Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
April 4, 2008
Pg. 5
By Wire reports
BAGHDAD — Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Thursday called for a million Iraqis to march next week against U.S. "occupiers," threatening a show of strength a week after his Mahdi Army militia battled U.S. and Iraqi government troops.
The government said it would not try to block the demonstration Wednesday if it is peaceful, though Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who ordered last week's crackdown on the militia in Basra, threatened more strikes against al-Sadr's strongholds.
The statement released by al-Sadr's office in the holy city of Najaf called on Iraqis of all sects to descend on the southern city, site of annual Shiite pilgrimages that attract thousands of worshipers.
"The time has come to express your rejections and raise your voices loud against the unjust occupier and enemy of nations and humanity," the statement said.
The demonstration is scheduled for the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, and about the time the top U.S. officials in Iraq give a progress report to Congress.
"If his intention is to get a whole lot of people together and go and make trouble in Najaf, I don't think that is going to be very popular," U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker told a briefing on Thursday.
U.S. forces called in helicopter strikes during a clash with suspected al-Sadr gunmen on Thursday in the city of Hillah and bombed a house in Basra overnight, after days of relative calm. The truce al-Sadr announced on Sunday ended six days of fighting.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf told Reuters: "The right to hold a peaceful demonstration and express opinions is guaranteed by the constitution."
Al-Maliki told reporters the Basra crackdown could be repeated elsewhere, listing the Shula and Sadr City districts, which are al-Sadr's strongholds in the capital.
"Other cities need the same battle, and also Baghdad in areas where people are still in the hands of these gangsters," he said.
April 4, 2008
Pg. 5
By Wire reports
BAGHDAD — Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Thursday called for a million Iraqis to march next week against U.S. "occupiers," threatening a show of strength a week after his Mahdi Army militia battled U.S. and Iraqi government troops.
The government said it would not try to block the demonstration Wednesday if it is peaceful, though Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who ordered last week's crackdown on the militia in Basra, threatened more strikes against al-Sadr's strongholds.
The statement released by al-Sadr's office in the holy city of Najaf called on Iraqis of all sects to descend on the southern city, site of annual Shiite pilgrimages that attract thousands of worshipers.
"The time has come to express your rejections and raise your voices loud against the unjust occupier and enemy of nations and humanity," the statement said.
The demonstration is scheduled for the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, and about the time the top U.S. officials in Iraq give a progress report to Congress.
"If his intention is to get a whole lot of people together and go and make trouble in Najaf, I don't think that is going to be very popular," U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker told a briefing on Thursday.
U.S. forces called in helicopter strikes during a clash with suspected al-Sadr gunmen on Thursday in the city of Hillah and bombed a house in Basra overnight, after days of relative calm. The truce al-Sadr announced on Sunday ended six days of fighting.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf told Reuters: "The right to hold a peaceful demonstration and express opinions is guaranteed by the constitution."
Al-Maliki told reporters the Basra crackdown could be repeated elsewhere, listing the Shula and Sadr City districts, which are al-Sadr's strongholds in the capital.
"Other cities need the same battle, and also Baghdad in areas where people are still in the hands of these gangsters," he said.