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Iraqi Crackdown on Shiite Forces Sets Off Fighting
By Michael Kamber and James Glanz
The New York Times
Wednesday 26 March 2008
Baghdad - Heavy fighting broke out Tuesday in two of Iraq's largest
cities, as Iraqi ground forces and helicopters mounted a huge operation to break
the grip of the Shiite militias controlling Basra, and Iraqi forces clashed
with militias in Baghdad. The fighting threatened to destabilize a long-term
truce that had helped reduce the level of violence in the five-year-old Iraq
war.
The fighting continued on Wednesday, and a spokesman for the Iraqi military
said 40 people had been killed and 200 wounded in the two days of fighting in
the southern city of Basra, according to The Associated Press. The spokesman,
Col. Karim al-Zaidi, did not specify how many were militiamen, Iraqi soldiers
or civilians caught up in the fighting.
The battles, along with indications in recent weeks that militia and insurgent
attacks had already been creeping up, raised fears across Iraq that Moktada
al-Sadr, the renegade Shiite cleric, could pull out of a cease-fire he declared
last summer. If his Mahdi Army militia does step up attacks, that could in turn
slow American troop withdrawals.
There were also serious clashes in the southern cities of Kut and Hilla.
In Basra, American and British jets roared through the skies, providing air
support for the Iraqi military. A British Army spokesman for southern Iraq,
Maj. Tom Holloway, said that while Western forces had not entered Basra, the
operation already involved nearly 30,000 Iraqi troops and police forces, with
more arriving. "They are clearing the city block by block," Major
Holloway said.
The scale and intensity of the clashes in Baghdad kept many residents home.
Schools and shops were closed in many neighborhoods and hundreds of checkpoints
appeared; in some neighborhoods they were controlled by the government and in
others by militia members.
Barrages of rockets and mortar shells pounded the fortified Green Zone area
for the second time in three days. An American military spokesman said there
were two minor injuries to civilians in the Green Zone.
Even before the crackdown on militias began on Tuesday, Pentagon statistics
on the frequency of militia and insurgent attacks suggested that after major
security gains last fall, the conflict had drifted into something of a stalemate.
Over all, violence has remained fairly steady over the past several months,
but the streets have become tense and much more dangerous again after a period
of calm.
It is not clear how responsible the restive Mahdi militia commanders are for
stalling progress in the effort to reduce violence. In recent weeks, commanders
have protested continuing American and Iraqi raids and detentions of militia
members.
If the cease-fire were to unravel, there is little doubt about the mayhem that
could be stirred up by Mr. Sadr, who forced the United States military to mount
two bloody offensives against his fighters in 2004 as much of the country exploded
in violence.
Sadiq al-Rikabi, the prime minister's political adviser, and other Iraqi
officials said that just how the unrest in Baghdad was related to the crackdown
in Basra was unknown.
Sadr City, the Baghdad neighborhood that is the center of the Mahdi Army's
power, was sealed off by a cordon of Iraqi troops and what appeared to be several
American units. A New York Times photographer who was able to get through the
cordon found more layers of checkpoints, each one run by about two dozen heavily
armed Mahdi Army fighters clad in tracksuits and T-shirts. Tires burned in the
city center, gunfire echoed against shuttered stores, and teams of fighters
in pickup trucks moved about brandishing machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled
grenade launchers.
"We are doing this in reaction to the unprovoked military operations
against the Mahdi Army," said a Mahdi commander who identified himself
as Abu Mortada. "The U.S., the Iraqi government and Sciri are against
us," he said, referring to a rival Shiite group whose name has changed
several times, and is now known as the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, which
has an armed wing called the Badr Organization.
"They are trying to finish us," the commander said. "They
want power for the Iraqi government and Sciri."
Basra, which until 2005 enjoyed relative peace, has since been riven by power
struggles among the Mahdi Army and local Shiite rivals, like the Badr Organization
and a militia controlled by the Fadhila political party, a group that split
from the Sadr party.
In the weeks leading up to the operation, Iraqi officials indicated that part
of the operation would be aimed at the Fadhila groups, which are widely believed
to be in control of Basra's lucrative port operations and other parts
of the city. The ports have been plagued by corruption, draining revenue that
could flow to the central and local governments. But the operation also threatens
the Mahdi Army's strongholds in Basra.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's government depends on support from
the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq but is less dependent now on coalitions
with the Mahdi Army.
