Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Post
May 12, 2008
Pg. 14
By Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, May 11 -- Violence in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City subsided Sunday as a deal took hold to end fighting between Shiite militiamen and U.S. and Iraqi forces. But U.S. military officials and militia commanders said that a truce had not yet been reached, underscoring the fragility of the agreement.
"It is important to emphasize that it is an ongoing dialogue process," U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll said Sunday. "It is premature to say there is an agreed-to truce."
Senior commanders of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia said in interviews that they had not yet received orders to stand down from Sadr or his top aides in the southern holy city of Najaf. They added that any truce would not last long given the current climate of mistrust, deepened by recent weeks of bloodshed in Sadr City, where an estimated 2 million people live.
"I don't believe in such a truce as long as the occupation exists in this country," said Thalib al-Bahadly, a senior member of the Mahdi Army and an official at Sadr's headquarters in Sadr City. "We are in a stage of war, and this is our priority."
The fighting in Sadr City has killed hundreds, but the overall level of violence dropped Sunday, despite sporadic clashes. At the Imam Ali Hospital, officials reported no deaths and nine injured patients, all from bullet wounds. On Saturday, there were 10 deaths and a similar number of injured. The Sadr Hospital reported no deaths and six wounded Sunday.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Stover said American troops killed a fighter Sunday morning after he fired at a Bradley armored vehicle. In the afternoon, U.S. troops came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. There were no casualties, he said.
Stover said there were no reports of rocket or mortar fire from Sadr City into the Green Zone, which houses the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government offices. Since March 23, 1,069 rockets and mortar shells have been fired at targets across Baghdad. Brig. Gen. Mike Milano, the top commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, said Sunday that such strikes have caused 269 casualties and that "the majority of these attacks have come from Sadr City."
U.S. troops were carrying out "limited operations in Sadr City as this implementation process takes place," Driscoll said, referring to the truce.
But Stover said it was business as usual when dealing with fighters in Sadr City. "If we see any criminal elements firing mortars, rockets or planting an IED," or an improvised explosive device, he said, "we're going to engage them and kill them."
By late Sunday night, residents reported hearing clashes, gunfire, and the sounds of airstrikes in some sections of Sadr City, as well as helicopters buzzing in the black sky.
Under the truce, negotiated between Sadr's political loyalists and lawmakers aligned with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Sadr agreed to order his fighters to stand down if U.S. and Iraqi forces stopped conducting raids and arrests. The agreement also calls for the reopening of roads into Sadr City and for broader humanitarian assistance.
Mahdi Army commanders said Sunday that they wanted U.S. troops to withdraw from Sadr City; Iraqi government officials have said that the agreement did not call for that.
The violence in Sadr City erupted in late March after the Iraqi government launched an operation to rid the city of Basra of militias. The Sadrists view the assault as an effort by Shiite rivals in the government to weaken them ahead of provincial elections scheduled for October.
Leewa Smaysim, a senior Sadrist lawmaker, denied reports that the deal was struck between Sadr and his chief rival, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a powerful Shiite party in Maliki's ruling coalition. Smaysim said both sides would be "in the process of executing the items of the deal" over the next four days.
Most of Sadr's militia has not engaged in the battles, obeying a cease-fire imposed by Sadr last August. U.S. military commanders insist they are fighting so-called rogue elements who have split from Sadr.
Since the fighting began, hundreds of civilians have fled their homes and aid agencies have declared shortages of food and medicine in some parts of Sadr City.
Ustad Ali al-Khataf, a Sadr City resident, said that "life is going back to normal." He had met a friend from another part of Sadr City that he hadn't seen for a month because of the clashes.
Still, he said many residents are afraid to return to their homes. "People are now calling each other to check the situation to see if they can come back," Khataf said.
Elsewhere, gunmen attacked a checkpoint manned by Sunni Awakening fighters, former insurgents now aligned with U.S. forces, killing one and injuring two in Baqubah, northeast of Baghdad, police said.
Special correspondents Saad al-Izzi and Zaid Sabah in Baghdad, Saad Sarhan in Najaf and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.
