IRAQ: Shiites Denounce U.S. Over Raid ~ Sadr and friends want the power....

Las Vegas Sun ^ | March 27, 2006 at 9:1:27 PST | MARIAM FAM ASSOCIATED PRESS

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -

0326dv-iraqviolence New violence flared Monday in northern Iraq with 40 dead in a suicide bombing, while Shiite leaders cut off political talks and denounced the United States over a weekend raid that they said killed worshippers in a mosque.

Although the United States said no mosque was attacked, Shiites blamed the military for killing 22 people Sunday. Jawad al-Maliki, a lawmaker from the United Iraqi Alliance, said the Shiite bloc had canceled Monday's session of negotiations to form a new government because of the raid.

"We suspended today's meetings to discuss the formation of the government because of what happened at the al-Moustafa mosque," al-Maliki said, adding that the alliance was expected to decide Tuesday when to resume the talks.

President Jalal Talabani said he called U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and they decided to form an Iraqi-U.S. committee to investigate the attack.

"I will personally supervise, and we will learn who was responsible. Those who are behind this attack must be brought to the justice and punished," Talabani said.

Monday's bomber struck an army recruiting center, which is in front of a joint U.S.-Iraqi military base between Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, and the ancient city of Tal Afar.

The attack shortly after noon killed 40 people and wounded 30 others - civilians and military personnel - who had gathered among a crowd of recruits for the Iraqi army, the Defense Ministry said.

The U.S. military said no American troops were hurt in the bombing and reported only 30 dead.

Iraqi army Lt. Akram Eid told The Associated Press that many of the injured were taken to the Sykes U.S. Army base on the outskirts of Tal Afar, about 40 miles west of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city.

U.S. troops helped secure the area after the attack and treat the wounded, the U.S. military said.

In continuing sectarian violence, at least 21 more bodies were found - many with nooses around their necks - and mortar and bomb attacks killed 11 people in Baghdad and other towns.

Details of a joint U.S.-Iraqi Special Operations attack in northeast Baghdad late Sunday continued to filter out, with Iraqi officials angrily disputing a U.S. account of what happened.

Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said the Mustafa mosque was attacked with worshippers killed, while a U.S. statement said the operation focused on "a compound of several buildings and that "no mosques were entered or damaged during this operation."

The military said the joint operation "killed 16 insurgents and wounded three others during a house-to-house search on an objective with multiple structures."

"They also detained 18 other individuals, discovered a significant weapons cache and secured the release of an Iraqi being held hostage," the statement said.

Jabr angrily denounced the operation and rejected the U.S. account.

"Entering the Mustafa Shiite mosque and killing worshippers was unjustified and a horrible violation from my point of view," Jabr said on the Al-Arabiya TV news network. "Innocent people inside the mosque offering prayer at sunset were killed."

Police said gunmen fired on the joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol from a position in the neighborhood but not from the mosque. Police and representatives of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who holds great sway among poor Shiites in eastern Baghdad, said all those killed were in the complex for evening prayers and none was a gunmen.

AP reporters who visited the scene Monday morning said the site of the attack was a neighborhood Shiite mosque complex.

TV video shot Monday showed crumbling walls and disarray in a compound used as a gathering place for prayer. It was filled with religious posters and strung with banners denouncing the attack.

Other video from Sunday night showed dead male bodies with gunshot wounds on the floor of what was said by the cameraman to be the imam's living quarters, attached to mosque itself. The compound, once used by Saddam Hussein's government, consists of a political party office, the mosque and quarters for the imam.

The video showed 5.56 mm shell casings scattered on the floor. U.S. forces use that caliber ammunition. A grieving man in white Arab robes stepped among the bodies strewn across the blood-smeared floor.

Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman, said the operation was only launched after observation of the site convinced the military it was being used as a kidnapping cell.

"In our observation of the place and the activities that were going on, it's difficult for us to consider this a place of prayer," Johnson said. "It was not identified by us as a mosque, though we certainly recognized it as a community gathering center. I think this is frankly a matter of perception."

Hundreds of people turned out for the funerals of those killed in the raid. The mourners, many carrying Iraqi flags, walked alongside coffin-laden trucks.

Baghdad Gov. Hussein Tahan said the local government had cut ties to the U.S. military and diplomatic mission "because of the cowardly attack on the al-Moustafa mosque."

In the capital, a bomb exploded in a bus headed for the Sadr City slum, killing two passengers and wounding four others, police Col. Hassan Jaloob said. The bomb had been left in a bag, he said.

A rocket that hit the headquarters of the Shiite Fadhila party in southeast Baghdad killed seven people and wounded 13, including children, police Capt. Ali Mahdi said.

