GOD BLESS AMERICA
AND KEEP HER STRONG
DONATE TO FR NOW, PLEASE.
Posted on 04/08/2004 2:41:28 PM PDT by TexKat
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni guerrillas killed a U.S. Marine Thursday in the fourth day of the battle for Fallujah, and militant Shiite militiamen held all or part of three southern cities. In an ominous new tactic, kidnappers seized foreign hostages, threatening to burn three Japanese captives alive if Tokyo did not withdraw troops.
The al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army militia had full control in the cities of Kut and Kufa and in the central part of Najaf. Police in the cities have abandoned their stations or stood aside as the gunmen roam the streets.
The newly invigorated, two-front insurgency has produced scenes of chaos and violence in Iraq not seen since U.S. forces captured Baghdad a year ago Friday. The turmoil further threatened shaky Iraqi security as the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority prepared to hand political sovereignty to a still-to-be-chosen Iraqi government June 30.
L. Paul Bremer, the chief U.S. administrator of Iraq, warned Shiite pilgrims to beware of danger from more violence this weekend at the shrines, recalling the deadly bombings in Karbala and Baghdad that killed nearly 150 during celebrations last month.
Television pictures broadcast in the Middle East by the Al-Jazeera satellite network and rebroadcast during prime-time in Japan showed the three Japanese hostages — two aid workers and a journalist — wide-eyed and moaning in terror as their black-clad captors held knives to their throats, shouting God is Great in Arabic.
The Japanese government called the abductions "unforgivable" but said they did not justify a Japanese withdrawal.
Two Arab aid workers from Jerusalem — one who had once lived in Georgia — were abducted in a separate incident.
Eight South Korean Christian missionaries were seized by gunmen outside Baghdad. Seven were freed after one of them escaped, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said.
Marines battled insurgents firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades in continued heavy fighting at two mosques in Fallujah. U.S. forces have surrounded the city 35 miles east of Baghdad, but opened the blockade for a convoy carrying food and medicine sent to the beleaguered residents by Sunni clerics in Baghdad.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, reported the deaths of three 1st Infantry Division soldiers on Wednesday and Thursday in attacks by Sunni insurgents — though the circumstances and day of each death were not provided. The Army said a fourth soldier died from wounds received in an attack last week.
Those deaths, along with the Marine killed Thursday in Fallujah, brought to 40 the number of American troops killed across Iraq this week. The fighting in Fallujah, nearby Ramadi, and across the south has killed more than 460 Iraqis — including more than 280 in Fallujah, according to the director of the city's hospital, Rafie Al-Issawi.
The spiraling violence which began Sunday raised questions about whether Iraqi police and security forces would confront the violence and whether U.S. allies would stay the course.
In Najaf, a policeman watched helplessly on Thursday as a pickup truck carrying a dozen heavily armed Shiite militiamen went past his police station — already in the militia's hands.
"Look, how can we control such a situation?" he asked an Associated Press reporter.
There also were concerns about the largely passive Shiite majority and whether it would remain peaceful, shunning radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's attempts to enlist them in the fight he is leading to oust the Americans.
Still, U.S. administrators insist they are making both political and military progress. U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is in Iraq, trying to establish a system to pick an interim Iraqi government. And Marine commanders said they were winning the fight for Fallujah.
"The mission is going particularly well. We made inroads into the city and we are driving the enemy resistance back," said Marine Lt. Col. Greg Olsen. "We're winning every firefight."
But there has been a cost. Twelve Marines died Tuesday in an ambush in Ramadi, just down the road from Fallujah, and four others have died in the fighting west of Baghdad since the weekend, including the Marine who was killed Thursday.
Iraq's interior minister, who leads police and security forces, resigned Thursday at Bremer's request to maintain balance between Sunni and Shiite factions on the governing council.
It was unclear if Nuri al-Badran was forced out because the police were not performing their duties, but he had complained of divided loyalties.
