"..Yeeeeeehaw, ..it's wacko al-Sadr raghead azz-kickin' time....
U.S., militias clash in Najaf - Violence escalates inside holy city
HAMZA HENDAWI ASSOCIATED PRESS (..obviously the writer thinks he's very important = ALL CAPS..)
NAJAF - Backed by helicopters, American tanks charged into the centre of this holy city today and shelled positions held by fighters loyal to a radical cleric, who condemned the United States and Britain in a sermon. The Shrine of Imam Ali, one of the most sacred sites for Shiite Muslims, was slightly damaged in the fighting.
Four Iraqis died and 22 were wounded, said Hussein Hadi Karim, administrator at Najaf General Hospital, adding most were civilians. Fearing arrest by American troops, members of the militia loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr often avoid taking their casualties to hospitals.
The United States released more than 300 Iraqi detainees from Abu Ghraib prison today, a day after U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit and insisted the Pentagon did not try to cover up U.S. military abuse of detainees that has sparked international outrage.
In the southern city of Nasiriyah, militiamen pushed their way into the governor’s office, moving through the streets near a hotel, a main bridge over the Euphrates River and police stations, the U.S.-led coalition said.
Meanwhile, explosions and heavy machine-gun fire rocked Najaf neighbourhoods for hours today, and bands of militiamen with assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar tubes roamed the city of dun-coloured buildings. Smoke billowed from blasted buildings.
Four holes, each about 30 centimetres long and 20 centimetres wide were visible on the golden dome of the Imam Ali mosque. They appeared to have been caused by machine-gun fire, but it was unclear which side did it.
During their crackdown on al-Sadr’s militia, U.S. forces have been careful to avoid damaging shrines in Najaf and elsewhere for fear of enraging Iraq’s Shiite majority.
But Al-Sadr’s spokesperson, Qays al-Khazali, told The Associated Press that the Americans were responsible.
Reports of damage to the shrine were widely reported on Arab TV.
Residents said al-Sadr’s al-Mahdi Army gunmen blocked all roads close to shrine, barring entry to all except those with special militia badges.
Civilians scurried for cover in the fighting, and some families fled their homes.
Nearly 300 fighters from the al-Mahdi Army gathered outside his office after fighting ebbed in late afternoon.
The hands of many were blackened, apparently a sign that they had taken part in the fighting. Some celebrated from the back of pickup trucks, and carried what they said were parts of U.S. military hardware, including what resembled the door of a Humvee and empty ammunition belts.
“Our morale is sky-high and we are not scared of anyone,” said a militiaman who only gave his first name, Mahdi. “We will die for sayed Moqtada,” he said, using the title sayed that is reserved for descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.
Al-Sadr’s representative in the southern city of Basra, Sheik Abdul-Sattar al-Bahadli, said he would form suicide squads against coalition forces and urged residents to register for such duty, starting Saturday.
In his sermon, al-Sadr described President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair as “the heads of tyranny.”
He said the two leaders had paid too much attention to Nicholas Berg, an American civilian who was beheaded by militants, and had ignored the suffering of Iraqis in prisons controlled by coalition troops.
The cleric also condemned Iraqis who co-operate with the Americans and “are willing to execute the occupiers’ orders,” and called for an end to sectarian tensions among Iraqis.
Arab TV stations reported that an aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, Iraq’s most influential Shiite cleric, had urged U.S. forces and al-Sadr fighters to leave Najaf. The aide was identified as Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Mahdi.
The U.S. attack represented its strongest push yet against al-Sadr, whose forces fought intense battles with American forces this week in another holy city, Karbala. The intensifying battles have eclipsed efforts by Iraqi political and tribal leaders to seek a peaceful solution to the confrontation ahead of a planned transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30.
Much of the fighting in Najaf happened in the city’s vast cemetery, a maze of footpaths and tombs that offers ample hiding space for militiamen. Several tanks rumbled into the cemetery, known as the Valley of Peace and thought to be the world’s largest.
A central hotel where many international journalists were staying was hit by gunfire, which ruptured the rooftop water tank and blew a soccer-ball-sized hole on the ledge. Several rounds struck rooms but there were no injuries
thestar.com
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