The latest violence came a day after 69 people were reported killed in one of the bloodiest 24-hour periods in weeks. Most of the dead appeared to be victims of the shadowy Sunni-Shiite score-settling that has torn at the fabric of Iraq since Feb. 22 when a Shiite shrine was blown apart in Samarra, north of Baghdad.

Thirty victims of the continuing sectarian slaughter - most of them beheaded - were found dumped on a village road north of Baghdad.

Among the 21 bodies reported Monday, nine were found in west Baghdad that were handcuffed, blindfolded and with ropes around their necks, police Lt. Akeel Fadhil said. Three bodies, of two men and a woman shot in the head, were found late Sunday in east Baghdad, police said.

At a farm east of Baghdad, the bodies of nine men kidnapped a day earlier were discovered by relatives, police said. All had been shot in the head.

Much of the recent killing is seen as the work of Shiite militias or death squads that have infiltrated or are tolerated by police under the control of the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry.

In an audiotape broadcast Monday, Saddam's fugitive chief deputy purportedly called for Arab leaders to back Iraq's Sunni-backed insurgency. The tape, which Al-Jazeera television said was made by Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, appeared to be an address to the Arab League summit in Khartoum, Sudan, this week.

The voice said the Sunni-led insurgency was "the sole legitimate representative of the Iraqi people." It was impossible to determine the tape's authenticity.

Al-Douri had been Revolutionary Command Council vice chairman and a longtime Saddam confidant.

--

[gleeaikin]

ping

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From the BBC:

*************************************************

Political storm over Iraq deaths

Last Updated: Monday, 27 March 2006, 15:51 GMT 16:51 UK

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version

Political storm over Iraq deaths

Mourners have been burying bodies of the dead in Sadr City

The US military in Iraq is facing growing political pressure over a raid on a Baghdad mosque complex that left about 20 people dead on Sunday evening.

US officials said 16 insurgents had been killed and 18 captured, along with a significant weapons cache.

However, members of Iraq's ruling Shia Islamist bloc say many of the dead were civilians taking part in prayers.

"Entering the mosque and the killings there are an unjustified and flagrant attack," the interior minister said.

"Approximately 18 innocent men who were inside the mosque performing sunset prayers were killed and became martyrs," Bayan Jabr added in an interview on Dubai-based al-Arabiya television. "They were killed unjustly and wrongfully."

We decided to stop dealings with coalition forces and the US Embassy because of the cowardly attack on the Mustafa prayer hall Baghdad Governor Hussein Tahan

Some members of the ruling Shia Islamist alliance repeated allegations - denied by US officials - that Americans and Iraqi troops under their command had tied people up at the Mustafa mosque in north-east Baghdad's Sadr City up and shot them in cold blood.

Earlier on Monday, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said he was "deeply concerned" by the reports and had telephoned US military commander General George Casey, who had promised a full inquiry.

Baghdad Governor Hussein Tahan said all co-operation with US forces would be suspended unless the incident was investigated by a panel not including the US military.

Joint operation

It is in dispute whether the victims were armed insurgents

The US military said the bloodshed happened after Iraqi commandos and soldiers from the Iraqi counter-terrorism force came under fire during a house-to-house search for insurgents.

Members of the US special forces were present but only in an "advisory capacity", officials said.

The fighting took place in an office adjacent to the mosque, the US military said.

Large numbers of weapons were found, the US military said, and an abducted employee of the ministry of health was freed, after a 12-hour ordeal of beating.

Iraqi police said the dead included seven members of the Mehdi Army, the militia loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, three members of another Shia Islamist party and seven civilians with no party affiliation.

In our observation of the place and the activities that were going on, it's difficult for us to consider this a place of prayer US spokesman Barry Johnson

News footage taken after the attack seemed to belie US assertions that troops had not entered or damaged any sacred building during the raid.

The room where the killing occurred appeared to be a prayer hall. The floors are carpeted and the walls covered with religious posters.

The tape showed a tangle of male bodies and spent 5.56mm bullet casings on the blood-smeared floor - the kind of ammunition used by the US military.

"In our observation of the place and the activities that were going on, it's difficult for us to consider this a place of prayer," said US military spokesman Barry Johnson.

"It was not identified by us as a mosque, though we certainly recognised it as a community gathering centre. I think this is frankly a matter of perception," he added.

The area is a stronghold of the Mehdi Army.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

Fat boy Sadr will look good laid out like Uday and Qusay.....won't be long now.

[ASA Vet]

Here's a thread with the truth, ra^ther than the Rooters, AP, or Commie News Network propaganda.

[Captain Kirk]

Fat boy Sadr will look good laid out like Uday and Qusay.....won't be long now.

I think I read anticipatory comments like that a couple of years ago....perhaps those were about Bin Laden.

