Iraqi troops, militias clash in Basra
BAGHDAD (AP) - March 25, 2008 Armed Mahdi Army militiamen appeared on some Baghdad streets for
the first time in more than six months, as al-Sadr's followers
announced a nationwide campaign of strikes and demonstrations to
protest a government crackdown on their movement. Merchants
shuttered their shops in commercial districts in several Baghdad
neighborhoods.
Although all sides appeared reluctant to trigger a
conflagration, Brig. Gen. Ed Cardon, assistant commander of the
U.S. task force operating south of Baghdad, said the situation in
the south was "very complicated" and "the potential for
miscalculation is high."
The burgeoning crisis - part of an intense power struggle among
Shiite political factions - has major implications for the United
States. An escalation could unravel the cease-fire which al-Sadr
proclaimed last August. A resumption of fighting by his militia
could kill more U.S. soldiers and threaten - at least in the short
run - the security gains Washington has hailed as a sign that Iraq
is on the road to recovery.
The confrontation will also test the skill and resolve of Iraq's
Shiite-led government in dealing with Shiite militias, with whom
the national leadership had maintained close ties.
Underscoring the serious stakes at play, Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki, a Shiite, remained in the southern city of Basra to
command the security operation. Sweeps were launched at dawn to rid
the city of militias and criminal gangs that ruled the streets even
before the British handed over control to the Iraqis in December.
U.S. and Iraqi officials believe some factions of al-Sadr's
movement maintain close ties with Iran, which provides them with
weapons, money and training. Iran denies the allegation.
Basra, located near the Iranian border about 340 miles southeast
of Baghdad, is the center of the country's vast oil industry.
Stability in the city is essential if Iraq is to attract huge
investments needed to restore its neglected oil fields and export
facilities.
Throughout the day, the sounds of explosions and machine gunfire
echoed through Basra's streets as Iraqi soldiers and police fought
the Mahdi Army in at least four strategic neighborhoods.
At least 31 people were killed and 88 wounded, according to
police and hospital officials, speaking on condition of anonymity
because they were not supposed to release the information.
Associated Press Television News video showed smoke rising over
Basra, and coalition jets prowling the skies while ambulances raced
through the streets.
Iraqi police and soldiers prevented journalists from reaching
the areas of heaviest fighting, and it was unclear which side had
the upper hand by sundown.
Iraqi military spokesman Col. Karim al-Zaidi acknowledged that
government troops were facing stiff resistance.
Residents of one neighborhood said Mahdi Army snipers were
firing from rooftops. Others fired rocket-propelled grenades at the
troops, then scurried away on motorcycles. Other residents said
police fled their posts.
Residents spoke by telephone on condition of anonymity because
of fear of reprisals, and their accounts could not be confirmed.
British troops remained at their base at the airport outside
Basra and were not involved in the ground fighting Tuesday,
according to the British Ministry of Defense. Air support was being
provided, but a spokesman would not say if it was U.S. or British
planes.
The British had given assurances that the Iraqis could handle
security in the city when they withdrew last year.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said al-Maliki showed
bravery by committing his forces to the fight. "I would
characterize it as a bold decision - precisely what the critics
have asked to see in Iraq," she said.
In Baghdad, several salvos of rockets were fired at the Green
Zone, which houses the U.S. and British embassies. There were no
reports of casualties, but the blasts sent people scurrying for
concrete bunkers.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy confirmed the death of an American
man in an Easter Day rocket attack on the Green Zone. Paul
Converse, 56, was a financial analyst for the U.S. government, his
parents told the Gazette-Times newspaper in their hometown of
Corvallis, Ore.
American and Iraqi troops sealed off the Sadr City slum, a Mahdi
Army stronghold in northeastern Baghdad, and gunfire could be heard
in scattered areas of the capital.
Lawmakers from al-Sadr's movement announced that a civil
disobedience campaign which began Monday in selected neighborhoods
of the capital was being extended nationwide. The campaign was seen
as an indication that the Sadrists want to assert their power
without provoking a major showdown with the Americans, who
inflicted massive casualties on the Mahdi Army during fighting in
2004.
Iraq's national security adviser, Mouwaffak al-Rubaie, was in
contact with the Sadrist leadership in hopes of easing the crisis,
said a top Sadrist official, Liwa Smeism.
Schools and shops were closed in many predominantly Shiite
districts. "All shops are closed in my area except bakeries and
vegetable stands," said Furat Ali, 35, a merchant in southwestern
Baghdad.
Taxi driver Haider Abdul-Amir noted that "people are staying
home, but the Mahdi Army is deployed on the streets hiding weapons
and pistols under their clothes." Classes were suspended at
Mustansiriyah University.
The showdown with al-Sadr has been brewing for months but has
accelerated since parliament agreed in February to hold provincial
elections by the fall. The U.S. had been pressing for new elections
to give Sunnis, who boycotted the last provincial balloting three
years ago, a chance for greater power.
Al-Sadr's followers have also been eager for elections,
believing they can make significant gains in the oil-rich Shiite
south at the expense of Shiite parties with close U.S. ties.
Sadrists have accused rival Shiite parties, which control Iraqi
security forces, of engineering the arrests to prevent them from
mounting an effective election campaign.
They also complain that few of their followers have been granted
amnesty under a new law designed to free thousands held by the
Iraqis and Americans.
"The police and army are being used for political goals, while
they should be used for the benefits of all the Iraqi people,"
said Nassar al-Rubaei, leader of the Sadrist bloc in parliament.
"If these violations continue, a huge popular eruption will take
place that no power on Earth can stop."