In Basra, Iraq's most important oil-exporting center, thousands of Iraqi
government soldiers and police officers moved into the city around 5 a.m. and
engaged in pitched battles with Shiite militia members who have taken over big
areas of that city.
The Basra operation, which senior Iraqi officials had been signaling for weeks,
is considered so important by the Iraqi government that Mr. Maliki traveled
to the city to direct the fighting, several officials said.
Although Sadr officials said the cease-fire was still in effect, on Monday
Mr. Sadr called for a nationwide civil disobedience campaign in response to
what his followers said was an unwarranted crackdown. Some Mahdi commanders
referred to an edict by Mr. Sadr saying their militias had the right of self-defense.
A member of Mr. Sadr's political party in Basra, Sheik Abdul Sattar al-Bahadli,
complained bitterly about the enormous operation, claiming that it was aimed
at innocent people in Basra.
"We never witnessed such attacks even under the regime of Saddam Hussein,"
Mr. Bahadli said. "Maliki gave orders and said, 'Erase them.'"
But Mr. Maliki said in a statement that the operation was intended to root
out "outlaws" who, he said, were working with local confederates
inside and outside the government.
"The federal government, pressed by its obligations to support the local
government in Basra and support its officials, has decided to restore security
and stability and impose the law," the statement said
An American military official said the American-led coalition forces had provided
air transportation for the operation and were keeping "quick reaction
forces" on standby.
The official said coalition forces had supported Iraqi security forces in clashes
around Sadr City with "special groups" - a term reserved for
what American commanders say are Iranian-backed Shiite splinter groups, which
include portions of the Mahdi Army.
"A coalition forces helicopter also engaged targets north of Sadr City
in support of this operation," the official said, asserting that despite
the fighting, most of Baghdad had been peaceful and that there were still signs
of progress on security in most areas of Iraq and its capital.
"We feel that the cease-fire is being honored" by those loyal to
Mr. Sadr, the official said. The cease-fire, he said, "is in the best
interest of all Iraqis."
Many places in Baghdad were tense. At a checkpoint downtown, a policeman's
radio crackled with the news of the sniper shooting of a police officer in a
nearby neighborhood. "We've heard that Sadr has canceled the cease-fire,
is this true?" he asked motorists whose car he was searching.
In a statement issued late Tuesday, the military said an American soldier was
killed in Baghdad about 5 p.m. No other details were provided.
Witnesses in Basra said jets flew overhead as armored vehicles raced through
the city and machine gun and canon fire reverberated through the streets. Civilians
took refuge in their homes. Iraqi television showed images of civilian gunmen
with grenade launchers taking up positions and ambulances ferrying the wounded
to hospitals.
On Tuesday night, after about six hours of silence, armored vehicles and helicopters
could again be heard moving through the city, witnesses said. Gunfire and shelling
could be heard to the north.
In Baghdad, some areas were deserted as clashes broke out across the city.
In downtown Baghdad, checkpoints blocked sparse traffic every 100 yards.
Saeed Ammar, a government employee, said he was standing near policemen in
the Huriya neighborhood on Tuesday morning when he was approached by Mahdi Army
members. "They told me not to stand near checkpoints. They said, 'We
are waiting for the word from Moktada Sadr to attack the checkpoints -
it may come at any moment.'"
Despite the armed actions by many Sadr followers, members of Mr. Sadr's
party said the cease-fire was still in effect and called for peaceful civil
disobedience. In Najaf, hundreds of followers carrying Korans and olive branches
mounted a sit-in, chanting, "No to occupation, no to terrorism."
Sahar Gani, a teacher, was taking students home along a nearly deserted Baghdad
sidewalk. "The security situation is getting worse day by day,"
she said. "The city is getting very bad now. We've been through
this before, so we find it natural. But we don't know what to do."
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Reporting was contributed by Joao Silva, Anwar J. Ali and Hosham Hussein
from Baghdad, and employees of The New York Times from Baghdad, Basra, Hilla,
Diwaniya and Kut.
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