[dead]

members of Iraq's ruling Shia Islamist bloc say many of the dead were civilians taking part in prayers.

What, no wedding?

[SENTINEL]

"Fat boy Sadr will look good laid out like Uday and Qusay.....won't be long now."

You're dreaming. Bush doesn't have the balls. He'll leave Sadr in power for our children to deal with just like his wimp father did with Saddam. If he was going to kill Sadr he would have done it after his people drug the burnt bodies of our boys through the streets.

[jmc1969]

Zarqawi was behind the Fallujah massacre. Sadr was behind the Najaf uprising at the same time.

[observer5]

This idea to try to teach these people to be CIVILIZED is at best

NAIVE IF NOT OUTRIGHT STUPID!

[observer5]

"In our observation of the place and the activities that were going on, it's difficult for us to consider this a place of prayer"

What do you know about Muslim prayer?

It can get very bloody....!

[DCPatriot]

...that Americans and Iraqi troops under their command had tied people up at the Mustafa mosque in north-east Baghdad's Sadr City up and shot them in cold blood.

War is hell, folks.

God bless our troops and keep them safe.

[jmc1969]

The problem was we backed the wrong horse from the beginning of this war. The right horse to back would have been the Baathists and secular Shia and Sunnis. Because, they are aren't nice guys, but they are rational people that care far more about money and power then they do religious insanity.

The Shia religious leaders are irrational evil bitches.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Looks like Roggio is getting it sorted out and explained:

March 27, 2006
Powerplay
Jaafari's allies denounce the Hayy Ur raid while MNF-I disputes the allegations of an unjustified assault

*******************AN EXCERPT ***************************

The political maneuvering has begun in the aftermath of the raid on the Mahdi Army headquarters in the Hayy Ur neighborhood. Jawad al-Maliki, an ally of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and spokesman for the United Iraqi Alliance, has called "for a rapid restoration of (control of) security matters to the Iraqi government," according to Reuters. Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty reports "Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr today described the killing as 'unjustified.' Baghdad provincial Governor Husayn al-Tahan said he has suspended cooperation with U.S. forces until an independent investigation can be carried out."

Reuters also reports Abd al-Karim al-Enzi, minister of state for national security, has decried the attack as a crime, inflated the casualties and basically equated the operation to that of a death squad; "At evening prayers, American soldiers accompanied by Iraqi troops raided the Mustafa mosque and killed 37 people...They were all unarmed. Nobody fired a single shot at them (the troops). They went in, tied up the people and shot them all. They did not leave any wounded behind." The United Iraqi Alliance has canceled Monday's talks on the formation of the Iraqi government.

Multinational Forces - Iraq continues to dispute claims such as those made by al-Enzi, and has photographs which demonstrate the "husseiniya" (again, which can be a mosque, a prayer room or just "a place of Hussein") did contain weapons, and that Iraqi troops were indeed involved in the operation.

A Soldier from the 1st Iraqi Special Operations Forces Brigade secures a small weapons cache during an operation in northeast Baghdad March 26 to detain individuals involved in kidnapping and execution activities. Click to enlarge. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Earnest Christian).

It should be noted that the Iraqi politicians condemning the raid in Hayy Ur are allies of Jaafari and Muqtada al-Sadr, and the various other political groups (the Kurdish alliance, the Sunni groups, Allawi's secular party and even SCIRI) have remained silent on this issue.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

See link at #14.

[TheSpy]

Why are we continually fooling around with this SOB? the guy allows Al Queda to bomb his city, so it makes him look good...... In fact, why are we fooling around at all with the Iraqis? Either they get their act together, or we're done. What else can we really do? If they are protecting the terrorists.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From the end of Roggio's observations:

**********************************************

The Hayy Ur raid may actually serve to break the deadlock which has settled over the formation of the new Iraqi government, one way or another. And one has to wonder if that wasn't by design. As we stated yesterday, the Coalition has been telegraphing this move for some time.

[hawkaw]

At lunch, I just had a chance to listen to the same a$$wipe I have been putting up with doing the 12:30 PM EST report from Baghdad on the FNC.

I forget the guy's name. From my observations on the TV I know this press dude eats well at the hotel and of course he is all doom and gloom.

For this report, he indicated that the USA confirmed the raid was done by Iraqi and US forces. Then he starts talking about what the Americans did in the raid and forgot to mention (conveniently in my mind) that it was the Iraqis who actually did the raiding. There was no context whatsoever unlike how Bill Roggio reported the incident.

Of course there was no mentioning of all the other successful raid such as Operation Scorpion.

Some one should fire the Bastard and put Brit Hume as the main editor in charge of the Iraq War for the FNC.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Rushed into the TV room hoping for a replay but no luck.

[hawkaw]

Thanks for trying.