Posted on 03/30/2008 9:46:53 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
NAJAF, Iraq, March 30 (Reuters) - Followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will not hand over their weapons as part of a move to end a week of fighting in Iraq, a top Sadr aide said.
The aide, Hazem al-Araji, also said that Sadr's followers had received a guarantee from the government that it would end "random arrests" of Sadr followers.
"The weapons of the resistance will not be delivered to the Iraqi government," he told journalists at Sadr's office in the holy city of Najaf after distributing a statement from Sadr calling on followers to stop fighting.
Sadr's statement also called for the government to halt arrests of his followers and implement an amnesty law to free prisoners.
"We confirm that there were guarantees taken from the Iraqi government to fulfill all the points in this statement. Thus, no more random arrests," he said.
The Iraqi government launched a crackdown on Sadr followers in the southern city of Basra last week. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered them to surrender and has offered cash in return for heavy and medium weapons handed over by April 8.
(Reporting by Khaled Farhan; writing by Peter Graff; editing by Ross Colvin)
I think he is not really done yet,...just reloading...
Agreed. He’s getting his army killed and wants a breather- besides- some of his demands are absurd on their face.
Agreed. Just waiting for arms and fighter replacements from Iran to arrive.
Should each condition get a headline of it’s own? ‘Stop arresting my soldiers!’
I have it on very good authority that Mookie (or whoever it is calling the shots) was about to get a big can of whoopass opened on his thugs and he knew it and backed down.
I think we should do it anyway.
How many more times is he going to surrender?
If I were calling the shots, he wouldn't get another opportunity to surrender. Three strikes and you're OUT.
Give the firepower and support the Iraqi army has been given, and the effectiveness they've demonstrated against al Queda they should have made short work of Mookie's followers. They haven't nor will they because the will to do it does not exist. That's a problem General Petraeus and the surge cannot solve. It's a problem that will haunt the GOP and McCain into November.
Good....let them die NOW, with weapons in hand.
Isn’t that the objective of Jihad?
I thought these ^%^*&^%*&^ pursued and desired death?
Good. Just kill them when they get on the streets, in the alleys or on the roofs:
When your Islamofascist serial killers are being killed at a rate of 1-2% in a few days. You had better call a halt or in a month, there might not be too many mad dog followers.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993975/posts
US: 16 killed in Basra airstrikes (AC 130 RAINS DEATH ON MOOKIE’S MEN)
ap ^ | 3/2/30/2008 | KIM GAMEL
Posted on 03/30/2008 6:54:06 AM PDT by milwguy
BAGHDAD - A U.S. warplane strafed snipers in the southern city of Basra, killing at least 16 suspected militants after Iraqi troops came under heavy fire, the American military said
Iraqi police earlier claimed eight civilians, including two women and a child, had been killed in a predawn airstrike in the Hananiyah neighborhood, a known Shiite militia stronghold. But Maj. Brad Leighton, a U.S. military spokesman, said U.S. and Iraqi special operations forces had identified snipers on several roofs before the strike was ordered.
An AC-130 gunship then opened fire on enemy positions on three roofs.
“Initial reports indicate 16 criminal fighters were killed,” he said in an e-mail response to a query by The Associated Press.
,...just reloading...
“No handover of arms”
But he wants the fighting to stop? Only one answer here.
Keep killing them until it’s really over. These people can’t be for real.
Whatever happened to “Unconditional Surrender”? Surrender and turn over your weapons or die. End of story.
It’s not that complicated.
I agree with you and I doubt there is the resolve to actually finish him off.
We should have killed that fat f*** long ago when we had the chance.
D Day would have been reported as a failure along with every other European operation right up until VE day and then it would have been reported that our side really didn't WIN but that the German people just had enough, deposed of Hitler and his henchman and welcomed the Russians and Americans with open arms.
"Media: AFP
Byline: N/A
Date: 30 March 2008
WASHINGTON, March 30, 2008 (AFP) - CIA director Michael Hayden said Sunday he had no prior knowledge of the Iraqi government's crackdown on Shiite militiamen in Basra and implied other top US officials were also in the dark.
General Hayden said the assault on the southern city had proved to be "very, very difficult," but stressed the importance of Iraq's leaders taking decisive action on their own.
Asked if he was informed ahead of the operation, he told NBC television:
"In terms of being pre-briefed or having, you know, the normal planning process in which you build up to this days or weeks ahead of time? No, no, I was not."
Pressed further, the Central Intelligence Agency chief said: "No more so than Dave Petraeus or Ambassador (Ryan) Crocker."
He was speaking just days before Petraeus, the general in charge of US forces in Iraq, and Crocker, the US ambassador to Baghdad, present their latest report on the situation in Iraq to the US Congress on April 8 and 9.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched an assault on Shiite militiamen in neighborhoods of Basra controlled by the Mahdi Army, Iraq's most powerful Shiite militia, on Tuesday, sparking six days of fighting across the country.
"I think the real telling moment, the real crossover point in all this, is the political decision to take action," Hayden said.
"A lot of people in this country have criticized the Iraqis for not stepping up, for not taking advantage of the breathing space that's been created by, frankly, coalition military activities.
"Here's the case of an Iraqi leader stepping up."
Mahdi Army leader Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his fighters off Iraq's streets on Sunday, in a move the government said would help end the fierce clashes that have killed hundreds across the country.
US warplanes had carried out air strikes in the city on Friday and Saturday in which several people were killed, and US special forces were engaged on the ground, Iraqi and US officials said.
Hayden said that Iraqi forces still required US support, particularly in combat power, and said this situation was not going to change overnight.
"This is going to be a gradual slope as Iraqis, again, build this competence in terms of their combat power and apply it in a more even-handed way," he said. Asked if it could take years, the general replied: "I think so."
Questioned about last year's "surge" of US troops into Iraq to counter the escalating violence, the CIA chief said it had "changed the equation... it allowed some space for the Iraqis to step up, and they've begun to do that."
Hayden said the military activity in Basra was "inevitable" given the lack of control the central government in Baghdad had over the city, Iraq's second largest, and was a key part of Iraq becoming a democratic state."
And we STILL kicked ass.
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