Source:
Christian Science Monitor<snip>
Residents and Mahdi Army militants alike appeared to be bracing for a coming battle, guarding against US and Iraqi forces advancing to stop the rockets allegedly fired from Sadr City that hit the Green Zone again Wednesday for the third day since Sunday.
Although it's in Basra, the oil-rich southern city, where the Mahdi Army and Iraqi forces were locked in a bitter fight for a second day, killing at least 55, many in Baghdad fear that clash will trigger a new battle in Mr. Sadr's Baghdad stronghold. Already there were reports by US-funded Al Hurra TV, citing hospital sources, that at least 20 people have been killed and 140 wounded in sporadic clashes in Sadr City since Tuesday.
<snip>
"Much of the indirect fire that has been directed towards neighborhoods here in Baghdad has emanated from … Sadr City in particular. We do have a responsibility to work with Iraqi security forces to interdict the ability for the … cells to continue doing what they are doing … and to enforce the rule of law against criminal activities and illegal armed groups that might be seeking to impose their own intimidation," said Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a spokesman for US-led forces in Iraq, when asked about the enforced US and Iraqi Army ring around Sadr City.
During his press conference, and shortly afterward, several rocket or mortar explosions echoed inside the heavily protected Green Zone, home to top US and Iraqi officials.
<snip>
Read more:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0327/p01s01-woiq.html
There's also these from this morning...
from the AP via TPM:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/03/militiamen_holding_out_in_basr.phphow they're spinning it:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hCRQcD2TIGwoSyU_ODCiwSBbdlMAPaul Kiel's analysis via TPM:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/todays_must_read_303.phpKim Gamel's reporting at HuffPo:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/26/militiamen-holding-out-in_n_93445.htmllooks to me like we'll be hearing more about Basra in the coming days...
how much will the media bring up that the British troops are no longer there and how will they spin it?
discuss...