May 12, 2008
Pg. 14
By Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, May 11 -- Violence in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City subsided Sunday as a deal took hold to end fighting between Shiite militiamen and U.S. and Iraqi forces. But U.S. military officials and militia commanders said that a truce had not yet been reached, underscoring the fragility of the agreement.
"It is important to emphasize that it is an ongoing dialogue process," U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll said Sunday. "It is premature to say there is an agreed-to truce."
Senior commanders of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia said in interviews that they had not yet received orders to stand down from Sadr or his top aides in the southern holy city of Najaf. They added that any truce would not last long given the current climate of mistrust, deepened by recent weeks of bloodshed in Sadr City, where an estimated 2 million people live.
"I don't believe in such a truce as long as the occupation exists in this country," said Thalib al-Bahadly, a senior member of the Mahdi Army and an official at Sadr's headquarters in Sadr City. "We are in a stage of war, and this is our priority."
The fighting in Sadr City has killed hundreds, but the overall level of violence dropped Sunday, despite sporadic clashes. At the Imam Ali Hospital, officials reported no deaths and nine injured patients, all from bullet wounds. On Saturday, there were 10 deaths and a similar number of injured. The Sadr Hospital reported no deaths and six wounded Sunday.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Stover said American troops killed a fighter Sunday morning after he fired at a Bradley armored vehicle. In the afternoon, U.S. troops came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. There were no casualties, he said.
Stover said there were no reports of rocket or mortar fire from Sadr City into the Green Zone, which houses the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government offices. Since March 23, 1,069 rockets and mortar shells have been fired at targets across Baghdad. Brig. Gen. Mike Milano, the top commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, said Sunday that such strikes have caused 269 casualties and that "the majority of these attacks have come from Sadr City."
U.S. troops were carrying out "limited operations in Sadr City as this implementation process takes place," Driscoll said, referring to the truce.
But Stover said it was business as usual when dealing with fighters in Sadr City. "If we see any criminal elements firing mortars, rockets or planting an IED," or an improvised explosive device, he said, "we're going to engage them and kill them."
By late Sunday night, residents reported hearing clashes, gunfire, and the sounds of airstrikes in some sections of Sadr City, as well as helicopters buzzing in the black sky.
Under the truce, negotiated between Sadr's political loyalists and lawmakers aligned with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Sadr agreed to order his fighters to stand down if U.S. and Iraqi forces stopped conducting raids and arrests. The agreement also calls for the reopening of roads into Sadr City and for broader humanitarian assistance.
Mahdi Army commanders said Sunday that they wanted U.S. troops to withdraw from Sadr City; Iraqi government officials have said that the agreement did not call for that.
The violence in Sadr City erupted in late March after the Iraqi government launched an operation to rid the city of Basra of militias. The Sadrists view the assault as an effort by Shiite rivals in the government to weaken them ahead of provincial elections scheduled for October.
Leewa Smaysim, a senior Sadrist lawmaker, denied reports that the deal was struck between Sadr and his chief rival, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a powerful Shiite party in Maliki's ruling coalition. Smaysim said both sides would be "in the process of executing the items of the deal" over the next four days.
Most of Sadr's militia has not engaged in the battles, obeying a cease-fire imposed by Sadr last August. U.S. military commanders insist they are fighting so-called rogue elements who have split from Sadr.
Since the fighting began, hundreds of civilians have fled their homes and aid agencies have declared shortages of food and medicine in some parts of Sadr City.
Ustad Ali al-Khataf, a Sadr City resident, said that "life is going back to normal." He had met a friend from another part of Sadr City that he hadn't seen for a month because of the clashes.
Still, he said many residents are afraid to return to their homes. "People are now calling each other to check the situation to see if they can come back," Khataf said.
Elsewhere, gunmen attacked a checkpoint manned by Sunni Awakening fighters, former insurgents now aligned with U.S. forces, killing one and injuring two in Baqubah, northeast of Baghdad, police said.
Special correspondents Saad al-Izzi and Zaid Sabah in Baghdad, Saad Sarhan in Najaf and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.