U.S. jets
struck a building housing militia fighters and blasted a mortar team that was
firing on Iraqi forces, British military spokesman Maj. Tim Holloway said
without further details. Many of those groups are
believed to receive weapons, money and training from nearby Iran, the world's
most populous Shiite nation. The crackdown in Basra has
provoked a violent reaction - especially from the Mahdi Army of anti-American
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. His followers accuse rival Shiite parties in
the government of trying to crush their movement before provincial elections
this fall. Their anger has led to a
sharp increase in attacks against American troops in Shiite areas following
months of relative calm after al-Sadr declared a unilateral cease-fire last
August. Before dawn Friday, a U.S.
aircraft fired a Hellfire missile in the Sadr City district - the Baghdad
stronghold of the Mahdi Army - after gunmen there opened fire on an American
patrol. The U.S. military said the
missile strike killed four militants, but Iraqi officials said nine civilians
were killed and nine others wounded. Another U.S. airstrike
targeted a rocket-propelled grenade mounted vehicle in the mostly Sunni
neighborhood of Azamiyah, killing two militants, the military said
separately. U.S. military officials,
speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
discuss Pentagon assessments, said commanders are wary of bringing major
firepower into Shiite areas such as Sadr City, fearing large-scale civilian
casualties could bring more backlash through Baghdad. But, the officials said,
American forces are more willing to offer air support in Basra, which is the
centerpiece of the current showdown. Defying a curfew in Baghdad,
Shiite extremists lobbed more rockets or mortars against the U.S.-protected
Green Zone, which has come under steady barrages this week. The attacks
prompted the State Department to order embassy personnel to stay inside. At least two rounds Friday
struck the Green Zone offices of Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi,
killing two guards and wounding four, his daughter and executive secretary
Lubna al-Hashemi said. In all, the U.S. military
said 13 suspected militants were killed Friday and 26 on Thursday in Baghdad
operations. "As you know, we've
been getting attacked and going after the enemy all day," said Maj. Mark
Cheadle, a spokesman for the Baghdad area command. An American soldier was
fatally injured Friday in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad, the military
reported without elaboration. The area is religiously mixed, and it was
unclear whether he was killed in a Shiite district. At least 26 people were
killed Friday in fierce fighting in the southern cities of Mahmoudiya,
Nasiriyah and Kut, according to police and army officials who spoke on
condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information. Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki, a Shiite who once maintained close ties to al-Sadr, has put his
personal prestige on the line in the Basra crackdown, flying to the city five
days ago to assume personal command of the operation there. Al-Maliki has vowed there
would be "no retreat" in Basra, the nation's commercial center and
headquarters of the vital oil industry. In Washington, President
Bush said the battle against Shiite extremists presents "a defining
moment in the history of Iraq" and a "necessary part of the
development of a free society." The United States has called
the Basra campaign an important test of Iraq's ability to handle its own
security affairs. But setbacks in the battle could increasingly draw in
American forces, worried that a sustained fight - and the backlash in Baghdad
and elsewhere - could wipe away many of the security gains of recent months. The situation in Basra
remained tense as a Friday deadline for gunmen to surrender their weapons and
renounce violence expired, although a few complied. Al-Maliki's office
announced a new deal, offering Basra residents unspecified monetary
compensation if they turn over "heavy and medium-size weapons" by
April 8. Masked militia fighters,
meanwhile, moved around freely in a southwestern neighborhood and there was
little traffic, according to Associated Press Television News footage.
Residents complained of rising food prices and power shortages. The government relaxed a
days-old curfew in Basra to allow people to move around in the city from 6
a.m. to 6 p.m. to facilitate shopping and other necessary tasks. "The situation was
better this morning so I went to a small market near my house. I was
surprised that the price of vegetables and meat had gone up fivefold,"
said Ziyad Khalid, 27. Hamid Saaid, 47, said he saw
dozens of people lined up for bread and to fill canisters with clean water
from a tanker truck. In Baghdad, the Sunni
speaker of Iraq's parliament called a special legislative session Friday in
hopes of launching an initiative to negotiate a peaceful end to the Basra
fighting. But the main Shiite
political bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, and its Kurdish allies refused to
attend. The alliance includes al-Maliki's party and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi
Council, the main political rival to al-Sadr's movement. With so few lawmakers
attending, parliament could approve no binding resolutions but instead
established a committee to explore ways to mediate a settlement. The
initiative was spearheaded by former prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who
brought al-Sadr's followers into the government under his administration. Al-Maliki has insisted the
fight is targeting criminal gangs in Basra, not al-Sadr's movement. However, al-Sadr's followers
sharply condemned the prime minister during sermons Friday in mosques across
the country. "He imprisoned and
displaced thousands of Iraqi people under the name of democracy. He is
killing the citizens in the south of Iraq," Sheik Jalil al-Sarghi said,
referring to al-Maliki as U.S. helicopters buzzed over the office where the
prayer service was held. Associated Press writers
Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Saad Abdul-Kadir in Baghdad and Lolita C. Baldor in
Washington contributed to this report. External link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/03/27/international/i040800D21.DTL |