"I found from the start that the coalition appoints policemen, clerics appoint policemen, as do political parties and militias. The same thing with promotions. All these things led to a lack of security," he told journalists.
Al-Sadr, who is reportedly holed up in his office in Najaf, attempted to rally Iraqis — including Sunnis — behind him.
"This ordeal has shown that all the Iraqi people are united," he said in a statement issued by his office. "The occupiers want to attack our Sunni brothers and to terminate them."
Al-Sadr's force remains unpopular with most Shiites because it is too radical. And so far, there has been little sign of a widespread support for the movement or a surge to join the fight against the Americans.
Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. general in Iraq, acknowledged Thursday there appeared to be links "at the lowest levels" between al-Sadr's Shiite militia and the Sunni Arab insurgency.
Sanchez vowed that coalition forces would move "imminently" to break al-Sadr's hold over Kut, 95 miles southeast of Baghdad, and destroy his militia throughout the country in a new operation named "Resolute Sword."
Sanchez would not say whether U.S. forces would move into southern Iraq to help troops from allied nations whose soldiers control the vast stretch of land reaching to the Persian Gulf.
Ukrainian troops in Kut abandoned their base Wednesday in the face of mortar fire and gunbattles, allowing al-Mahdi Army fighters to sweep in, seize weapons and plant their flag.
Sanchez acknowledged the militia had shown well-coordinated tactics in battles with Spanish forces in Najaf, using rooftop snipers to fire on soldiers.
"We have not seen that level of on-the-battle-field type of planning in other places at this point," he said.
Sanchez said the presence of thousands of Shiite pilgrims in Najaf this weekend was hampering coalition forces from moving against militiamen who hold police stations and are in the streets around Shiite shrines in the city center.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are in southern cities, particularly Karbala, ahead of al-Arbaeen ceremonies this weekend to mark the end of the period of mourning for a 7th-century martyred Shiite saint.
"We are very cognizant of the religious ceremonies," Sanchez said.
In Baghdad, U.S. forces have battled nightly with the al-Mahdi Army militia in its Sadr City stronghold. Before dawn Thursday, a U.S. helicopter fired on the al-Sadr office, wounding an unknown number of Iraqis and causing heavy damage.
Polish and Bulgarian soldiers drove off Shiites who attacked them near the municipal hall in Karbala during all-night battles, a Polish spokesman said. Coalition forces suffered no casualties but killed nine attackers and wounded about 20 others, said Lt. Col. Robert Strzelecki.
In Fallujah, U.S. Marines battled for a second day to seize a mosque that officers say insurgents are using as a fire base. Marines called in tanks and warplanes to pound the Sunni gunmen. The American force seized the Abdel-Aziz al-Samarrai mosque for the second night in a row.
The Marines told an Associated Press reporter they had discovered homemade suicide belts in the city and had killed two men wearing such belts. Suicide tactics had not been seen before in the Sunni city.
After a six-hour battle on Wednesday, a U.S. Cobra helicopter fired a missile at the base of the mosque's minaret, and an F-16 dropped a laser-guided bomb at the wall, allowing Marines to move in and seize the site the first time, Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne said. But the insurgents had returned by Thursday morning, after the Marines abandoned the site.
The Islamic Clerics Committee, whose offices are next to the mosque, said 40 people, including whole families, were killed in Wednesday's bombing. It occurred at about the time worshippers would have gathered for afternoon prayers.
The Marines deny any civilians were killed, but U.S. military commanders said a large number of gunmen were killed in the day's battle.
Tokyo has sent 530 ground troops to the southern city of Samawah, part of a planned deployment of 1,100 on a noncombat mission to purify water and help rebuild Iraq — Japan's largest deployment of troops since World War II.
The eight South Korean Christian missionaries were seized by gunmen on the main highway from Amman to Baghdad. They were later released. Gunmen have occasionally detained and robbed travelers on the route, a key entrance to Iraq from abroad.
__
Associated Press reporter Lourdes Navarro contributed to this report from Fallujah.
How long til they spread themselves too thin?
The question is are they all actual pilgrims.
Sanchez would not say whether U.S. forces would move into southern Iraq to help troops from allied nations whose soldiers control the vast stretch of land reaching to the Persian Gulf.
Ukrainian troops in Kut abandoned their base Wednesday in the face of mortar fire and gunbattles, allowing al-Mahdi Army fighters to sweep in, seize weapons and plant their flag.
Sanchez acknowledged the militia had shown well-coordinated tactics in battles with Spanish forces in Najaf, using rooftop snipers to fire on soldiers.
"We have not seen that level of on-the-battle-field type of planning in other places at this point," he said.
I think we need a change.....Sanchez doesn't have a clue.
Ukrain has now been totally chased off .....they had there base taken from them today....UNFREAKING REAL!
The only time that I can see that they will be spread unfortunatly too thin is when they bring in the AC-130s.
If you have cable Newsworld International has a little more on scene coverage.
one little prob...this is the "touchy-feely" 2000's
get real, as much as I would love to see it....we are NOT going to see a AC 130 tear apart a city
just wont happen
Yeah, and the fighters leadership leaves intermingled with the pilgrims, to plan another conflict somewhere else
Another insurgent that states that the Shia and Sunni are one and the same.
A clip that a journalist is taken into Najaf and shown around, but when they get closer to where Sadr is, the journalist is told to leave.
A different clip shows were there are other bewildered Shite clerics that do not agree with the insurgents.
Rumors spread faster in Iraq than they do on FR. Sunni's and Shiits will join together right after Croat's and Serbs do. None of the actions today involved a combined force.
Rokke I think that you were wrong a couple of days ago.
I have been saying the same thing now for almost a year.
Just wish one good guy wouldn't get lost even if 5,000 scum died.
Methinks it's time to drop the pretenses, remember that they started this and, most of all, remember this is WAR!sKerry has said this needed to be treated as a law enforcement issue. Well, we are close to doing just that.
Do we know where this guy's office is in Najaf? Level it with a laser bomb!
Roof top snipers? Call in an AC130 with orders to take them out.
We need to get SERIOUS!
Better known as the "Fallujah relief operation".
100 Shiite men, women, and children for each Japanese citizen.
The world needs to wake up to the savagery we're facing from Islam.
They can't get in. We challenge them to enter," a guerrilla commander from inside the city told the Al-Jazeera TV network in a phone interview. The commander, identified only as Abu Hafs, said he belonged to a group called the "Mujahedeen of the Victorious Sect," which includes non-Iraqi Islamic militants.
UN? pick a system? Nobody told Hari Kerry?.
One officer said Marines encountered insurgents wearing suicide belts for the first time in the Fallujah campaign. Two Iraqis killed by Marines were found with belts bearing plastic explosives and metal for shrapnel. A raid on a weapons cache in a house also uncovered suicide belts.
It was a disturbing sign because suicide tactics had not been seen before in Fallujah.
We are really hurting them in Fallujah.....they are resorting to suicide attacks.
I believe the Abu Haf member is saying that the Americans can't get in.
Link to Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi Feburary 2004 Letter
Text from Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi LetterAs you know, God favored the [Islamic] nation with jihad on His behalf in the land of Mesopotamia. It is known to you that the arena here is not like the rest. It has positive elements not found in others, and it also has negative elements not found in others. Among the greatest positive elements of this arena is that it is jihad in the Arab heartland. It is a stone’s throw from the lands of the two Holy Precincts and the al-Aqsa [Mosque]. We know from God’s religion that the true, decisive battle between infidelity and Islam is in this land, i.e., in [Greater] Syria and its surroundings. Therefore, we must spare no effort and strive urgently to establish a foothold in this land. Perhaps God may cause something to happen thereafter. The current situation, o courageous shaykhs, makes it necessary for us to examine this matter deeply, starting from our true Law and the reality in which we live….
Here is the current situation as I, with my limited vision, see it. I ask God to forgive my prattle and lapses. I say, having sought help from God, that the Americans, as you know well, entered Iraq on a contractual basis and to create the State of Greater Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates and that this Zionized American Administration believes that accelerating the creation of the State of [Greater] Israel will accelerate the emergence of the Messiah. It came to Iraq with all its people, pride, and haughtiness toward God and his Prophet. It thought that the matter would be somewhat easy. Even if there were to be difficulties, it would be easy. But it collided with a completely different reality. The operations of the brother mujahidin began from the first moment, which mixed things up somewhat. Then, the pace of operations quickened. This was in the Sunni Triangle, if this is the right name for it. This forced the Americans to conclude a deal with the Shi`a, the most evil of mankind. The deal was concluded on [the basis that] the Shi`a would get two-thirds of the booty for having stood in the ranks of the Crusaders against the mujahidin.
The Ukrainians abandoned their base yesterday Wednesday. The Bulgarians had to demand backup yesterday.
Whatever the particular parallel the general lesson is the most important: Grant's power was tenacity. Grant never, ever, never gave up, no matter how awful things looked to him or to the world around him. The defining moment of the Civil War came when Grant pulled out of the 2nd Wilderness battle, which was at best a stalemate, and headed the troops towards the enemy, not away, as had every previous commander of the Army of the Potomac. Grant had taken no less a beating than any other, but he refused to be defeated. Lee knew it was only a matter of time.
The scat & run elements around here today are all Hookers and McClellans. Thank God we've got a Commander in Chief who won't give in, and that translates straight down to the battlefield.
Dog, I'm surprised by your skittishness today. Fear not. Crises are also opportunities.
Tell me Ernie, why is there still a continued heavy fighting going on at these two freaking mosques, while we have billions of dollars worth of this really neat, modern air power just sitting there?
SINO, next time take a minute and check your facts before posting such negative and false crap about our military.
The use of the AC-130 Spectre gunship on Fallujah and in other cities currently under siege has been reported in a number of mainstream media stories.Marines, Iraqis join forces to shut down Fallujah "The Marines came under intense fire late Monday, with Iraqi insurgents firing mortars and rocket-propelled grenades at their positions from a mosque and from an open field.""An Air Force AC-130 Spectre gunship, armed with a 105 mm cannon, was called in to push back the attackers, and no Marines were hurt."
--Boot Hill
Therefore, all cells are to be on alert. Action will start at (time and code given 45.15 = 4/5/2004?) – Do not forget to debilitate, do not forget Abu Ali al-Harithi and do not forget the Muslim scholar who was extradited to Egypt by Yemen, Shaikh Abd al-Qadir Abd al-Aziz (Sayyed Imam Sharif). He was imprisoned three months after the September 11 attacks.
We want to inform those who kill Muslim Sunni scholars (Ulamaa) in Iraq to come to a halt otherwise …
We would like to announce to all Muslims in the world that 90% of the preparations of operation "Wind of Black Death" 
what I believe is referred to as the wind of black death
designed to be performed in America (I think on Americans in Iraq)has finished and will be performed soon, God willing (at the Mujahidin's convenience). Believers will celebrate the victory of God. Warning to the nation:- Avoid being close to the civil and military installations of America and its allies.
I was refering to the Siege of Vicksburg.Yes, I know what you were referring to. Far more important than Grant's seige of Vicksburg was his determination to win, whatever the means. It took some ten different attempts to even get him to the point of that seige. He was considered insane for it by many, meanwhile, including among his own staff. Lincoln stood by him throughout.
The particulars of Grant's Vicksburg campaign are nothing compared to the force of will behind it, and his indomnitable belief in ultimate victory. He never gave up.
He could have, as many here preach. He did not. It's not a matter of any particular act; it's a product of his attitude.
This is no time to go wobbly.
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